HISTORICAL ASPECT 7 



He argued in favor of but one origin, namely G. bankiva. 



He explains in the following words how the changes in the 

 fowl have come about, and how it is reasonable to believe 

 that all the breeds have descended from one parent source : 



"... from the occasional appearance of abnormal 

 characters, though at first only slight in degree; from the 

 effects of the use and disuse of parts; possibly from the 

 direct effects of changed climate and food ; from correlation 

 of growth; from occasional reversions to old and long-lost 

 characters ; from the crossing of breeds when more than one 

 had once been formed; but, above all, from unconscious 

 selection carried on during many generations. " 



While the views and conclusions of Darwin were generally 

 those of all naturalists, there were others, including poul- 

 try writers and fanciers, who took strong grounds against 

 them. His conclusions were published in the year 1867. It 

 is worthy of note that a gentleman from whom he got much 

 of his poultry information, and whom he frequently quotes 

 in his book, later (1885) took issue with his conclusions that 

 all domestic fowls came from Gallus bankivus. This man 

 was Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, F.Z.S., a noted poultry author 

 and authority in England, who was associated with Darwin 

 in some of his experiments. Mr. Tegetmeier gives it as his 

 opinion that the different species of wild Galli will inter- 

 breed, and then he says: 



"But it is with regard to the Eastern Asiatic type of 

 fowl (absurdly known as Cochins and Brahmas) that my 

 doubts as to the descent from the G. ferrugineus (Bankivus) 

 are strongest. "We have in the Cochin a fowl so different, 

 from the ordinary domestic birds that when first introduced 

 the most ridiculous legends were current respecting it. Put- 

 ting these on one side, we have a bird with many structural 

 peculiarities that could hardly have been induced by domes- 

 tication. Thus, the long axis of the occipital foramen in 



