DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 07 



to become, like ourselves, denizens of the whole 

 earth. It is a remarkable circumstance, and 

 worthy of particular attention, that the animals 

 most subject to variation, are chiefly those which 

 man has taken into alliance with him from their 

 adaptation to his purposes. Now this tendency to 

 vary multiplies their uses, or, at least, contributes 

 to fit them for following him into different cli- 

 mates, enabling them to accommodate themselves 

 gradually to any change of circumstances to 

 which they may therein be exposed, without 

 diminishing their utility. 



Amongst the other races, especially the feline, 

 this appears not to take place, at least only with 

 respect to colour. The cat, though every where 

 domesticated, exhibits no other differences than 

 what obtain in the colour of her fur. If we 

 recollect that this favourite quadruped is prin- 

 cipally employed to destroy those minor animals 

 that are noxious in and about our houses, to 

 which indeed her instinct impels her, and that 

 she is solely led by that instinct, and adds nothing 

 to it from instruction, her sole savage object 

 being, like that of her congeners, to seize and 

 devour her prey ; that she never assists man, 

 like the dog, as the companion of his sports 

 in various ways, but exercises her single func- 

 tion always in the same way, and under the same 

 influence : if we further recollect that these are 

 the general habits of the genus to which she 



