berant and irregularly
perforated skull. The Cochin, with its deeply furrowed frontal bones,
peculiarly shaped occipital foramen, short wing-feathers, short tail
containing more than fourteen feathers, broad nail to the middle toe,
fluffy plumage, rough and dark-coloured eggs, and especially from its
peculiar voice, is probably the most distinct of all the breeds. If any one
of our breeds has descended from some unknown species, distinct from _G.
bankiva,_ it is probably the Cochin; but the balance of evidence does not
favour this view. All the characteristic differences of the Cochin breed
are more or less variable, and may be detected in a greater or lesser
degree in other breeds. One sub-breed is coloured closely like _G.
bankiva._ The feathered legs, often furnished with an additional toe, the
wings incapable of flight, the extremely quiet disposition, indicate a long
course of domestication; and these fowls come from China, where we know
that plants and animals have been tended from a remote period with
extraordinary care, and where consequently we might expect to find
profoundly modified domestic races.

_Osteological Differences._--I have examined twenty-seven skeletons and
fifty-three skulls of various breeds, including three of _G. bankiva_:
nearly half of these skulls I owe to the kindness of Mr. Tegetmeier, and
three of the skeletons to Mr. Eyton.

The _Skull_ differs greatly in size in different breeds, being nearly
twice as long in the largest Cochins, but not nearly twice as broad, as
in Bantams. The bones at the base, from the occipital foramen to the
anterior end (including the quadrates and pterygoids), are absolutely
identical in _shape_ in all the skulls. So is the lower jaw. In the
forehead slight differences are often perceptible between the males and
females, evidently caused by the presence of the comb. In every case I
take the skull of _G. bankiva_ as the standard of comparison. In four
Games, in one Malay hen, in an {261} African cock, in a Frizzled cock
from Madras, in two black-boned Silk hens, no differences occur worth
notice. In three _Spanish_ cocks, the form of the forehead between the
orbits differs considerably; in one it is considerably depressed,
whilst in the two others it is rather prominent, with a deep medial
furrow; the skull of the hen is smooth. In three skulls of _Sebright
Bantams_ the crown is more globular, and slop