ORIGIN AISTD TRAN'SFER OF DOMESTIC QUADRUPEDS. 87 



Of course, it owes tlie horse, tlie ass, tlie ox, the sheep, the goat, 

 and the swine, as does also Australia, to European colonization. 

 Modern Europe has, thus far, not accomplished much in the way 

 of importation of new animals, though some interesting essays 

 have been made. The reindeer was successfully introduced into 

 Iceland about a century ago, while similar attempts failed, about 

 the same time, in Scotland. The Cashmere or Thibet goat was 

 brought to France a generation since, and succeeds well. The 

 same or an aUied species and the Asiatic buffalo were carried to 

 South Carohna about the year 1850, and the former, at least, is 

 thought likely to prove of permanent value in the United States.* 

 The yak, or Tartary ox, seems to thrive in France, and it is 

 hoped that success wiU attend the present efforts to introduce the 

 South American alpaca into Europe.f 



tiquity of Man, pp. 24, 25, and the last-named work, p. 489. This is a fact of 

 much interest, because it is one of the very few historically known instances of 

 the extinction of a domestic quadruped, and the extreme improbability of such 

 an event gives some countenance to the theory of the identity of the domestic 

 ox with, and its descent from, the urus. 



* The goat introduced into South Carolina was brought from the district of 

 Angora, in Asia Minor, which has long been celebrated for flocks of this valu- 

 able animal. It is calculated that more than a million of these goats are raised 

 in that district, and it is commonly believed that the Angora goat and its wool 

 degenerate when transported. Probably this is only an invention of the shep- 

 herds to prevent rivals from attempting to interfere with so profitable a mo- 

 nopoly. But if the popular prejudice has any foundation, the degeneracy is 

 doubtless to be attributed to ignorance of the special treatment which long ex- 

 perience has taught the Angora shepherds, and the consequent neglect of such 

 precautions as are necessary to the proper care of the animal. Throughout 

 nearly the whole territory of the United States the success of the Angora goat 

 is perfect, and it would undoubtedly thrive equally well in Italy, though it ia 

 very doubtful whether in either country the value of its fleece would compen- 

 sate the damage it would do to the woods, 



f The reproductive powers of animals, as well as of plants, seem to be some- 

 times stimulated in an extraordinary way by transfer to a foreign clime. The 

 common warren rabbit, introduced by the early colonists into the island of Ma- 

 deira, multiplied to such a degree as to threaten the extirpation of vegetation, 

 and in Australia the same quadruped has become so numerous as to be a very 

 serious evil. The colonists are obliged to employ professional rabbit-hunters, 

 and one planter has enclosed his grounds by four miles of solid wall, at an ex- 

 pense of $6,000, to protect his crops against these ravagers. — Hevtie des Eauas 

 ■*t Fbrtis, 1870, p. 88. 



