NE 
6 LOTSY AND KUIPER, A PRELIM. STATEMENT OF THE RESULTS OF MR. 
nées à la grosseur du corps, offrent beaucoup d’analogies avec ces 01- 
seaux qui, ayant vécu dans le plus parfait isolement insulaire, ont 
perdu la faculté de voler. Si le Didus ineptus et le Pezophaps au 
lieu d’être détruits, auraient été transportés dans nos fermes, et 
avaient pu en supporter le climat, ne dirait-on pas peut-être 
qu'ils offrent le plus bel exemple de variation régressive due à la 
domesticité ? Comme les Îles Mascarènes et les Galapagos possèdent 
des tortues gigantesques, et comme les premiéres ont possédé en une 
époque historique, des oiseaux très voyants ainsi il ne faut pas ex- 
clure que quelque ile de l’Océan Indien n’ait possédé autrefois, des 
poules incapables de voler, que l’homme a amenées en esclavage’’. 
We therefore see, that from the facts at our command, we are unable 
to judge whether a monophyletic or a polyphyletic origin of our poul- 
try is the more probable, certainly the diversity of Gallus bankiva in na- 
ture is so slight, that it is well nigh inconceivable that this linneon alone — 
should have given rise to all our domestic races. Stil, as has been said, 
BEEBE adheres to this opinion and gives a Chapter I. c. p. 205—207 on 
„Ihe Cock in Human History” and one I. c. p. 191—196 entitled | Re- 
lation to Man”, in which he tries to trace back the origin of our do- 
mestic breeds to Gallus bankiva. I shall give a review of his remarks in 
the following chapter . 
HISTORICAL DATA ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF OUR DOMESTIC POULTRY 
Tradition carries back the domestication of the cock in China to as 
early as 1400 B. C. and the modern name for the bird, ki or kai, can be 
traced to the Chou Dynasty (1122—249 B. C.). Ina very ancient dictio- 
nary ki is defined as „the domestic animal which knows the time”. In 
the /r-ya, a glossary of the time of Confucius, it again is found. Origin- 
ally an object for sacrifice in China, its inhabitants were quick to see 
the utilitarian value of the fowl, and to breed several distinct races. | 
In India, there is in the Indus period of the Aryan invasion, the time 
of the Rig Veda, no mention of the cock, but about 1000 B. C., when 
the Aryans had reached the Ganges, in the Atharna and the Yajur Ve- 
das, the cock is well known.This emphasizes the significance of the fact 
that Solomon’s Phoenicians, who found and imported the pea-cock 
from that part of India which they could reach by sea, did not find the 
cock. Bactria and Persia must, judging by the part which the cock plays 
