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Show CHAP. J. 38 DOGS. pointers, aho, rapidly J.ocliue." But spaniels, after eight or nin_e generations, and without a cross from Europe, arc as goo~ as th01r ancestors. Dr. Falconer informs me that bulluogs, wlnch Lave been known, ·when fust brought into tho country, to pin down even an elephant by its trunk, not r>nly fall off after two or three generation · in pluck and ferocity, but lose tho under-hung character of their lower jaws; their muzzles become finer and their bodies lighter. English dogs imported into India are so valuable that probably clue care has been taken to prevent their crossing with native dogs; so that the deterioration ca11not be thus accounted for. The Rev. R. Everest informs me that he obtained a pair of setters, born in India, which perfectly resembled their Scotch parents : he raised several litters from them in Delhi, taking the most stringent precautions to prevent a cross, but he never succeeded, though this was ouly the second generation in India, in obtaining a single young dog like its parents in size or make ~ their nostrils were more contracted, their noses more pointed, their size inferior, and their limbs more slender. This remarkable tendency to rapid deterioration in European dogs subjected to tho climate of India, may perhaps partly be accounted for by the tendency to reversion to a primordial condition which many animals exhibit, as we shall see in a futuro chapter, when exposed to new conditions of life. Some of tho peculiarities characteristic of the several breeds of the dog have probably arisen suddenly, and, though strictly inherited, may be called monstrosities ; for instance, the shape of the legs and body in tho turnspit of Europe and India; the shape of the head anJ the under-hanging jaw in the bull and pug-dog, so alike in this one respect and so unlike in all others. A peculiarity suddenly arising, and therefore in one sense deserving to be called a monstrosity, may, however, be increased and :fixed by man's selection. We can hardly doubt that longcontinued training, as with the grey hound in coursing hares, as with water-dogs in swimming-and the want of exercise, in the case of lapdogs-must have produced some direct effect on their structure and instincts. But we shall immediately see that the most potent cause of change hal:l probably been the selection, both methodical and unconscious, of slight individual differences,-tbe CHAP. I. MEANS OF MODIFICATION. 39 Jlatt~r ](ind of selection resulting from tho occasional p. t' c urmo- h d. d f' . reserva IOn oh Ull IO S 0 generatiOnS, of those individual dOO'S h' h' were t e t f 1 0 mos usc u to man for certflin w IC certain conditions of 1.£ "" purposes and under shall show that even bai ·eb. .rn a futuro chapter on Selection I I ar1ans attend clos 1 t th .. their doo-s. This unconsc· 1 . e Y o e quahtws of b 1ous so octwn by ld b . by a kind of natural selection . for man wou e aided partly to gain thejr own subsist~ncc . ~b~ ~ogs of ~avages have as we hear from Mr N' d 73th d . ' o mstance, m Australia, by want to leave th· . . 1n ' e ogs are s·o me t I' mes compelled eu masters and p . · d £ but in a few days tl1oy 11 IOVI e or themselves; genera y retu . A d . that dogs of different sl1 apes, si.z es amnd. h nb 't we may 111fer the best chance of 811 · r•v 1.v 11. 1o- un d er ' l'ffi . ta I· s, would have on open; sterile plains, wh~re the c I men Circumstances,- own prey -on Tocky c t h y have to run down their ' oas s, w ere the h .r and fish left in the tidal ] . y ave to leed on crabs d '1. , · poo ', as 111 the case of N G · an Ierra del Fuego I th. 1 , ew ::rU111ea b M . · 11 IS atter connt. , I · y r. Bnclges, tho Catechist to tho M' . ry, as am mformed the stones on the sh . t Isswn, the dogs turn over Die o catch th beneath and they "ar 1 ° crustaceans which Jie ' e c ever enough t k k at a first blow." for if th· b o noc off the shell-fish known to have ~n almost . I~ ~I not done, shell-fish are well It has already b mvmm e power of adhesion. een remarked th t d l' . to which their feet are webbed I a ogs offer 111 the degree breed, >vhich are eminent! . . ~ dogs. of the Newfoundland corclino· to Isidol·e Geo~'f. ~ aquatic 111 their habits, the skin ac- . o j, 1 oy extend t th h. ' 111 ordinary dogs it extends' onl t ls o e t lrd phalanges, whilst land dogs which I ox . dy o t 1e second. In two Newfound-am111e wh tl apart and viewed on th 'd e~ 1e toes. were stretched a nearly straio-ht li'ne bete un ehr side, the skin extended in b ween t e t . of the toes; whereas l·n tw t . ou er margms of the balls skm. v1. ewed in the s' o erners f d · t · 0 Is met sub-breeds tho arne manner wa d l ' Canada there is a dog h. h . < s .~ep y scooped out. In w 1C IS pecuha . t th common there and tl · h 1 ' liS as " half , bb cl o e country and .r the water." 75 En li ,h -" e e 1eet and is fond of f . . g :s otter-hounds are 'd t h cot : a fnend examined .r • h SUI 0 ave webbed 101 me t e feet of t wo, m· comparison i.3 Quoted by Mr. Galton 'D . catwn of Animals ' , omcstr- 7~ ' • , p. 13. HlSt, Nat. Gen.; tom. iii. p. 450. 75 Mr. Grccnhow on the Ca a· Do- · L , na Ian oo, ~n oudon s 'Ma"'. of Nat H" t , vol. VL, 1833, p. 511. o • lS ., |