Permanence and Evolution, 67 



forms on which selection works, are they pure or 

 mixed ? That is the question, and it is one to 

 which we can find no answer, and which we 

 therefore answer provisionally, at least, in ac- 

 cordance with the principle of inheritance. 



It may be remarked that it would probably 

 have been thought absurd to suppose that the 

 common, Indian, and chequered rock doves, 

 sprang from separate wild stocks, if it had not 

 been known to be a fact ; also that the fantail, 

 a variety of Eastern origin, when blue, usually 

 has a blue'rump, showing a cross with the Indian 

 rock dove, and also showing the strength of the 

 principle of inheritance. I cannot, therefore, 

 see that (unproved assumptions apart) the famous 

 example of the pigeon offers any particular 

 support to the theory of evolution. 



Sanson has made a study of the breeds of 

 domestic pigeon from an osteological point of 

 view, relying on the characters of the cranium 

 and vertebral column, and finds four clearly 



