SECRETARY'S REPORT. 75 



the other until the milking quality in many families is nearly bred 

 out. It was not so formerly — thirty years ago the Short-horns (or 

 as they were then usually called, the Durhams) were not deficient 

 in dairy qualities, and some families were famous for large yield. 

 By properly directed efforts they might, doubtless, be bred back 

 to milk, but of this there is no probability, at least in England, for 

 the tendency of modern practice is very strong towards having 

 each breed specially fitted to its use — the dairy breeds for milk and 

 the beef breeds for meat only. The requirements of the English 

 breeder are in some respects quite unlike those of New England 

 farmers — for instance, as they employ no oxen for labor there is 

 no inducement to cultivate working qualities even, in connection 

 with beef. 



As an illustration of the effect of habit, Darwin cites the domes- 

 tic duck, of which he says, "I find that the bones of the wing 

 weigh less, and the bones of the leg more, in proportion to the 

 whole skeleton, than do the same bones in the wild duck ; and I 

 presume that this change may be safely attributed to the domestic 

 duck flying much less and walking more than its wild parent." 

 And again, " not a single domestic animal can be named which has 

 not in some country drooping ears, and the view suggested by 

 some authors, that the drooping is due to the disuse of the mus- 

 cles of the ear, from the animals not being much alarmed by dan- 

 ger, seems probable." 



Climate, food and habit are the principal causes of variation 

 wdiich are known to be in any marked degree under the control of 

 man ; and the effect of these is, doubtless, in some measure indi- 

 rect and subservient to other laws, of reproduction, growth and 

 inheritance, of which we have at present very imperfect knowledge. 

 This is shown by the fact that the young of the same litter some- 

 .times difler considerably from each other, though both the young 

 and their parents have apparently been exposed to exactly the 

 same conditions of life ; for had the action of these conditions been 

 specific or direct and independent of other laws, if any of the young 

 had varied, the whole would probably have varied in the same 

 manner. 



Numberless hypotheses have been started to account for varia- 

 tion. Some hold that it is as much the function of the reproductive 

 system to produce individual differences as it is to make the child 

 like the parents. 



