wished-for character is at last secured. Thus it is not by crossing of different breeds, but by a patient accumulating of insignificant little variations through many generations, that the desired transformations are brought about. That is the magic wand by means of which the expert breeder produces his different breeds, we might almost say, as the sculptor moulds and remoulds his clay model according to his fancy. Quite according to his fancy the breeder has brought about all the fantastic forms we are familiar with among pigeons, mere variations which are of no use either to the bird itself or to man, which simply gratify man's whim without in many cases even satisfying his sense of beauty. For many of the existing breeds of pigeons, hens, and other domesticated animals, are anything but beautiful, the body being often unharmonious in structure and sometimes actually monstrous. Among pigeons, as well as among other domesticated animals, some changes have been brought about, which are not only of no use to their possessors, but would be actually disadvantageous if they were living under natural conditions. Some of the very short-billed breeds of pigeons have the bill so short and soft that the young can no longer use it to scratch and break the egg-shell, and would perish miserably if human aid were not at hand. The Yorkshire pig has become such a colossus of fat on weak, short legs, that if it were dependent on its own resources, it could not secure its food, much less escape from a beast of prey; and among horses the heavy cart-horse and the racer are alike unfit to cope with the dangers of a wild life, or the vicissitudes of weather. Breeding has done much to bring about variations useful to man. Thus we have breeds of cattle which excel in flesh, or in milk, or as draught animals, and sheep which excel in flesh or in wool, and to what a height the perfecting of a useful quality can be brought is shown, in regard to fineness of wool, by that finest breed of sheep, the merino, which instead of the 5,500 hairs borne by the old German sheep on a square inch, possesses 48,000. Not infrequently it is a particular stage of a species that has been bred by man, and the other stages have remained more or less unaltered. Thus it is with one of the few domesticated insects, the silk-moth. Only the cocoon is of use to man, and according to the cocoon different breeds are distinguished, differing in fineness, colour, &c.; but no breeds can be distinguished in reference to the larvæ, or the perfect insects. Among gooseberries there are about a hundred varieties distinguished according to the form, colour, size, thickness of skin, hairiness, &c., of the fruits, but the little, inconspicuous, green blossoms, of which the breeders take no account, are alike in them all. In the pansies (_Viola tricolor_), on the other hand, it is only by the flowers that the varieties are distinguished, while the seeds have remained alike in all.