THE CEOSSING, AC, OF PIGS. 281 



Pigeon, for instance, are developed, under domestica- 

 tion, they are not all developed, in each individual ; 

 but, many of them are apportioned among different 

 varieties. 



With the Pig, however, there has been, under do- 

 mestication, direct reduction and suppression of many 

 of its characters. The same characters, have, in the 

 main, been reduced or suppressed, in all of the im- 

 proved (?) varieties of this species. Darwin, speaking 

 of breeding in general, and of the divergence, which 

 is so notably exemplified in the case of the pigeon, says 

 (p. 290, Vol. ii, Animals and Plants, &c.) : 



" Selection, whether methodical or unconscious, 

 always tending towards an extreme point, together 

 "with the neglect and slow extinction of the inter- 

 mediate and less valued forms, is the key which un- 

 locks the mystery how man has produced such won- 

 derful results. In a few instances, selection, guided 

 by utility, for a single purpose, has led to' convergence 

 of character. All the improved and different races of the 

 Pig, as Nathusius has well shown, closely approach 

 each other in character, in their shortened legs, and 

 muzzles, their almost hairless, large, rounded bodies, 

 and small tusks:" 



The only differences between the several breeds of 

 Pigs, are the degrees to which this reduction and sup- 

 pression has been carried ; and the degrees in which 

 those characters which have been retained, have been 

 developed. 



In all of the highly improved breeds, the legs, the 

 tusks, the bristles, the hairy covering, the skin, the 

 front of the head, the jaws, and the tail, have., as 



