The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication — Volume 2

Throughout the world, wherever silk is produced, the greatest care is bestowed on selecting the cocoons from which the moths for breeding are to be reared. A careful cultivator (20/14. Robinet 'Vers a Soie' 1848 page 271.) likewise examines the moths themselves, and destroys those that are not perfect. But what more immediately concerns us is that certain families in France devote themselves to raising eggs for sale. (20/15. Quatrefages 'Les Maladies du Ver a Soie' 1859 page 101.) In China, near Shanghai, the inhabitants of two small districts have the privilege of raising eggs for the whole surrounding country, and that they may give up their whole time to this business, they are interdicted by law from producing silk. (20/16. M. Simon in 'Bull. de la Soc. d'Acclimat.' tome 9 1862 page 221.)

The care which successful breeders take in matching their birds is surprising. Sir John Sebright, whose fame is perpetuated by the "Sebright Bantam," used to spend "two and three days in examining, consulting, and disputing with a friend which were the best of five or six birds." (20/17. 'The Poultry Chronicle' volume 1 1854 page 607.) Mr. Bult, whose pouter-pigeons won so many prizes, and were exported to North America under the charge of a man sent on purpose, told me that he always deliberated for several days before he matched each pair. Hence we can understand the advice of an eminent fancier, who writes (20/18. J.M. Eaton 'A Treatise on Fancy Pigeons' 1852 page 14 and 'A Treatise on the Almond Tumbler' 1851 page 11.) "I would here particularly guard you against having too great a variety of pigeons, otherwise you will know a little of all, but nothing about one as it ought to be known." Apparently it transcends the power of the human intellect to breed all kinds: "it is possible that there may be a few fanciers that have a good general knowledge of fancy pigeons; but there are many more who labour under the delusion of supposing they know what they do not." The excellence of one sub- variety, the Almond Tumbler, lies in the plumage, carriage, head, beak, and eye; but it is too presumptuous in the beginner to try for all these points. The great judge above quoted says, "There are some young fanciers who are over-covetous, who go for all the above five properties at once; they have their reward by getting nothing." We thus see that breeding even fancy pigeons is no simple art: we may smile at the solemnity of these precepts, but he who laughs will win no prizes.

What methodical selection has effected for our animals is sufficiently proved, as already remarked, by our Exhibitions. So greatly were the sheep belonging to some of the earlier breeders, such as Bakewell and Lord Western, changed, that many persons could not be persuaded that they had not been crossed. Our pigs, as Mr. Corringham remarks (20/19. 'Journal Royal Agricultural Soc.' volume 6 page 22.) during the last twenty years have undergone, through rigorous selection together with crossing, a complete metamorphosis. The first exhibition for poultry was held in the Zoological Gardens in 1845; and the improvement effected since that time has been great. As Mr. Bailey, the great judge, remarked to me, it was formerly ordered that the comb of the Spanish cock should be upright, and in four or five years all good birds had upright combs; it was ordered that the Polish cock should have no comb or wattles, and now a bird thus furnished would be at once disqualified; beards were ordered, and out of fifty-seven pens lately (1860) exhibited at the Crystal Palace, all had beards. So it has been in many other cases. But in all cases the judges order only what is occasionally produced and what can be improved and rendered constant by selection. The steady increase in weight during the last few years in our fowls, turkeys, ducks, and geese is notorious; "six-pound ducks are now common, whereas four pounds was formerly the average." As the time required to make a change has not often been recorded, it may be worth mentioning that it took Mr. Wicking thirteen years to put a clean white head on an almond tumbler's body, "a triumph," says another fancier, "of which he may be justly proud." (20/20. 'Poultry Chronicle' volume 2 1855 page 596.)

Mr. Tollet, of Betley Hall, selected cows, and especially bulls, descended from good milkers, for the sole purpose of improving his cattle for the production of cheese; he steadily tested the milk with the lactometer, and in eight years he increased, as I was informed by him, the product in proportion of four to three. Here is a curious case (20/21. Isid. Geoffroy St. — Hilaire 'Hist. Nat. Gen.' tome 3 page 254.) of steady but slow progress, with the end not as yet fully attained: in 1784 a race of silkworms was introduced into France, in which one hundred in the thousand failed to produce white cocoons; but now after careful selection during sixty-five generations, the proportion of yellow cocoons has been reduced to thirty-five in the thousand.

With plants selection has been followed with the same good result as with animals. But the process is simpler, for plants in the great majority of cases bear both sexes. Nevertheless, with most kinds it is necessary to take as much care to prevent crosses as with animals or unisexual plants; but with some plants, such as peas, this care is not necessary. With all improved plants, excepting of course those which are propagated by buds, cuttings, etc., it is almost indispensable to examine the seedlings and destroy those which depart from the proper type. This is called "roguing," and is, in fact, a form of selection, like the rejection of inferior animals. Experienced horticulturists and agriculturists incessantly urge every one to preserve the finest plants for the production of seed.

Although plants often present much more conspicuous variations than animals, yet the closest attention is generally requisite to detect each slight and favourable change. Mr. Masters relates (20/22. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1850 page 198.) how "many a patient hour was devoted," whilst he was young, to the detection of differences in peas intended for seed. Mr. Barnet (20/23. 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 6 page 152.) remarks that the old scarlet American strawberry was cultivated for more than a century without producing a single variety; and another writer observes how singular it was that when gardeners first began to attend to this fruit it began to vary; the truth no doubt being that it had always varied, but that, until slight variations were selected and propagated by seed, no conspicuous result was obtained. The finest shades of difference in wheat have been discriminated and selected with almost as much care as, in the case of the higher animals, for instance by Col. Le Couteur and more especially by Major Hallett.

It may be worth while to give a few examples of methodical selection with plants; but in fact the great improvement of all our anciently cultivated plants may be attributed to selection long carried on, in part methodically, and in part unconsciously. I have shown in a former chapter how the weight of the gooseberry has been increased by systematic selection and culture. The flowers of the Heartsease have been similarly increased in size and regularity of outline. With the Cineraria, Mr. Glenny (20/24. 'Journal of Horticulture' 1862 page 369.) "was bold enough when the flowers were ragged and starry and ill defined in colour, to fix a standard which was then considered outrageously high and impossible, and which, even if reached, it was said, we should be no gainers by, as it would spoil the beauty of the flowers. He maintained that he was right; and the event has proved it to be so." The doubling of flowers has several times been effected by careful selection: the Rev. W. Williamson (20/25 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 4 page 381.), after sowing during several years seed of Anemone coronaria, found a plant with one additional petal; he sowed the seed of this, and by perseverance in the same course obtained several varieties with six or seven rows of petals. The single Scotch rose was doubled, and yielded eight good varieties in nine or ten years. (20/26. 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 4 page 285.) The Canterbury bell (Campanula medium) was doubled by careful selection in four generations. (20/27. Rev. W. Bromehead in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1857 page 550.) In four years Mr. Buckman (20/28. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1862 page 721.), by culture and careful selection, converted parsnips, raised from wild seed, into a new and good variety. By selection during a long course of years, the early maturity of peas has been hastened by between ten and twenty-one days. (20/29. Dr. Anderson in 'The Bee' volume 6 page 96; Mr. Barnes in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1844 page 476.) A more curious case is offered by the beet plant, which since its cultivation in France, has almost exactly doubled its yield of sugar. This has been effected by the most careful selection; the specific gravity of the roots being regularly tested, and the best roots saved for the production of seed. (20/30. Godron 'De l'Espece' 1859 tome 2 page 69; 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1854 page 258.)

SELECTION BY ANCIENT AND SEMI-CIVILISED PEOPLE.

In attributing so much importance to the selection of animals and plants, it may be objected, that methodical selection would not have been carried on during ancient times. A distinguished naturalist considers it as absurd to suppose that semi-civilised people should have practised selection of any kind. Undoubtedly the principle has been systematically acknowledged and followed to a far greater extent within the last hundred years than at any former period, and a corresponding result has been gained; but it would be a greater error to suppose, as we shall immediately see, that its importance was not recognised and acted on during the most ancient times, and by semi- civilised people. I should premise that many facts now to be given only show that care was taken in breeding; but when this is the case, selection is almost sure to be practised to a certain extent. We shall hereafter be enabled better to judge how far selection, when only occasionally carried on, by a few of the inhabitants of a country, will slowly produce a great effect.

In a well-known passage in the thirtieth chapter of Genesis, rules are given for influencing, as was then thought possible, the colour of sheep; and speckled and dark breeds are spoken of as being kept separate. By the time of David the fleece was likened to snow. Youatt (20/31. 'On Sheep' page 18.), who has discussed all the passages in relation to breeding in the Old Testament, concludes that at this early period "some of the best principles of breeding must have been steadily and long pursued." It was ordered, according to Moses, that "Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind;" but mules were purchased (20/32. Volz 'Beitrage zur Kulturgeschichte' 1852 s. 47.) so that at this early period other nations must have crossed the horse and ass. It is said (20/33. Mitford 'History of Greece' volume 1 page 73.) that Erichthonius, some generations before the Trojan war, had many brood-mares, "which by his care and judgment in the choice of stallions produced a breed of horses superior to any in the surrounding countries." Homer (Book 5) speaks of Aeneas' horses as bred from mares which were put to the steeds of Laomedon. Plato, in his 'Republic' says to Glaucus, "I see that you raise at your house a great many dogs for the chase. Do you take care about breeding and pairing them? Among animals of good blood, are there not always some which are superior to the rest?" To which Glaucus answers in the affirmative. (20/34. Dr. Dally translated in 'Anthropological Review' May 1864 page 101.) Alexander the Great selected the finest Indian cattle to send to Macedonia to improve the breed. (20/35. Volz 'Beitrage' etc. 1852 s. 80.) According to Pliny (20/36 'History of the World' chapter 45.), King Pyrrhus had an especially valuable breed of oxen: and he did not suffer the bulls and cows to come together till four years old, that the breed might not degenerate. Virgil, in his Georgics (lib. 3), gives as strong advice as any modern agriculturist could do, carefully to select the breeding stock; "to note the tribe, the lineage, and the sire; whom to reserve for husband of the herd;" — to brand the progeny; — to select sheep of the purest white, and to examine if their tongues are swarthy. We have seen that the Romans kept pedigrees of their pigeons, and this would have been a senseless proceeding had not great care been taken in breeding them. Columella gives detailed instructions about breeding fowls: "Let the breeding hens therefore be of a choice colour, a robust body, square-built, full-breasted, with large heads, with upright and bright-red combs. Those are believed to be the best bred which have five toes." (20/37. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1848 page 323.) According to Tacitus, the Celts attended to the races of their domestic animals; and Caesar states that they paid high prices to merchants for fine imported horses. (20/38. Reynier 'De l'Economie des Celtes' 1818 pages 487, 503.) In regard to plants, Virgil speaks of yearly culling the largest seeds; and Celsus says, "where the corn and crop is but small, we must pick out the best ears of corn, and of them lay up our seed separately by itself." (20/39. Le Couteur on 'Wheat' page 15.)

Coming down the stream of time, we may be brief. At about the beginning of the ninth century Charlemagne expressly ordered his officers to take great care of his stallions; and if any proved bad or old, to forewarn him in good time before they were put to the mares. (20/40. Michel 'Des Haras' 1861 page 84.) Even in a country so little civilised as Ireland during the ninth century, it would appear from some ancient verses (20/41. Sir W. Wilde an 'Essay on Unmanufactured Animal Remains' etc. 1860 page 11.), describing a ransom demanded by Cormac, that animals from particular places, or having a particular character, were valued. Thus it is said, —

 
Two pigs of the pigs of Mac Lir,
A ram and ewe both round and red,
I brought with me from Aengus.
I brought with me a stallion and a mare
From the beautiful stud of Manannan,
A bull and a white cow from Druim Cain.
 

Athelstan, in 930, received running-horses as a present from Germany; and he prohibited the exportation of English horses. King John imported "one hundred chosen stallions from Flanders." (20/42. Col. Hamilton Smith 'Nat. Library' volume 12 Horses, pages 135, 140.) On June 16th, 1305, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury, begging for the loan of any choice stallion, and promising its return at the end of the season. (20/43. Michel 'Des Haras' page 90.) There are numerous records at ancient periods in English history of the importation of choice animals of various kinds, and of foolish laws against their exportation. In the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII. it was ordered that the magistrates, at Michaelmas, should scour the heaths and commons, and destroy all mares beneath a certain size. (20/44. Mr. Baker 'History of the Horse' 'Veterinary' volume 13 page 423.) Some of our earlier kings passed laws against the slaughtering rams of any good breed before they were seven years old, so that they might have time to breed. In Spain Cardinal Ximenes issued, in 1509, regulations on the SELECTION of good rams for breeding. (20/45. M. l'Abbe Carlier in 'Journal de Physique' volume 24 1784 page 181; this memoir contains much information on the ancient selection of sheep; and is my authority for rams not being killed young in England.)

The Emperor Akbar Khan before the year l600 is said to have "wonderfully improved" his pigeons by crossing the breeds; and this necessarily implies careful selection. About the same period the Dutch attended with the greatest care to the breeding of these birds. Belon in 1555 says that good managers in France examined the colour of their goslings in order to get geese of a white colour and better kinds. Markham in 1631 tells the breeder "to elect the largest and goodliest conies," and enters into minute details. Even with respect to seeds of plants for the flower-garden, Sir J. Hanmer writing about the year 1660 (20/46. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1843 page 389.) says, in "choosing seed, the best seed is the most weighty, and is had from the lustiest and most vigorous stems;" and he then gives rules about leaving only a few flowers on plants for seed; so that even such details were attended to in our flower-gardens two hundred years ago. In order to show that selection has been silently carried on in places where it would not have been expected, I may add that in the middle of the last century, in a remote part of North America, Mr. Cooper improved by careful selection all his vegetables, "so that they were greatly superior to those of any other person. When his radishes, for instance, are fit for use, he takes ten or twelve that he most approves, and plants them at least 100 yards from others that blossom at the same time. In the same manner he treats all his other plants, varying the circumstances according to their nature." (20/47. 'Communications to Board of Agriculture' quoted in Dr. Darwin 'Phytologia' 1800 page 451.)

In the great work on China published in the last century by the Jesuits, and which is chiefly compiled from ancient Chinese encyclopaedias, it is said that with sheep "improving the breed consists in choosing with particular care the lambs which are destined for propagation, in nourishing them well, and in keeping the flocks separate." The same principles were applied by the Chinese to various plants and fruit-trees. (20/48. 'Memoire sur les Chinois' 1786 tome 11 page 55; tome 5 page 507.) An imperial edict recommends the choice of seed of remarkable size; and selection was practised even by imperial hands, for it is said that the Ya-mi, or imperial rice, was noticed at an ancient period in a field by the Emperor Khang-hi, was saved and cultivated in his garden, and has since become valuable from being the only kind which will grow north of the Great Wall. (20/49. 'Recherches sur l'Agriculture des Chinois' par L. D'Hervey Saint-Denys 1850 page 229. With respect to Khang-hi see Huc's 'Chinese Empire' page 311.) Even with flowers, the tree paeony (P. moutan) has been cultivated, according to Chinese traditions, for 1400 years; between 200 and 300 varieties have been raised, which are cherished like tulips formerly were by the Dutch. (20/50. Anderson in 'Linn. Transact.' volume 12 page 253.)

Turning now to semi-civilised people and to savages: it occurred to me, from what I had seen of several parts of South America, where fences do not exist, and where the animals are of little value, that there would be absolutely no care in breeding or selecting them; and this to a large extent is true. Roulin (20/51. 'Mem. de l'Acad.' (divers savants), tome 6 1835 page 333.), however, describes in Columbia a naked race of cattle, which are not allowed to increase, on account of their delicate constitution. According to Azara (20/52. 'Des Quadrupedes du Paraguay' 1801 tome 2 pages 333, 371.) horses are often born in Paraguay with curly hair; but, as the natives do not like them, they are destroyed. On the other hand, Azara states that a hornless bull, born in 1770, was preserved and propagated its race. I was informed of the existence in Banda Oriental of a breed with reversed hair; and the extraordinary niata cattle first appeared and have since been kept distinct in La Plata. Hence certain conspicuous variations have been preserved, and others have been habitually destroyed, in these countries, which are so little favourable for careful selection. We have also seen that the inhabitants sometimes introduce fresh cattle on their estates to prevent the evil effects of close interbreeding. On the other hand, I have heard on reliable authority that the Gauchos of the Pampas never take any pains in selecting the best bulls or stallions for breeding; and this probably accounts for the cattle and horses being remarkably uniform in character throughout the immense range of the Argentine republic.

Looking to the Old World, in the Sahara Desert "The Touareg is as careful in the selection of his breeding Mahari (a fine race of the dromedary) as the Arab is in that of his horse. The pedigrees are handed down, and many a dromedary can boast a genealogy far longer than the descendants of the Darley Arabian." (20/53. 'The Great Sahara' by the Rev. H.B. Tristram 1860 page 238.) According to Pallas the Mongolians endeavour to breed the Yaks or horse-tailed buffaloes with white tails, for these are sold to the Chinese mandarins as fly-flappers; and Moorcroft, about seventy years after Pallas, found that white-tailed animals were still selected for breeding. (20/54. Pallas 'Act. Acad. St. Petersburg' 1777 page 249. Moorcroft and Trebeck 'Travels in the Himalayan Provinces' 1841.)

We have seen in the chapter on the Dog that savages in different parts of North America and in Guiana cross their dogs with wild Canidae, as did the ancient Gauls, according to Pliny. This was done to give their dogs strength and vigour, in the same way as the keepers in large warrens now sometimes cross their ferrets (as I have been informed by Mr. Yarrell) with the wild polecat, "to give them more devil." According to Varro, the wild ass was formerly caught and crossed with the tame animal to improve the breed, in the same manner as at the present day the natives of Java sometimes drive their cattle into the forests to cross with the wild Banteng (Bos sondaicus). (20/55. Quoted from Raffles in the 'Indian Field' 1859 page 196: for Varro see Pallas ut supra.) In Northern Siberia, among the Ostyaks, the dogs vary in markings in different districts, but in each place they are spotted black and white in a remarkably uniform manner (20/56. Erman 'Travels in Siberia' English translation volume 1 page 453.); and from this fact alone we may infer careful breeding, more especially as the dogs of one locality are famed throughout the country for their superiority. I have heard of certain tribes of Esquimaux who take pride in their teams of dogs being uniformly coloured. In Guiana, as Sir H. Schomburgk informs me (20/57. See also 'Journal of R. Geograph. Soc.' volume 13 part 1 page 65.), the dogs of the Turuma Indians are highly valued and extensively bartered: the price of a good one is the same as that given for a wife: they are kept in a sort of cage, and the Indians "take great care when the female is in season to prevent her uniting with a dog of an inferior description." The Indians told Sir Robert that, if a dog proved bad or useless, he was not killed, but was left to die from sheer neglect. Hardly any nation is more barbarous than the Fuegians, but I hear from Mr. Bridges, the Catechist to the Mission, that, "when these savages have a large, strong, and active bitch, they take care to put her to a fine dog, and even take care to feed her well, that her young may be strong and well favoured."

In the interior of Africa, negroes, who have not associated with white men, show great anxiety to improve their animals; they "always choose the larger and stronger males for stock;" the Malakolo were much pleased at Livingstone's promise to send them a bull, and some Bakalolo carried a live cock all the way from Loanda into the interior. (20/58. Livingstone 'First Travels' pages 191, 439, 565; see also 'Expedition to the Zambesi' 1865 page 495, for an analogous case respecting a good breed of goats.) At Falaba Mr. Winwood Reade noticed an unusually fine horse, and the negro King informed him that "the owner was noted for his skill in breeding horses." Further south on the same continent, Andersson states that he has known a Damara give two fine oxen for a dog which struck his fancy. The Damaras take great delight in having whole droves of cattle of the same colour, and they prize their oxen in proportion to the size of their horns. "The Namaquas have a perfect mania for a uniform team; and almost all the people of Southern Africa value their cattle next to their women, and take a pride in possessing animals that look high-bred. They rarely or never make use of a handsome animal as a beast of burden." (20/59. Andersson 'Travels in South Africa' pages 232, 318, 319.) The power of discrimination which these savages possess is wonderful, and they can recognise to which tribe any cattle belong. Mr. Andersson further informs me that the natives frequently match a particular bull with a particular cow.

The most curious case of selection by semi-civilised people, or indeed by any people, which I have found recorded, is that given by Garcilazo de la Vega, a descendant of the Incas, as having been practised in Peru before the country was subjugated by the Spaniards. (20/60. Dr. Vavasseur in 'Bull. de La Soc. d'Acclimat.' tome 8 1861 page 136.) The Incas annually held great hunts, when all the wild animals were driven from an immense circuit to a central point. The beasts of prey were first destroyed as injurious. The wild Guanacos and Vicunas were sheared; the old males and females killed, and the others set at liberty. The various kinds of deer were examined; the old males and females were likewise killed, "but the young females, with a certain number of males, selected from the most beautiful and strong," were given their freedom. Here, then, we have selection by man aiding natural selection. So that the Incas followed exactly the reverse system of that which our Scottish sportsman are accused of following, namely, of steadily killing the finest stags, thus causing the whole race to degenerate. (20/61. 'The Natural History of Dee Side' 1855 page 476.) In regard to the domesticated llamas and alpacas, they were separated in the time of the Incas according to colour: and if by chance one in a flock was born of the wrong colour, it was eventually put into another flock.

In the genus Auchenia there are four forms, — the Guanaco and Vicuna, found wild and undoubtedly distinct species; the Llama and Alpaca, known only in a domesticated condition. These four animals appear so different, that most naturalists, especially those who have studied these animals in their native country, maintain that they are specifically distinct, notwithstanding that no one pretends to have seen a wild llama or alpaca. Mr. Ledger, however, who has closely studied these animals both in Peru and during their exportation to Australia, and who has made many experiments on their propagation, adduces arguments (20/62. 'Bull. de la Soc. d'Acclimat.' tome 7 1860 page 457.) which seem to me conclusive, that the llama is the domesticated descendant of the guanaco, and the alpaca of the vicuna. And now that we know that these animals were systematically bred and selected many centuries ago, there is nothing surprising in the great amount of change which they have undergone.

It appeared to me at one time probable that, though ancient and semi-civilised people might have attended to the improvement of their more useful animals in essential points, yet that they would have disregarded unimportant characters. But human nature is the same throughout the world: fashion everywhere reigns supreme, and man is apt to value whatever he may chance to possess. We have seen that in South America the niata cattle, which certainly are not made useful by their shortened faces and upturned nostrils, have been preserved. The Damaras of South Africa value their cattle for uniformity of colour and enormously long horns. And I will now show that there is hardly any peculiarity in our most useful animals which, from fashion, superstition, or some other motive, has not been valued, and consequently preserved. With respect to cattle, "an early record," according to Youatt (20/63. 'Cattle' page 48.) "speaks of a hundred white cows with red ears being demanded as a compensation by the princes of North and South Wales. If the cattle were of a dark or black colour, 150 were to be presented." So that colour was attended to in Wales before its subjugation by England. In Central Africa, an ox that beats the ground with its tail is killed; and in South Africa some of the Damaras will not eat the flesh of a spotted ox. The Kaffirs value an animal with a musical voice; and "at a sale in British Kaffraria the low "of a heifer excited so much admiration that a sharp competition sprung up for her possession, and she realised a considerable price." (20/64. Livingstone 'Travels' page 576; Andersson 'Lake Ngami' 1856 page 222. With respect to the sale in Kaffraria see 'Quarterly Review' 1860 page 139.) With respect to sheep, the Chinese prefer rams without horns; the Tartars prefer them with spirally wound horns, because the hornless are thought to lose courage. (20/65. 'Memoire sur les Chinois' by the Jesuits 1786 tome 11 page 57.) Some of the Damaras will not eat the flesh of hornless sheep. In regard to horses, at the end of the fifteenth century animals of the colour described as liart pomme were most valued in France. The Arabs have a proverb, "Never buy a horse with four white feet, for he carries his shroud with him" (20/66. F. Michel 'Des Haras' pages 47, 50.); the Arabs also, as we have seen, despise dun- coloured horses. So with dogs, Xenophon and others at an ancient period were prejudiced in favour of certain colours; and "white or slate-coloured hunting dogs were not esteemed." (20/67. Col. Hamilton Smith 'Dogs' in 'Nat. Lib.' volume 10 page 103.)

Turning to poultry, the old Roman gourmands thought that the liver of a white goose was the most savoury. In Paraguay black-skinned fowls are kept because they are thought to be more productive, and their flesh the most proper for invalids. (20/68. Azara 'Quadrupedes du Paraguay' tome 2 page 324.) In Guiana, as I am informed by Sir R. Schomburgk, the aborigines will not eat the flesh or eggs of the fowl, but two races are kept distinct merely for ornament. In the Philippines, no less than nine sub-varieties of the game-cock are kept and named, so that they must be separately bred.