64 EVOLUTION 



what may not Nature have effected in a very 

 long time? 



There are over two hundred very well-, 

 maAed_breeds of domestic pigeons, and 

 there are at least ten that would be ranked 

 as distinct genera if they occurred wild; yet 

 there is very strong eyidence thai^pJl are 

 blue rock-dove, Columbalvia. 



__ 



In the same way there is very strong evi- 

 dence that all the breeds of poultry Ham- 

 burghs and Dorkings, Bantams and Silk- 

 fowl, and all the rest of them, are descended 

 from the jungle-fowl, Gallus bankiva, still 

 found wild in some parts of India and the 

 Malay Islands. Since the cg^ary_s^asL-JLn- 

 troduced intoJEurope aEouFthe,middle of the 

 sixteenth century, over a dozen very dis- 

 tinctive races have been "established: and of 

 course varieties for "the fancy" without end. 

 It is a remarkable fact that, in spite of 

 the accuracy, assiduity and collecting ac- 

 quisitiveness which characterize botanical 

 systematists, we know jvery liftl^ t.lia.f. -l<a 

 quite ^certain about -the, pedigrees of culti- 

 vatecTpTants. As De Vries says: The origin 

 and history of the greater part of our garden 

 flowers, fruits and vegetables are obscure; 

 we see them as they are, and do not know 

 whence they came. The original habitat 

 for a whole genus or for a species at large may 



