'2 \'2 ZOOLOGY. 



standard for the new variety he is desirous of creating.* By 

 endeavouring thus to drvrlnp from p-nrration to generation 

 a eertain physieal or mental quality, we render such qualities 

 hereditary, at least for a time. 



Even in our own times, guided by interest, men have thus 

 formed new varieties of sheep, oxen, and horses. To Bake- 

 well, for example, we owe the variety of sheep called X-\v 

 Leirrster, remarkable for their fattening qualities. The fore 

 quarters of the large Wurtemburg variety of slice]-, 

 valuable sort for the market butcher, weigh from 52 to 

 55 per 100 of the whole weight; in the New Leicester 

 or Dishley breed, the weight amounts to 70 or even 75. It 

 must be known to all how the quality of the wool is improved 

 by crossing with the merinos of Spain.f 



Finally, the various breeds of horses prove these facts 

 respecting the influence of man over the domestic races 

 of animals. Our agricultural breeds of horses owe in part 

 their stature, their forms, and qualities, to the race from 

 which they have sprung; but the circumstances in which 

 they are placed when young exert an influence over them no 

 less great. The young resembles the mother more than the 

 father in respect of the size and height ; whilst it resembles 

 the father more as regards the feet, speed, courage, &c. 



It is essential therefore, in breeding, to select those indi- 

 viduals only which possess the requisite qualities, rejecting 

 their opposite*; or, in other words, to breed from those having 

 opposite qualities : in time the new forms become hereditary 

 and general. To attention to these matters, the Arab horses 

 owe their grand qualities. The noble breed they call kochlani 



* The bloodhounds transplanted into America by the Spaniards, employed 

 at first to pursue only men and deer, furnish a remarkable instance of "the 

 power of transmitting certain newly-created mental qualities, hereditarily. 

 In different parts of America, as on "the central table-land of Santa- Fe, these 

 animals have preserved their original instincts and physical qualities ; but 

 amongst the poor inhabitants of the hanks of the .Madeline they have become 

 degraded, partly by a mixture with other dojs, partly by a scarcity of food, 

 and in this degenerate race of the bloodhound a "new instinct'has been 

 developed. The chase in which they have been lon^ employed is that of the 

 white-muzzled Peccari. The skill" <>( the dot: e.>nist> in moderating its 

 courage or ardour, so as not to attack any individual of tin- troop or herd of 

 peccaris, but to keep the whole in cheek. Now it has been observed that 

 these do>,'s act thus on the very first occasion they hunt the peccari, whereas 

 any strange dog throws himself on them at once, and is devoured in an 

 instant, whatever be itfc strength. 



t It was in 177; that the superintendent of finances, Daniel Trudaine, 

 attempted lirst the introduction of the merino into France, and it is to 

 Danbenton, the collaborateur of Buffon, that is due the success of the enter- 

 prise. 



