72 Permanence and Evohition. 



been produced among flocks of the common, or 

 common and white, or pied sort, and adduces 

 the usual considerations of probability against 

 there having been an unknown cross. 



He also says, " We may suppose that a breed 

 of dogs (rather, colleys, or fox-hounds, dog as 

 distinguished from wolf is much too vague an 

 expression) had been crossed at some former 

 period with a wolf, but had lost every trace of 

 the wolf-like character, yet that the breed gave 

 birth in five instances in the same country, within 

 no great length of time, to a wolf, perfect in 

 every character ; and we must further suppose 

 that in two of the cases the newly produced 

 wolves afterwards spontaneously increased to 

 such an extent as to lead to the extinction of 

 the parent breed ! " 



I think that if a judicious naturalist was 

 told of such a thing under circumstances which 

 did not allow of its rejection as a simple fiction 

 or mistake, he would treat it as we treat won- 



