The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
by Charles Darwin M.A., F.R.S., ETC.
VOLUMES ONE AND TWO
CONTENTS.
FOREWORD
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I.—DOMESTIC DOGS AND CATS.
ANCIENT VARIETIES OF THE DOG—RESEMBLANCE OF DOMESTIC DOGS IN VARIOUS
COUNTRIES TO NATIVE CANINE SPECIES—ANIMALS NOT ACQUAINTED WITH MAN AT
FIRST FEARLESS—DOGS RESEMBLING WOLVES AND JACKALS—HABIT OF BARKING
ACQUIRED AND LOST—FERAL DOGS—TAN-COLOURED EYE-SPOTS—PERIOD OF
GESTATION—OFFENSIVE ODOUR—FERTILITY OF THE RACES WHEN
CROSSED—DIFFERENCES IN THE SEVERAL RACES IN PART DUE TO DESCENT FROM
DISTINCT SPECIES—DIFFERENCES IN THE SKULL AND TEETH—DIFFERENCES IN THE
BODY, IN CONSTITUTION—FEW IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES HAVE BEEN FIXED BY
SELECTION—DIRECT ACTION OF CLIMATE—WATER-DOGS WITH PALMATED
FEET—HISTORY OF THE CHANGES WHICH CERTAIN ENGLISH RACES OF THE DOG HAVE
GRADUALLY UNDERGONE THROUGH SELECTION—EXTINCTION OF THE LESS IMPROVED
SUB-BREEDS.
CATS, CROSSED WITH SEVERAL SPECIES—DIFFERENT BREEDS FOUND ONLY IN
SEPARATED COUNTRIES—DIRECT EFFECTS OF THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE—FERAL
CATS—INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY.
CHAPTER II.—HORSES AND ASSES.
HORSE. DIFFERENCES IN THE BREEDS—INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY OF—DIRECT
EFFECTS OF THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE—CAN WITHSTAND MUCH COLD—BREEDS MUCH
MODIFIED BY SELECTION—COLOURS OF THE HORSE—DAPPLING—DARK STRIPES ON THE
SPINE, LEGS, SHOULDERS, AND FOREHEAD—DUN-COLOURED HORSES MOST
FREQUENTLY STRIPED—STRIPES PROBABLY DUE TO REVERSION TO THE PRIMITIVE
STATE OF THE HORSE.
ASSES. BREEDS OF—COLOUR OF—LEG- AND SHOULDER-STRIPES—SHOULDER-STRIPES
SOMETIMES ABSENT, SOMETIMES FORKED.
CHAPTER III.—PIGS—CATTLE—SHEEP—GOATS.
PIGS BELONG TO TWO DISTINCT TYPES, SUS SCROFA AND
INDICUS—TORFSCHWEIN—JAPAN PIGS—FERTILITY OF CROSSED PIGS—CHANGES IN THE
SKULL OF THE HIGHLY CULTIVATED RACES—CONVERGENCE OF
CHARACTER—GESTATION—SOLID-HOOFED SWINE—CURIOUS APPENDAGES TO THE
JAWS—DECREASE IN SIZE OF THE TUSKS—YOUNG PIGS LONGITUDINALLY
STRIPED—FERAL PIGS—CROSSED BREEDS.
CATTLE—ZEBU A DISTINCT SPECIES—EUROPEAN CATTLE PROBABLY DESCENDED FROM
THREE WILD FORMS—ALL THE RACES NOW FERTILE TOGETHER—BRITISH PARK
CATTLE—ON THE COLOUR OF THE ABORIGINAL SPECIES—CONSTITUTIONAL
DIFFERENCES—SOUTH AFRICAN RACES—SOUTH AMERICAN RACES—NIATA
CATTLE—ORIGIN OF THE VARIOUS RACES OF CATTLE.
SHEEP —REMARKABLE RACES OF—VARIATIONS ATTACHED TO THE MALE
SEX—ADAPTATIONS TO VARIOUS CONDITIONS—GESTATION OF—CHANGES IN THE
WOOL—SEMI-MONSTROUS BREEDS.
GOATS —REMARKABLE VARIATIONS OF.
CHAPTER IV.—DOMESTIC RABBITS.
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