Breeders’ Boasts 
cant, because it shows that there is apparently 
nothing inimical to the welfare of a species in 
having, say, the third pair of tail feathers from 
the middle exceptionally prolonged. 
This is a most important point, and one 
which seems to be ignored by the majority of 
scientific men, who appear to be misled by the 
boastful talk of certain successful breeders. 
Thus, on page 29 of the Ovigen of Speczes, 
Darwin quotes, with approval, Youatt’s descrip- 
tion of selection as ‘‘the magician’s wand, by 
means of which he may summon into life what- 
ever form and mould he pleases.” Darwin 
further cites Sir John Sebright as saying, with 
regard to pigeons, that he would “ produce any 
given feather in three years, but it would take 
him six years to obtain head and beak.” 
If it were possible absolutely to originate any- 
thing by selection, horticulturists would almost 
certainly ere this have produced a pure black 
flower. The fact that not a single mammal 
exists, either in nature or under domestication, 
with scarlet, blue, or green in its hair, appears to 
show that, for some reason or other, mammals 
never vary in any of these directions. 
The fact that so few animals have developed 
prehensile tails seems to indicate that variation 
does not often occur in that direction, for 
obviously a prehensile tail is of the very greatest 
utility to its possessor; so that there can be 
63 
