. 164
26. SKULL OF RUNT, SEEN FROM ABOVE ... 165
27. LATERAL VIEW OF JAWS OF PIGEONS ... 165
28. SCAPULAE OF PIGEONS ... 167
29. FURCULAE OF PIGEONS ... 167
30. SPANISH FOWL ... 226
31. HAMBURGH FOWL ... 228
32. POLISH FOWL ... 229
33. OCCIPITAL FORAMEN OF THE SKULLS OF FOWLS ... 261
{viii}
34. SKULLS OF FOWLS, VIEWED FROM ABOVE, A LITTLE OBLIQUELY ... 262
35. LONGITUDINAL SECTIONS OF SKULLS OF FOWLS, VIEWED LATERALLY ... 263
36. SKULL OF HORNED FOWL, VIEWED FROM ABOVE, A LITTLE OBLIQUELY ... 265
37. SIXTH CERVICAL VERTEBRAE OF FOWLS, VIEWED LATERALLY ... 267
38. EXTREMITY OF THE FURCULA OF FOWLS, VIEWED LATERALLY ... 268
39. SKULLS OF DUCKS, VIEWED LATERALLY, REDUCED TO TWO-THIRDS OF THE
NATURAL SIZE ... 282
40. CERVICAL VERTEBRAE OF DUCKS, OF NATURAL SIZE ... 283
41. PODS OF THE COMMON PEA ... 328
42. PEACH AND ALMOND STONES, OF NATURAL SIZE, VIEWED EDGEWAYS ... 337
43. PLUM STONES, OF NATURAL SIZE, VIEWED LATERALLY ... 345

* * * * *

{1}

THE

VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS

UNDER DOMESTICATION.

* * * * *

INTRODUCTION.

The object of this work is not to describe all the many races of animals
which have been domesticated by man, and of the plants which have been
cultivated by him; even if I possessed the requisite knowledge, so gigantic
an undertaking would be here superfluous. It is my intention to give under
the head of each species only such facts as I have been able to collect or
observe, showing the amount and nature of the changes which animals and
plants have undergone whilst under man's dominion, or which bear on the
general principles of variation. In one case alone, namely in that of the
domestic pigeon, I will describe fully all the chief races, their history,
the amount and nature of their differences, and the probable steps by which
they have been formed. I have selected this case, because, as we shall
hereafter see, the materials are better than in any other; and one case
fully described will in fact illustrate all others. But I shall also
describe domesticated rabbits, fowls, and ducks, with considerable
fullness.

The subjects discussed in this volume are so connected that it is not a
little difficult to decide how they can be best arranged. I have determined
in the first part to give, under the heads of the various animals and
plants, a large body of facts, some of which ma