40 ON THE TENDENCY OF VARIETIES TO DEPART 
pouter pigeons, and poodle dogs could never have 
come into existence in a state of nature, because 
the very first step towards such inferior forms would 
have led to the rapid extinction of the race; still 
less could they now exist in competition with their 
wild allies. The great speed but slight endurance 
of the race horse, the unwieldly strength. of the 
ploughman’s team, would both be useless in a state 
of nature. If turned wild on the pampas, such ani- 
mals would probably soon become extinct, or under 
favourable circumstances might each — gradually lose 
those extreme qualities which would never be called 
into action, and in a few generations revert to a 
common type, which must be that in which the 
various powers:and faculties are so proportioned to 
each ‘other as: to be best adapted ‘to procure food and 
secure: safety,—that in which by the full exercise of 
every part of its organisation the animal can alone 
continue. to: live. Domestic varieties, when turned 
wild, must return to something near the type of 
the original: wild stock, or become. altogether extinct.* 
We see, then, that no inferences as to the per- 
manence of varieties in a state of nature can be 
deduced from the observations of those occurring 
among domestic animals. The two are so much op- 
posed to each other in every circumstance of their 
* That is, they will vary, and the variations which tend to 
adapt them to the wild state, and therefore approximate them 
to wild animals, will be preserved. Those individuals which do 
not vary sufficiently will perish, 
