A REMARKABLE ANTICIPATION, ETC. 291 



which it is desirable to perpetuate. These are kept for 

 the propagation of the stock, and a repeated attention is 

 paid to the same circumstances, till, the effect continually 

 increasing, a particular figure, colour, proportion of limbs, 

 or any other attainable quality, is established in the race, 

 and the uniformity of the breed is afterwards maintained by 

 removing from it any new variety which may casually spring 

 up in it. " 



The main result of Darwin's indefatigable labours on 

 the formation of domestic races could not be more ac- 

 curately summarised than in these words published in 1826. 



Prichard expresses himself as uncertain whether do- 

 mestic animals are more prone to vary than others, but 

 considers that the artificial conditions may in all prob- 

 ability "occasion deviations in their progeny". 



The influence of climate seemed to him the most im- 

 portant of all causes of race-formation — so important in fact 

 that he discusses its examples under a separate section, while 

 the adaptation of races, animal and human, to their climates 

 form the subjects of the concluding sections vi. and vii. 



The examples of the effect of climate are brought 

 forward in section v, (p. 558), entitled, " Instances of 

 Variety in the Breed, Arising from the Operation of Exter- 

 nal, Chiefly of Local Causes ". The first instance is that of 

 the swine of Cuba which are said to be twice the size of the 

 parent breed. He then instances the peculiar and uniform 

 colour of the cattle and horses " descended from the 

 variegated domestic breeds " which have become wild in 

 South America, and the common bear which differs in 

 colour in various European localities. 



When the races of several distinct species resemble 

 each other in a single locality it is fairly maintained that 

 some special local influence may be strongly inferred. 

 Thus it is stated that the Angora breeds of rabbits, goats, 

 and cats are remarkable for their long fine silky hair and 

 white colour. " These characters . . . indicate a common 

 cause, which must be some peculiarity in the circumstances 

 under which these animals exist in the climate and situa- 

 tion occupied by them." 



