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428 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



Chap. XXVIII. 



to 



chance of the occurrence of well-marked deviations of 



structure. Length of time is all-impor 



for 



each cha 



racter, in order to become 



ly pronounced, has to be 



merited by the selection of successive variations of the s; 



this can only be effected during a long series of g 



rations. Length of time will 



allow any new feature to 



become fixed by the continued rejection of those individuals 

 which revert or vary, and the preservation of those which inherit 



character. H 



although 



few 



haT 



ied rapidly in certain respects under new conditions of life, 



in the West Indies, yet all the 



marked 



as dogs in India and sheer 



animals and 



P 



which have produced 



races 



domesticated at an extremely 



^ly ma 

 poch, often 



before the dawn of history. As a consequence of this, no record 

 has been preserved of the origin 



of 



Even at the present day 



chief domestic breeds, 

 sub-breeds are formed 



slowly that their first appearance passes unnoticed. A 



attends 



some particular character, or 



ely matches his 



animals with unusual care, and after a time a slight differ 

 perceived by his neighbours : 



s 



the difference goes on being aug- 



mented by unconscious and methodical selection, until at last i 

 new sub-breed is formed, receives a local name, and spreads ; but 



by this time, its history is almost forg 



When the 



breed has spread widely, it gives rise to new strains and sub 

 breeds, and the best of these sin 



these succeed and spread, su 

 other and older breeds ; and so always onwards in the 

 improvement. 



When a well-marked breed has 

 supplanted by still improvii 



plant 



& 



once been established, if r 

 sub-breeds, and if not exposed 



eatly changed conditions of life, inducing further variability 



reversion to long-lost characters, it may apparently last for 



l enormous period. We may infer that this is the case from the 



h antiquity of 



but some caution is necessary 



on this head, for the same variation may appear independently 



after long intervals of time, or in distant places. We may safely 



assume that this has 



figured on the ancient Egypt 



hoofed swine n 



ed with the turnspit-dog which i: 



an monuments, with the solid 



11 mentioned by Aristotle, with five-toed fowls 



11 Godron, ' De l'Espece,' torn, i., 1859, p. 308. 



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