Permanence and Evolution. 53 



THE GOAT. 



Very little need be said of the goat more than 

 that nothing is known as to the origin of any 

 one of its races or sub-races. They are 

 commonly supposed to be derived from Capra 

 (Egagrus y but the direction of the horns is 

 different, and it is not easy to see how this 

 could be influenced by domestication. 



THE RABBIT. 



Of the origin of domestic rabbits nothing is 

 known. Gervais has pointed out that even the 

 grey domestic rabbit is not quite identical with 

 the common wild. Darwin thinks it would be 

 odd if domestication had no influence in altering 

 the rabbit, but whether this seems odd or not 

 depends on the general theory we adopt. Some 

 of the characteristics of the tame breeds (such 

 as lop ears and albinous whiteness) are no doubt 

 due to the direct influence of close confinement, 



