56 



FIRST CLASS OF THE VERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 



of mountains and valleys are seen to abound with animals unknown to every other 

 . part of the globe. Among all these species, we find, when all other conditions re- 

 main the same, that those confined to a small district exhibit the smallest and least 

 important variations. 



The Herbivorous Mammalia are much more liable to be influenced by climate than 

 the Carnassiers, because their food is more variable, both in quantity and quality. 

 _ For this reason, the Elephants in one forest will be larger than in another. Thetr 

 . tusks will be longer in those places where the food yields a greater quantity of the 

 matter necessary to enter into the composition of ivory. The same thing will hap- 

 pen to the Rein Deer, and to the Stags, in respect to their horns. However, the 

 , nature of their food serves to confine the range of the Herbivorous tribes within 

 still narrower limits than that of the Carnassiers. 



J Thus the entire influence of the climate and food upon wild animals is by no 

 means very great. Some variations are, however, due to another cause. When 

 the same male always continues attached to the same female, as happens with the 

 Roe-bucks, the young exhibit that uniform resemblance to each other, and to the 

 parents, which demonstrates the fidelity of their attachment. It is evident, that 

 where the same female attaches herself to several males, as happens with the common 

 Hinds (^Cervjis elaphus), the varieties must be greatly increased. We must also 

 expect to find considerable variations in those smaller species which are very pro- 

 ductive. Females bearing five or six young ones at a birth, and producing per- 

 haps three times a year by different males, must greatly augment the number of 

 these varieties. 



Among the wild animals, any connate varieties which may arise from local causes, 

 are soon blended by a continual intercourse with the original race, and in a few 

 o;enerations they wholly disappear. Hence we find in the herds of wild animals 

 characters of marked uniformity, which cannot be discovered among those domestic 

 races where the care of Man has intervened, and rendered the varieties permanent. 



Nature has placed a fixed barrier to those variations, which might have arisen from 

 the union of males and females of different species. We usually find that species, 

 nearly alhed to each other in zoological characters, bear a mutual aversion of the 

 most marked and decisive kind. It requires the greatest degree of ingenuity and 

 constraint, on the part of Man, to deceive the animals so far as to form these un- 

 natural unions between different species; and when the Hybrids thence produced are 

 themselves productive, which seldom happens, they do not continue so for many 

 generations. Even this partial fecundity would not probably have existed, without 

 the continuation of that care by which the first union had been induced. We never 

 iind in the woods any animals of a character intermediate to the Hare and the 

 Rabbit, to the Weasel and the Polecat, or to the Stag and the Fallow Deer. 



There are, however, distinct species which are capable of producing by their 

 union fertile individuals. The offspring of the Dog or his female, with the female 

 or male Wolf or Fox, are prolific. The same thing occurs with the offspring of the 

 He-Goat and Ewe. The Mules produced between the Ass and Mare are some- 

 times proUfic, and fertile races may be produced from the unions of several Birds 

 of distinct species. Yet these are merely exceptions to the more general law, that 

 the unions of animals of different species are either wholly unproductive, or the off- 

 spring is a Hybrid, and incapable of procreation. 



There is a tendency among most animals, whether wild or domesticated, to pass 

 occasionally into White varieties, distinguished by the term Albinos. Their hair 

 is remarkably soft, and perfectly white, the iris of the eye is of a bright red co- 

 lour, and the sight is acutely sensible to light. These varieties are therefore cre- 

 puscular, that is, they appear only during twilight or moonshine. In dark woods, 

 old cathedrals, and obscure subterranean retreats, the common brown Mouse acquires, 

 from the absence of light, the red eyes and white hair of the Albino variety. This 

 property becomes hereditary, and thus races may be formed, as has happened in the 

 case of the common Ferret, which is probably only a variety of the Polecat {Mustela 

 Putorius). The offspring of two brown I\Iice are white when the old animals are 

 retained in absolute darkness. These Albino varieties have also been seen in the 

 Bactrian Camel, the Elephant, the Beaver, and in a very great number of other ani- 

 mals. 



" By far the most powerful cause of the evolution of varieties in the Animal King- 

 dom," remarks Dr Prichai'd, "is Domestication. To be convinced of the truth of 

 this fact, we need only look at the phenomena which surround us on every side. In 

 . all our stocks of domesticated animals, we see profuse and infinite variety, and in 

 the races of wild animals, from which they originally descended, we find a uniform 

 colour and figure for the most part to prevail. Domestication is to animals what 

 cultivation is to veo^etables, and the former probably differs from the natural state of 

 the one class of beinf^s in the same circumstances, which distinguish the latter from 

 the natural condition of the other class. The most apparent of these is the abundant 

 supply of the pecuhar stimuU of each kind. Animals in a wild state procure a simple 

 and unvaried food in precarious and deficient quantities, and are exposed to the incle- 

 mencies of the seasons. Their young are produced in similar circumstances to tho 

 state of seedlino-s which spring uncultivated in a poor soil. But in the improved 

 state all the stimuli of various food, of warmth, &c. are afforded in abundance, and 

 the consequence is a luxuriant growth, the evolution of varieties, and the exhibition 

 of all the perfections of which each species is capable." 



Hence it is in Man and Domestic Animals that varieties are most numerous and 

 perplexin"". At present, we shall confine our remarks to the changes experienced 

 by the Domestic Animals, leaving the more interesting and difficult consideration of 

 the varieties in the Human Race to a more advanced stage of this work. Indeed, 

 it is only after a careful study of the limits of variation amongst the Domestic 

 - Animals, that we shall be competent to consider the varieties of the Human Race in 

 an unprejudiced and impartial manner. 



In those species which have experienced an imperfect domestication, the varia- 

 tion is but slight, and it is due chiefly to chmate. Thus, we have but few 

 varieties of the Cat, and their modiScations are by no means considerable. Some 

 , have a softer fur, the colours of others are perhaps more vivid, or their size is 

 creater. These are the limits of their variations, and they are further confined by 



the habits of intercourse which the tame Cats preserve with the wild individuals of 

 their species, estabhshed in their immediate neighbourhood. In this way, all the 

 tame Cats bear a marked resemblance to the wild Cat of pure breed. The colour of 

 the latter is uniformly gray, with blackish longitudinal bands, while its fur is some- 

 what rough. When tamed, in some chmates, its colours become vivid or the fur 

 grows smooth; in other countries the colours are softened down and become blended 

 together, and the fur grows rough. When the European Cats are removed to the 

 warmer parts of Africa, their form does not change with the chmate. Their varia- 

 tions of colour prevail chiefly in Anatoha, Spain, and Persia, where distinct races 

 have been formed. It is said, that there exists in China a variety of the Domestic 

 Cat, with pendant ears, and in the Isle of Man there is a distinct race destitute of 

 tails. These form the extreme limits of variation in a species, which serves to mark 

 the transition from the Wild to the Domestic Mammalia. 



We may naturally expect to find a greater degree of variation in the Domesticated 

 Herbivorous Mammalia, which have been transported into every climate for our use, 

 and to whom we allot vai-ious portions of food and labour. Their modifications are, 

 however, merely superficial. A greater or less degree of size ; longer or shorter 

 horns, or the want of them altogether ; or perhaps a lump of fat on the shoulder, or near 

 the tail, are the general limits of their variations. The colour also is ever variable, 

 and often without any assignable cause. 



The Goat has experienced many changes of colour, and in Spain it has lost its 

 horns. The different qualities of fleece found in the Cashmere, Thibet, and Angora 

 Goats, are well known in commerce. It is, however, the last of these varieties, 

 which appears, from its pendant ears, to have departed the most widely from the 

 original type. The usual and well-known influence of the climate of Anatoha, joined to 

 the long domestication of the species, in a nation civilized at an early period, has 

 produced this variety by the long-continued action of these causes. Buffon remarked 

 that the Angora Goats born in France were losing those long and pendant ears 

 which characterize the Syrian variety, and it was expected that in a few generations 

 they would acquire ears and fleece resembling those of the common Goats of that 

 country; but, according to Blumenbach, the Angora variety continues permanent 

 when the animals are removed to other climates. 



Among the Sheep, the variations are numerous, but these chiefly refer to the fleece, 

 which it has been the constant care of Man to alter and improve. In some districts 

 the sheep are always black, and very often a white Ram and Ewe will produce a 

 black lamb. In other places they may be brown, spotted, reddish, or even yellowish. 

 These varieties of colour are still more accidental than the other differences, which 

 arise among races from alterations of food and chmate. The limit of variation among 

 the Sheep may be seen in those enormous accumulations of fat, which swell the 

 tails of a race found in some parts of Africa and Asia. Pallas, who saw the Sheep 

 of the Kirguis, a tribe of Siberia, describes them as being more fat and deformed than 

 any he had ever seen. They are taller than a young calf, very heavy, and some- 

 what resemble the Indian Sheep in their proportions. Their heads are much swollen, 

 with large pendant ears, and the lower lip extending far beyond the upper. The 

 greater number have one or two bunches covered with hair, which hang down from 

 their neck. In the place where in other Sheep a tail is usually found, there is a 

 round and large protuberance of fat, with scarcely any wool beneath, and these pro- 

 tuberances often weigh from thirty to forty pounds, and yield from twenty to thirty 

 pounds of suet. These peculiarities continue permanent wherever they may be 

 removed. The native Sheep of Ethiopia are covered with coarse hair, and those 

 of Thibet with very fine wool. The Ankon variety of Sheep from Connecticut have 

 the fore-legs bent like an elbow ; and this deformity, which is usually communicated 

 to their descendants, as well as the general shortness of all the legs, was at one time 

 much cultivated, from the Sheep being thence unable to climb the fences. 



We have already seen, that the Bull can scarcely be considered a domestic animal, 

 when viewed in reference to its disposition ; yet its colour varies equally with its 

 more domesticated female. Innumerable varieties of the Cow are distinguished by 

 Graziers; and France alone reckons at least sixteen varieties, deriving their names 

 from the Provinces which they inhabit. The possession of udders of enormous size, 

 and the property of giving milk all the year round, are qualities acquired by Do- 

 mestication. We are informed by Pennant, that the American Bison is covered In 

 the winter with a long shaggy fleece, which hangs over his neck, and partakes some- 

 what of the nature of wool; but that in summer he is almost naked. In the island 

 of Celebes there is found a variety of the Buffalo, not larger than our common 

 Sheep. 



The Ass undergoes, from domestication, several changes in the colour and quality 

 of Its hair ; but the wild Asses, inhabiting the country of the Calmucks in immense 

 numbers, resemble each other precisely in all those particulars which are observed 

 to vary among the domesticated species. In other respects, they only differ from 

 the Domestic Asses, in being of a greater size and beauty. The wild Asses inhabiting 

 the deserts of Barbary are imiformly gray, and ai'e said even to outstrip the Horse 

 in speed of foot. 



The joint influence of Oimate and Domestication seems to have a greater power 

 over the Horse, audits varieties are accordingly almost infinite In number. In some 

 the head Is small and slender, the nostrils are wide and easily moved, the ears are 

 slim and directed forwards, and the eyes are lively. In other varieties we have a 

 complete contrast in all thes^ particulars. The head is heavy, the nostrils are nar- 

 row and close, the ears are large and directed backwards, and the eyes have a marked 

 expression of duhiess. An equal degree of variety is found in their colours, which 

 may be black, bay, brown, or white, or any combination of these shades. In Ceylon 

 there Is said to be a variety of the Horse which is not more than thirty Inches high ; 

 in other climates the Horse is nearly as large as the Bactrian Camel. In bulk 

 it sometimes rivals the Ox, and often It emulates the lightness of the Stag. We are 

 informed, by John Hunter, that all foals are usually of the same colour, and that, though 

 the hair may vary as they become older, still the skin remains the same, being no darker 

 in black than in white Horses, which Is contrary to what is observed in most species. 

 There is an exception in cream-coloured Horses, which have the skin of the same 

 hue as the hair. In size, colour, and form, as well as the quaUty of the hair, they 



