150 STERILITY FROM 



Chap. XVIII 



breed. Mr. Bates, in his admirable work on the Amazons, strongly 

 insists on similar cases; 12 and he remarks, that the fact of thoroughly 

 tamed native mammals and birds not breeding when kept by the Indians 

 cannot be wholly accounted for by their negligence or indifference for 

 the turkey and fowl are kept and bred by various remote tribes. In 

 almost every part of the world — for instance, in the interior of Africa 

 and in several of the Polynesian islands —the natives are extremely fond 

 of taming the indigenous quadrupeds and birds ; but they rarely or never 

 succeed in getting them to breed. 



t) uuuu b 



The most notorious case of an animal not breeding in captivity is that 

 of the elephant. Elephants are kept in large numbers in their native 

 Indian home, live to old age, and are vigorous enough for the severest 

 labour ; yet, with one or two exceptions, they have never been known even 

 to couple, though both males and females have their proper periodical 

 seasons. If, however, we proceed a little eastward to Ava, we hear from 

 Mr. Crawfurd 13 that their " breeding in the domestic state, or at least in 

 the half-domestic state in which the female elephants are generally kept, 

 is of every-day occurrence ;" and Mr. Crawfurd informs me that he believes 

 that the difference must be attributed solely to the females being allowed 

 to roam the forests with some degree of freedom. The captive rhinoceros, 

 on the other hand, seems from Bishop Heber's account u to breed in India 

 far more readily than the elephant. Four wild species of the horse genus 

 have bred in Europe, though here exposed to a great change in their 

 natural habits of life ; but the species have generally been crossed one with 

 another. Most of the members of the pig family breed readily in our 



West 



(Potamochoer 



{D 



another species, the D. labiatus, though rendered so tame as to be half- 

 domesticated, breeds so rarely in its native country of Paraguay, that 

 according to Eengger 15 the fact requires confirmation. Mr. Bates remarks 

 that the tapir, though often kept tame in Amazonia by the Indians, 

 never breeds. 



Euminants generally breed quite freely in England, though brought 

 from widely different climates, as may be seen in the Annual Eeports of 

 the Zoological Gardens, and in the Gleanings from Lord Derby's menagerie. 



The Carnivora, with the exception of the Plantigrade division, generally 

 breed (though with capricious exceptions) almost as freely as ruminants. 

 Many species of Felidse have bred in various menageries, although imported 

 from various climates and closely confined. Mr. Bartlett, the present 

 superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, 16 remarks that the lion appears 

 to breed more frequently and to bring forth more young at a birth than 

 any other species of the family. He adds that the tieer has rarely bred ; 



12 ' The Naturalist on the Amazons,' w « Journal,' vol. i. p. 213. 



1863, vol. i. pp. 99, 193 ; vol. ii. p. ' » « Saugethiere ' s. 327. 



113. 



13 « 



16 On the Breeding of the" larger 

 Embassy to the Court of Ava,' Felicte, ' Proc. Zoolo^. Soc.,' 1861, p- 





vol. i. p. 534. 140. 



