VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION 25 



often imported, and laws were passed to prevent their exportation : 

 the destruction of horses under a certain size was ordered, and 

 this may be compared to the "roguing" of plants by nurserymen. 

 The principle of selection I find distinctly given in an ancient 

 Chinese encyclopaedia. Explicit rules are laid down by some of the 

 Roman classical writers. From passages in Genesis, it is clear that 

 the color of domestic animals was at that early period attended to. 

 Savages now sometimes cross their dogs with wild canine animals, 

 to improve the breed, and they formerly did so, as is attested by 

 passages in Pliny. The savages in South Africa match their draught 

 cattle by color, as do some of the Esquimaux their team of dogs. 

 Livingstone states that good domestic breeds are highly valued by 

 the negroes in the interior of Africa who have not associated with 

 Europeans. Some of these facts do not show actual selection, but 

 they show that the breeding of domestic animals was carefully at- 

 tended to in ancient times, and is now attended to by the lowest 

 savages. It would, indeed, have been a strange fact, had attention 

 not been paid to breeding, for the inheritance of good and bad 

 qualities is so obvious. 



UNCONSCIOUS SELECTION 



At the present time, eminent breeders try by methodical selec- 

 tion, with a distinct object in view, to make a new strain or sub- 

 breed, superior to anything of the kind in the country. But, for our 

 purpose, a form of selection, which may be called unconscious, 

 and which results from every one trying to possess and breed from 

 the best individual animals, is more important. Thus, a man who 

 intends keeping pointers naturally tries to get as good dogs as he 

 can, and afterwards breeds from his own best dogs, but he has no 

 wish or expectation of permanently altering the breed. Neverthe- 

 less we may infer that this process, continued during centuries, 

 would improve and modify any breed, in the same way as Bake- 

 well, Collins, etc., by this very same process, only carried on more 

 methodically, did greatly modify, even during their lifetimes, the 

 forms and qualities of their cattle. Slow and insensible changes of 

 this kind can never be recognized unless actual measurements or 

 careful drawings of the breeds in question have been made long 

 ago, which may serve for comparison. In some cases, however, un- 

 changed, or but little changed, individuals of the same breed exist 

 in less civilized districts, where the breed has been less improved. 

 There is reason to believe that King Charles' spaniel has been 

 unconsciously modified to a large extent since the time of that 

 monarch. Some highly competent authorities are convinced that 



