DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS 217 
to those living inland.” Another worm, of which the habits are 
much the same, abounds on the shores of Mota Island, in the 
New Hebrides, and is also eaten. 
HEDGEHOG-SKINNED AnimaLs (EcHINODERMATA).—The “roe” 
of Sea-Urchins (Echinotdea) was prized as a luxury by the 
ancient Romans, and is still eaten on the shores of the Adriatic, 
as well as in other parts of the world. The ‘“sea-eggs” men- 
tioned in the quotation from Darwin’s account of the Fuegians 
given at the beginning of this chapter (p. 211) are animals of 
the kind. The collection of sea-urchins (chiefly A/zpponoe escu- 
Zenta) for food is an important but decaying industry in Barbados, 
amounting in value to £4000 per annum. 
The dried bodies of Sea-Cucumbers (Holothuroidea) constitute 
what is commonly known to commerce as Béche-de-Mer or Tre- 
pang, an important article of food to the Chinese. The most 
extensive fishery is on the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the 
annual return of which is worth some £23,000 to Queensland. 
These animals abound in the West Indies, of which the marine 
resources are not sufficiently developed. One desideratum is a 
properly-organized trepang fishery. 
ZoopHYTES (C@LENTERATA).—This group of animals is un- 
important as a source of food, but Sea-Anemones (cul de mule?) 
are eaten in France, Sicily, and along the shores of the Adriatic. 
DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS 
The domestication of certain animals by man has been one 
of the most important factors in the evolution of civilization, 
enabling the prehistoric huntsmen and shore-dwellers to pass 
into the more civilized pastoral stage, from which gradual tran- 
sition is easy to the still more civilized agricultural stage. 
Although the Dog can claim to be the earliest domesticated 
animal, our greatest debt is obviously due to various Hoofed 
Mammals (Ungulata), which include all the larger inhabitants 
of our farmyards, the Camels of the Old World, and the Llamas 
of the New, while Elephants belong to an order which is not 
distantly related. The most important domesticated birds belong 
to two orders, (1) Ducks and Geese (Anseres), and (2) Game- 
Birds (Gallinz), including, more particularly, Fowls (descended 
from an Indian stock) and Turkeys (natives of North America). 
