PllEFACE. 



Although there are a few specimens which have been in the 

 Museum for many years, tlie collection of Domesticated Animals 

 is mainly of quite recent origin. The importance of the study of 

 Domesticated Animals to the scientific naturalist is indicated in the 

 following extract from the works of Professor Ernst Haeckel : — ■ 



" Wild animals and plants, one year after another, appear 

 approximately in the same form, and thus give rise to the 

 mistaken doctrine of the constancy of species ; domesticated 

 animals and plants, on the other hand, display great changes 

 within a few years. The perfection attained by breeders and 

 gardeners in the art of selection enables them to produce 

 entirely new forms in a short time. For this purpose it is 

 only necessary to keep and propagate the animal or plant 

 under special conditions, when, after a few generations, new 

 species may be obtained, differing from the original form 

 in a much higher degree than do many wild species, or even 

 genera, from one another. The importance of this fact cannot 

 be over-estimated in connection with the. origin of species." 



The interest of the collection to breeders, fanciers, and the public 

 generally is self -apparent. 



The present Guide-book, which has been written by Mr. Lydekker, 



includes the whole of the collection of Domesticated Animals, other 



than Horses and Asses ; these latter forming the subject of a 



separate work. 



R. BOWDLER SHARPE, 



Assistant Keeper, Department of Vertebrate Zoology. 



British Museum (Natural History), 



Cromwell Road, London, S.W. 

 May, 1908 



