82 
On Varieties in the Animal Kingdom. [March, 
The circumstances, under which these varieties present themselves, are the 
following : — 
1st. A great analogy in the organization to render generation possible. Cases 
are related, it is true, in which procreation hath followed the mutual copulation 
of dogs and cats, of turkeys and fowls, and of the cock and duck ; and per* 
feet copulation between the Cantharis melanura , and E later niger, is generally 
received as fact. Even the great number of species in the insect world may 
possibly depend upon unions of this kind being prolific, such is the resemblance 
between many of the species. 
Jumarts have, in like manner, been considered as the produce of similar copula* 
tions, between individuals of the genus Bos, and others of the genus Equus. B 
has even been believed, that animals differing still more, as rabbits and cats, 
could procreate together, and those cats, which have a short tail, furnished with 
a pencil of hairs, and whose hind legs are more elevated than the fore, have 
been adduced in proof of this opinion. But most of the stories of this sort are 
entirely without foundation. 
In the case related by Rossi, i. e. perfect copulation between the Cantharis 
melanura and Elater niger, and doubtless in others also, (especially where union 
has taken place between animals of different classes,) copulation has been accom- 
plished, but has procreation been the results thereof? Of this, we are ignorant. 
As for Jumarts, these animals are apparently small asses, or stunted mules, 
and many circumstances tend to confirm this conclusion. 1st. All the signs, 
proper for characterizing them as such, are met with iu these animals. 2dly. Their 
diminutive size proves, at least, that they are not the offspring of a prolific union 
between a bull and a mare, since animals, in respect to dimensions, generally 
take after the female. 3dly. Their supposed origin has never been attested by 
creditable witnesses, notwithstanding the frequency of their existence. 4thlv. 
Sexual congress between the species, which are regarded as the progenitors of 
these beings, has never been known to take place, spontaneously, in a state of 
nature, though it has often been the results of experiments made for the purpose, 
and in these cases, has been invariably unattended with fruitfulness. 5thly. Dissec- 
tion has always proved these animals to be either asses or mules. 
Between animals, whose approximation is closer, we find, on the other hand, 
that copulation is fruitful ; but also, that, in some instances, the produce of this 
union are endowed with powers of procreation. Examples of this kind between 
the wolf and dog occasionally present themselves to our notice, so that Buffon, 
who, at one period, denied the possibility of procreation between these two species, 
has himself observed, and given a description of cases in which these bastards 
have reproduced even the fourth generation. 
It is equally certain, that the fox and the dog, the Llama and the she goat, the 
roe-buck and the she-goat, the ass and zebra,' as well as the horse and ass, produce 
bastards, which are themselves, sometimes, capable of procreation 
The experiments of Springer have proved, also, a similar fecundity in hybrid 
birds. Daily examples, occurring in the genus Fringilla, remove all doubt on the 
subject. 
It IS worthy of remark, that female bastards are frequently prolific, whilst 
barrenness invar, ably exists iu males; and the most plausible explanation of such 
thefr de a vT arS ’ “f ° f generation (which, in the early state of 
of perfectlTT'; ^ T inCa P abIe - «n bastards, of attaining that degree 
ol r“anulat " man ‘ fc8ted “ * *• — genital par. 
