Chap. I. 
UNDEK DOMESTICATION. 
9 
this curious subject; but to show how singular the laws 
are which determine the reproduction of animals under 
confinement, I may just mention that carnivorous ani¬ 
mals, even from the tropics, breed in this country pretty 
freely under confinement, with the exception of the 
plantigrades or bear family; whereas carnivorous birds, 
with the rarest exceptions, hardly ever lay fertile eggs. 
Many exotic plants have pollen utterly worthless, in the 
same exact condition as in the most sterile hybrids. 
When, on the one hand, we see domesticated animals 
and plants, though often weak and sickly, yet breeding 
quite freely under confinement; and when, on the other 
hand, we see individuals, though taken young from a 
state of nature, perfectly tamed, long-lived, and healthy 
(of which I could give numerous instances), yet having 
their reproductive system so seriously affected by un¬ 
perceived causes as to fail in acting, we need not be 
surprised at this system, when it does act under con¬ 
finement, acting not quite regularly, and producing off¬ 
spring not perfectly like their parents. 
Sterility has been said to be the bane of horticulture ; 
but on this view we owe variability to the same cause 
which produces sterility; and variability is the source 
of all the choicest productions of the garden. I may 
add, that as some organisms will breed freely under 
the most unnatural conditions (for instance, the rabbit 
and ferret kept in hutches), showing that their repro¬ 
ductive system has not been thus affected ; so will some 
animals and plants withstand domestication or cultiva¬ 
tion, and vary very slightly—perhaps hardly more than 
in a state of nature. 
A long list could easily be given of sporting plants ; ” 
by this term gardeners mean a single bud or offset, 
which suddenly assumes a new and sometimes very 
different character from that of the rest of the plant. 
B 3 
