DEVELOPMENT. 255 



or some allied animal now extinct^ has been the pro- 

 genitor of the whales and other cetaceans. 



It is needless to recapitulate the description of 

 the manner in which I humbly conceive it possible 

 that these mighty animals might have been devel- 

 oped, as the cases hypothetically put before must 

 have explained my meaning sufficiently; and my 

 utmost hope is that, the suggestions and remarks I 

 have thrown out about the appearance and habits 

 of animals so little known may assist in enabling 

 other better qualified advocates of the great theory 

 of progressive development by means of natural se- 

 lection to work it out to demonstration. 



This is not a treatise on Natural History, but a 

 narrative of a summer's sporting trip in the Arctic 

 regions, and I have only alluded to this intricate 

 subject in its connection with the curious animals 

 I have described, or I could easily fill a volume 

 with facts corroborative of my views, taken from 

 my own observations of many other animals in 

 widely different parts of the earth. I will content 

 myself with one. 



In a district of South Africa, not larger than 

 Britain, and not extending beyond ten degrees of 

 latitude, there are well known to exist nearly thirty 

 varieties of antelopes, from the huge eland of six 

 feet in height and 2000 lbs. in weight to the diminu- 

 tive bluebuck of 8 lbs. or 9 lbs. weight and twelve 

 inches high. 



Some of these varieties are confined to a particu- 



