THE PRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC RACES. 1 3 



from the first, was sure, when long continued, to end in divergence, 

 either through diversity in the habits determining the use of resources 

 or through some other principle producing transformation of the 

 isolated portion of the species. These conclusions, gathered from 

 the experience of the breeder, were then applied to the explanation 

 of the phenomena of divergence as appearing in nature, and any- 

 residual phenomena not at first explained were again brought to the 

 test of experiment as revealed in the experience of the breeder. The 

 process of discovery is often very intricate, while that of exposition 

 and proof is comparatively simple and direct; and it is not surprising 

 that this has been found to be especially true in the case of the laws 

 governing the complex relations determining the evolution of species. 



II. The Production of Domestic Races. 



Six subjects must be considered. In studying the production of 

 domestic races we need to take up separately the different results 

 reached, with the methods by which each result is realized, and the 

 conditions that are necessary for success. We shall consider: (i) the 

 conditions on which the continuance of the race or species depends ; 

 (2) the process by which a race possessing certain characters is trans- 

 formed into a race possessing different characters; (3) the process 

 by which one race is transformed into several races; (4) the pro- 

 cess by which the stability of a new breed is established; (5) the 

 process by which divergent races are amalgamated and commingled ; 

 and (6) the influence of acquired characters on racial characters. 



1. The Continuance of Races. 



In the domestication of any species one of the first questions is, 

 Can food or other needed resources for maintaining its life be fur- 

 nished under domestication; and if so, has it adaptations to the 

 wants of man such as to induce him to furnish the needed mainte- 

 nance? If this double question can be answered in the affirmative, 

 the probability of its being domesticated will turn on its retaining its 

 power of propagating when brought under the new conditions. The 

 elephant, though a useful animal, has failed of developing a domestic 

 race through failing to propagate with any certainty under domesti- 

 cation. The preservation of a domestic race depends on its securing 

 maintenance through adaptation to the rational environment, just as 

 the propagation of a species under nature depends on its securing 

 maintenance through adaptation to the natural environment ; and if 

 either the race or the species is to survive there must be such co- 



