We have seen in the first chapter, that the several kinds of dogs are almost certainly descended from more than one species, and so it is with cattle, pigs and some other domesticated animals. Hence the crossing of aboriginally distinct species probably came into play at an early period in the formation of our present races. From Rutimeyer’s observations there can be little doubt that this occurred with cattle; but in most cases one form will probably have absorbed and obliterated the other, for it is not likely that semi-civilised men would have taken the necessary pains to modify by selection their commingled, crossed, and fluctuating stock. Nevertheless, those animals which were best adapted to their conditions of life would have survived through natural selection; and by this means crossing will often have indirectly aided in the formation of primeval domesticated breeds. Within recent times, as far as animals are concerned, the crossing of distinct species has done little or nothing towards the formation or modification of our races. It is not yet known whether the several species of silk-moth which have been recently crossed in France will yield permanent races. With plants which can be multiplied by buds and cuttings, hybridisation has done wonders, as with many kinds of Roses, Rhododendrons, Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, and Petunias. Nearly all these plants can be propagated by seed, most of them freely; but extremely few or none come true by seed.
Some authors believe that crossing is the chief cause of variability,—that is, of the appearance of absolutely new characters. Some have gone so far as to look at it as the sole cause; but this conclusion is disproved by the facts given in the chapter on Bud-variation. The belief that characters not present in either parent or in their ancestors frequently originate from crossing is doubtful; that they occasionally do so is probable; but this subject will be more conveniently discussed in a future chapter on the causes of Variability.
A condensed summary of this and of the three following chapters, together with some remarks on Hybridism, will be given in the nineteenth chapter.
REFERENCES
[1] ‘Communications to the Board of Agriculture,’ vol. i. p. 367.
[2] ‘Review of Reports, North of England,’ 1808, p. 200.
[3] ‘Säugethiere von Paraguay,’ 1830, s. 212.
[4] Rengger, ‘Säugethiere,’ etc., s. 154.
[5] White, ‘Regular Gradation in Man,’ p. 146.
[6] Dr. W. F. Edwards, in his ‘Caractères Physiolog. des Races Humaines,’ p. 24, first called attention to this subject, and ably discussed it.