140 Mr. George J. Bomanes [Feb. 8, 



of artificial selection and training in successive generations are 

 precisely analogous to the processes of natural selection and lapsing 

 of intelligence in a state of nature. 



Touching what Mr. Darwin calls the artificial instincts of the dog, 

 I may first mention those which he has himself dilated upon — I mean 

 the instincts of pointing, retrieving, and sheep-tending ; but as Mr. 

 Darwin has already fully treated of these instincts, I need not go 

 over the ground which he has traversed, and so shall confine myself 

 to the consideration of another artificial instinct, which, although not 

 mentioned by him, seems to me of no less significance — I mean the 

 instinct of guarding property. This is a purely artificial instinct, 

 created by man expressly for his own purposes : and it is now so 

 strongly ingrained in the intelligence of the dog that it is unusual to 

 find any individual animal in which it is wholly absent. Thus, we 

 all know, that without any training a dog will allow a stranger to 

 pass by his master's gate without molestation, but that as soon as the 

 stranger passes within the gate, and so trespasses upon what the dog 

 knows to be his master's territory, the animal immediately begins to 

 bark in order to give his master notice of the invasion. And this 

 leads me to observe that barking is in itself an artificial instinct, 

 developed, I believe, as an offshoot from the more general instinct of 

 guarding property. None of the wild species of dog are known to 

 bark, and therefore we must conclude that barking is an artificial 

 instinct, acquired by the domestic dog for the purpose of notifying to 

 his master the presence of thieves or enemies. I may further observe 

 that this instinct of guarding property extends to the formation of an 

 instinctive idea on the part of the animal, of itself as constituting part 

 of that property. If, for instance, a friend gives you temporary charge 

 of his dog, even although the dog may never have seen you before, 

 observing that you are his master's friend and that his master intends 

 you to take charge of him, he immediately transfers his allegiance 

 from his master to you, as to a deputed owner, and will then follow 

 you through any number of crowded streets with the utmost confidence. 

 Thus, whether we look to the negative or to the positive influences of 

 domestication upon the psychology of the dog, we must conclude that 

 a change has been wrought, so profound that the whole mental con- 

 stitution of the animal now presents a more express reference to the 

 needs of another, and his enslaving animal, than it does to his own. 

 Indeed, we may say that there is no one feature in the whole 

 psychology of the dog which has been left unaltered by the influence 

 of man, excepting only those instincts which, being neither useful nor 

 harmful to man, have never been subject to his operation — such, for 

 instance, as the instinct of bmying food, turning round to make a 

 bed before lying down, &c. 



I will now turn to another branch of the subject, and one which, 

 although in my opinion of the greatest importance, has never before 

 been alluded to ; I mean the local and specific variations of instinct. 

 By a local variation of instinct, I mean a variation presented by a 

 species in a state of nature over some particular area of geographical 



