524 



The Journal of Heredity 



in its appearance ; due, we must suppose, 

 to the preservation of fortuitous varia- 

 tions. One of the most significant was 

 the disapi^earance of the horns, a muta- 

 tion of which any breeder must recog- 

 nize the adx'antage, and which it was 

 therefore worth while to jjreserve. The 

 famous modern milk-l^reeds of Switzer- 

 land are hornless, but from time to time 

 a pair of horns aj^pcars — a reversion to 

 the ancestral habit. 



Another peculiar trait which appeared 

 at some time in domestication is the 

 beard on the female. In most, if not 

 all, the domesticated breeds both sexes 

 hax'c beards, while in the wild races this 

 mark is confined to the males. 



It has been often suggested that wild 

 species have been crossed into the 

 domesticated goat, and help to account 

 for some of the diverse forms. But 

 when the alleged cases are examined, 

 it is usualh' found that the supposed 

 wild blood is really that of tame goats 

 who ha\'e run wild. Althotigh it can not 

 be denied that wild blood may have come 

 in from time to time, it seems unlikely 

 that any wild species except the Pasang 

 really has an appreciable share in the 

 ancestry of the goats known to Europe 

 and America. This cannot be said 

 with such confidence of the Malayan 

 and Kashmir goats, where other wild 

 species \x'ry likely have had a share in 

 the i^roduction of the modern forms. 



While the goat has in all times been 

 of value as a meat producing animal, 

 it is obvious that the effort of his 

 breeders, during many centuries, has 

 been in two general directions: to im- 

 prove the yield of milk and to improve 

 the yield of hair. 



INCREASED MILK YIELD 



Credit for the first achievement goes 

 princi])ally to the peasants of the Swiss 

 valleys, who have produced a number of 

 races that are now known all over the 



world. Foremost among these are the 

 Saanen, from the Obersimmental, and 

 the Toggenburg, from the canton of 

 St. Gall. Starting with an animal whose 

 milk yield was little more than that of 

 most wild animals, they have produced 

 does that, at their best, surpass the milk 

 yield of a good many cows. As far as is 

 known, this result has been achieved 

 through simple selection of the best in 

 each generation, as breeding stock. 



Breeding for hair was accomplished 

 principally in Asia Minor, where the 

 town of Angora gave its name to the 

 best known breed. The way in which 

 the short hair of the Pasang has devel- 

 oped into the extraordinarily long hair 

 of the Angora is not wholly clear, but 

 it seems again to be due to simple 

 selection of variations in the direction 

 that the breeder sought. 



There is nothing to indicate that the 

 goat is particularly variable in its wild 

 state, or that its breeders have had the 

 advantage of any unusual \'ariations, 

 which do not occur in most animals. 

 Probably easy domesticability has 

 tended, as much as anything, to give 

 the Pasang this important place in 

 modern animal husbandry — an import- 

 ance partly measured by the calculation 

 that there are at least 80,000,000 goats 

 under domestication in the world, of 

 which only about 20,000,000 are in 

 Europe and far less than that in the 

 United States. It must be remembered 

 too, that most of these are in ])ossession 

 of persons who have only a few animals 

 each — it is not often that one finds a 

 large herd of goats in the possession of 

 one man, if we except the Angora herds 

 in the western States of America. 



In the field of live-stock breeding, 

 there are to be found few more successful 

 exami:)les than that of the Pasang, bred 

 on two different lines, and in each case 

 with such remarkable results. 



