132 SECRETS OF EARTH AND SEA 



never accepted this law of the limitation of species in 

 breeding as more than a general rule to which it has 

 always been supposed that frequent exceptions occur. 

 I mention this not in order to add that " there is always 

 some basis of truth in these popular beliefs," but on the 

 contrary to point out that popular beliefs on such matters 

 are very frequently altogether erroneous, and though 

 their origin can sometimes be explained, it is rare to 

 find that they are due, in however small a degree, to 

 true observation and inference. Where the subject under 

 consideration has the obscurity and strong fascination for 

 the natural man which all that relates to the processes 

 of life, growth, and reproduction possess, we find that 

 traditional fancies of the most unwarrantable kind are 

 current, and hold their ground with tenacity even at 

 the present day. Some 250 years ago, and earlier — in 

 fact, before the commencement of that definite epoch of 

 " the New Philosophy " marked by the foundation of 

 the Royal Society of London — any queer-looking animal 

 brought from remote lands, and any misshapen mon- 

 strosity born of cattle, sheep, dogs, or men, was "ex- 

 plained," and confidently regarded as a "hybrid," the 

 result of a " cross " or irregular coupling of two distinct 

 species of animals to which the "monster" presented 

 some fanciful resemblance. Whole books were devoted 

 to the description and picturing of such supposed examples 

 of mis-begotten progeny. 



The belief in the existence of such extraordinary 

 hybrids is still common among so-called " well-educated " 

 people. I have with difficulty avoided causing annoyance 

 and offence to a friend, a celebrated painter, by refusing 

 to admit that a deformed cat, of which he gave me an 

 account, was a hybrid between a cat and a rabbit. A very 

 eminent person whom I was conducting some years ago 

 round the galleries of the Natural History Museum, 



