PIGS--CATTLE--SHEEP--GOATS.
PIGS BELONG TO TWO DISTINCT TYPES, SUS SCROFA AND
INDICA--TORF-SCHWEIN--JAPAN PIG--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.
The breeds of the pig have recently been more closely studied, though much
still remains to be done, than those of almost any other domesticated
animal. This has been effected by Hermann von Nathusius in two admirable
works, especially in the later one on the Skulls of the several races, and
by Ruetimeyer in his celebrated Fauna of the ancient Swiss
lake-dwellings.[144] Nathusius has shown that all the known breeds may be
divided in two great groups: one resembling in all important respects and
no doubt descended from the common wild boar; so that this may be called
the _Sus scrofa_ group. The other group differs in several important and
constant osteological characters; its wild parent-form is unknown; the name
given to it by Nathusius, according to the law of priority, is _Sus Indica_
of Pallas. This name must now be followed, though an unfortunate one, as
the wild aboriginal does not inhabit India, and the best-known domesticated
breeds have been imported from Siam and China.
{66}
Firstly, the _Sus scrofa_ breeds, or those resembling the common wild boar.
These still exist, according to Nathusius (Schweineschaedel, s. 75), in
various parts of central and northern Europe; formerly every kingdom,[145]
and almost every province in Britain, possessed its own native breed; but
these are now everywhere rapidly disappearing, being replaced by improved
breeds crossed with the _S. Indica_ form. The skull in the breeds of the
_S. scrofa_ type resembles, in all important respects, that of the European
wild boar; but it has become (Schweineschaedel, s. 63-68) higher and broader
relatively to its length; and the hinder part is more upright. The
differences, however, are all variable in degree. The breeds which thus
resemble _S. scrofa_ in their essential skull-characters differ
conspicuously from each other in other respects, as in the length of the
ears and legs, curvature of the ribs, colour, hairiness, size and
proportions of the body.
The wild _Sus scrofa_ has a wide range, namely, Europe, North Africa, as
identified by osteological characters by Ruetimeyer, and Hindostan, as
similarly identified by Nathusius. But the wild boars inhabiting these
several countries differ so much from each other in external characters,
that they have been ranked by some naturalists as specifically distinct.
Even within Hindostan these animals, according to Mr. Blyth, form very
distinct races in the different districts; in the N. Western provinces, as
I am informed by the Rev. R. Everest, the boar never exceeds 36 inches in
height, whilst in Bengal one has been measured 44 inches in height. In
Europe, Northern Africa, and Hindostan, domestic pigs have been known to
cross with the wild native species;[146] and in Hindostan an accurate
observer,[147] Sir Walter Elliot, after describing the differences between
wild Indian and wild German boars, remarks that "the same differences are
perceptible in the domesticated {67} individuals of the two countries." We
may therefore conclude that the breeds of the _Sus scrofa_ type have either
descended from, or been modified by crossing with, forms which may be
ranked as geographical races, but which are, according to some naturalists,
distinct species.
Pigs of the _Sus Indica_ type are best known to Englishmen under the form
of the Chinese breed. The skull of _S. Indica_, as described by Nathusius,
differs from that of _S. scrofa_ in several minor respects, as in its
greater breadth and in some details in the teeth; but chiefly in the
shortness of the lachrymal bones, in the greater width of the fore part of
the palate-bones, and in the divergence of the premolar teeth. It deserves
especial notice that these latter characters are not gained, even in the
least degree, by the domesticated forms of _S. scrofa_. After reading the
remarks and descriptions given by Nathusius, it seems to me to be merely
playing with words to doubt whether _S. Indica_ ought to be ranked as a
species; for the above-specified differences are more strongly marked than
any that can be pointed out between, for instance, the fox and the wolf, or
the ass and the horse. As already stated, _S. Indica_ is not known in a
wild state; but its domesticated forms, according to Nathusius, come near
to _S. vittatus_ of Java and some allied species. A pig found wild in the
Aru islands (Schweineschaedel, s. 169) is apparently identical with _S.
Indica_; but it is doubtful whether this is a truly native animal. The
domesticated breeds of China, Cochin-China, and Siam belong to this type.
The Roman or Neapolitan breed, the Andalusian, the Hungarian, and the
"Krause" swine of Nathusius, inhabiting south-eastern Europe and Turkey,
and having fine curly hair, and the small Swiss "Buendtnerschwein" of
Ruetimeyer, all agree in their more important skull characters with _S.
Indica_, and, as is supposed, have all been largely crossed with this form.
Pigs of this type have existed during a long period on the shores of the
Mediterranean, for a figure (Schweineschaedel, s. 142) closely resembling
the existing Neapolitan pig has been found in the buried city of
Herculaneum.
Ruetimeyer has made the remarkable discovery that there lived
contemporaneously in Switzerland, during the later Stone or Neolithic
period, two domesticated forms, the _S. scrofa_, and {68} the _S. scrofa
palustris_ or Torfschwein. Ruetimeyer perceived that the latter approached
the Eastern breeds, and, according to Nathusius, it certainly belongs to
the _S. Indica_ group; but Ruetimeyer has subsequently shown that it differs
in some well-marked characters. This author was formerly convinced that his
Torfschwein existed as a wild animal during the first part of the Stone
period, and was domesticated during a later part of the same period.[148]
Nathusius, whilst he fully admits the curious fact first observed by
Ruetimeyer, that the bones of domesticated and wild animals can be
distinguished by their different aspect, yet, from special difficulties in
the case of the bones of the pig (Schweineschaedel, s. 147), is not
convinced of the truth of this conclusion; and Ruetimeyer himself seems now
to feel some doubt. As the Torfschwein was domesticated at so early a
period, and as its remains have been found in several parts of Europe,
belonging to various historic and prehistoric ages,[149] and as closely
allied forms still exist in Hungary and on the shores of the Mediterranean,
one is led to suspect that the wild _S. Indica_ formerly ranged from Europe
to China, in the same manner as _S. scrofa_ now ranges from Europe to
Hindostan. Or, as Ruetimeyer apparently suspects, a third allied species may
formerly have lived in Europe and Eastern Asia.
Several breeds, differing in the proportions of the body, in the length of
the ears, in the nature of the hair, in colour, &c., come under the _S.
Indica_ type. Nor is this surprising, considering how ancient the
domestication of this form has been both in Europe and in China. In this
latter country the date is believed by an eminent Chinese scholar[150] to
go back at least 4900 years from the present time. This same scholar
alludes to the existence of many local varieties of the pig in China; and
at the present time the Chinese take extraordinary pains in feeding and
tending their pigs, not even allowing them to walk from place to
place.[151] Hence the Chinese breed, as Nathusius has remarked,[152]
displays in an eminent degree the characters of a highly-cultivated race,
and hence, no doubt, its {69} high value in the improvement of our European
breeds. Nathusius makes a remarkable statement (Schweineschaedel, s. 138),
that the infusion of the 1/32nd, or even of the 1/64th, part of the blood
of _S. Indica_ into a breed of _S. scrofa_, is sufficient plainly to modify
the skull of the latter species. This singular fact may perhaps be
accounted for by several of the chief distinctive characters of _S.
Indica_, such as the shortness of the lachrymal bones, &c., being common to
several of the species of the genus; for in crosses the characters which
are common to many species apparently tend to be prepotent over those
appertaining to only a few species.
The Japan pig (_S. pliciceps_ of Gray), which has been recently exhibited
in the Zoological Gardens, has an extraordinary appearance from its short
head, broad forehead and nose, great fleshy ears, and deeply furrowed skin.
The following woodcut is copied from that given by Mr. Bartlett.[153] Not
only {70} is the face furrowed, but thick folds of skin, which are harder
than the other parts, almost like the plates on the Indian rhinoceros, hang
about the shoulders and rump. It is coloured black, with white feet, and
breeds true. That it has long been domesticated there can be little doubt;
and this might have been inferred even from the fact that its young are not
longitudinally striped; for this is a character common to all the species
included within the genus _Sus_ and the allied genera whilst in their
natural state.[154] Dr. Gray[155] has described the skull of this animal,
which he ranks not only as a distinct species, but places it in a distinct
section of the genus. Nathusius, however, after his careful study of the
whole group, states positively (Schweineschaedel, s. 153-158) that the skull
in all essential characters closely resembles that of the short-eared
Chinese breed of the _S. Indica_ type. Hence Nathusius considers the Japan
pig as only a domesticated variety of _S. Indica_: if this really be the
case, it is a wonderful instance of the amount of modification which can be
effected under domestication.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Head of Japan or Masked Pig. (Copied from Mr.
Bartlett's paper in Proc. Zoolog. Soc. 1861, p. 263.)]
Formerly there existed in the central islands of the Pacific Ocean a
singular breed of pigs. These are described by the Rev. D. Tyerman and G.
Bennett[156] as of small size, hump-backed, with a disproportionately long
head, with short ears turned backwards, with a bushy tail not more than two
inches in length, placed as if it grew from the back. Within half a century
after the introduction into these islands of European and Chinese pigs, the
native breed, according to the above authors, became almost completely lost
by being repeatedly crossed with them. Secluded islands, as might have been
expected, seem favourable for the production or retention of peculiar
breeds; thus, in the Orkney Islands, the hogs have been described as very
small, with erect and sharp ears, and "with an appearance altogether
different from the hogs brought from the south."[157]
Seeing how different the Chinese pigs, belonging to the _Sus Indica_ type,
are in their osteological characters and in external {71} appearance from
the pigs of the _S. scrofa_ type, so that they must be considered
specifically distinct, it is a fact well deserving attention, that Chinese
and common pigs have been repeatedly crossed in various manners, with
unimpaired fertility. One great breeder who had used pure Chinese pigs
assured me that the fertility of the half-breeds _inter se_ and of their
recrossed progeny was actually increased; and this is the general belief of
agriculturists. Again, the Japan pig or _S. pliciceps_ of Gray is so
distinct in appearance from all common pigs, that it stretches one's belief
to the utmost to admit that it is simply a domestic variety; yet this breed
has been found perfectly fertile with the Berkshire breed; and Mr. Eyton
informs me that he paired a half-bred brother and sister and found them
quite fertile together.
The modifications of the skull in the most highly cultivated races are
wonderful. To appreciate the amount of change, Nathusius' work, with its
excellent figures, should be studied. The whole of the exterior of the
skull in all its parts has been altered; the hinder surface, instead of
sloping backwards, is directed forwards, entailing many changes in other
parts; the front of the head is deeply concave; the orbits have a different
shape; the auditory meatus has a different direction and shape; the
incisors of the upper and lower jaws do not touch each other, and they
stand in both jaws above the plane of the molars; the canines of the upper
jaw stand in front of those of the lower jaw, and this is a remarkable
anomaly: the articular surfaces of the occipital condyles are so greatly
changed in shape, that, as Nathusius remarks (s. 133), no naturalist,
seeing this important part of the skull by itself, would suppose that it
belonged to the genus Sus. These and various other modifications, as
Nathusius observes, can hardly be considered as monstrosities, for they are
not injurious, and are strictly inherited. The whole head is much
shortened; thus, whilst in common breeds its length to that of the body is
as 1 to 6, in the "cultur-races" the proportion is as 1 to 9, and even
recently as 1 to 11.[158] The following woodcut[159] {72} of the head of a
wild boar and of a sow from a photograph of the Yorkshire Large Breed, may
aid in showing how greatly the head in a highly cultivated race has been
modified and shortened.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Head of Wild Boar, and of "Golden Days," a pig of
the Yorkshire Large Breed; the latter from a photograph. (Copied from
Sidney's edit. of 'The Pig,' by Youatt.)]
Nathusius has well discussed the causes of the remarkable changes in the
skull and shape of the body which the highly cultivated races have
undergone. These modifications occur chiefly in the pure and crossed races
of the _S. Indica_ type; but their commencement may be clearly detected in
the slightly improved breeds of the _S. scrofa_ type.[160] Nathusius states
positively (s. 99, 103), as the result of common experience and of his
experiments, that rich and abundant food, given during youth, tends by some
direct action to make the head broader and shorter; and that poor food
works a contrary result. He lays much stress on the fact that all wild and
semi-domesticated pigs, in ploughing up the ground with their muzzles,
have; whilst young, to exert the powerful muscles fixed to the hinder part
of the head. In highly cultivated races this habit is no longer followed,
and consequently the back of the skull becomes modified in shape, entailing
other changes in other parts. There can hardly be a doubt that so great a
change in habits would {73} affect the skull; but it seems rather doubtful
how far this will account for the greatly reduced length of the skull and
for its concave front. It is well known (Nathusius himself advancing many
cases, s. 104) that there is a strong tendency in many domestic animals--in
bull- and pug-dogs, in the niata cattle, in sheep, in Polish fowls,
short-faced tumbler pigeons, and in one variety of the carp--for the bones
of the face to become greatly shortened. In the case of the dog, as H.
Mueller has shown, this seems caused by an abnormal state of the primordial
cartilage. We may, however, readily admit that abundant and rich food
supplied during many generations would give an inherited tendency to
increased size of body, and that, from disuse, the limbs would become finer
and shorter.[161] We shall in a future chapter also see that the skull and
limbs are apparently in some manner correlated, so that any change in the
one tends to affect the other.
Nathusius has remarked, and the observation is an interesting one, that the
peculiar form of the skull and body in the most highly cultivated races is
not characteristic of any one race, but is common to all when improved up
to the same standard. Thus the large-bodied, long-eared, English breeds
with a convex back, and the small-bodied, short-eared, Chinese breeds with
a concave back, when bred to the same state of perfection, nearly resemble
each other in the form of the head and body. This result, it appears, is
partly due to similar causes of change acting on the several races, and
partly to man breeding the pig for one sole purpose, namely, for the
greatest amount of flesh and fat; so that selection has always tended
towards one and the same end. With most domestic animals the result of
selection has been divergence of character, here it has been
convergence.[162]
The nature of the food supplied during many generations has apparently
affected the length of the intestines; for, according to Cuvier,[163] their
length to that of the body in the wild boar is as 9 to 1,--in the common
domestic boar as 13.5 to 1,--and in the Siam breed as 16 to 1. In this
latter breed the greater {74} length may be due either to descent from a
distinct species or to more ancient domestication. The number of mammae
vary, as does the period of gestation. The latest authority says[164] that
"the period averages from 17 to 20 weeks," but I think there must be some
error in this statement: in M. Tessier's observations on 25 sows it varied
from 109 to 123 days. The Rev. W. D. Fox has given me ten carefully
recorded cases with well-bred pigs, in which the period varied from 101 to
116 days. According to Nathusius the period is shortest in the races which
come early to maturity; but in these latter the course of development does
not appear to be actually shortened, for the young animal is born, judging
from the state of the skull, less fully developed, or in a more embryonic
condition,[165] than in the case of common swine, which arrive at maturity
at a later age. In the highly cultivated and early matured races, the
teeth, also, are developed earlier.
The difference in the number of the vertebrae and ribs in different kinds of
pigs, as observed by Mr. Eyton,[166] and as given in the following table,
has often been quoted. The African sow probably belongs to the _S. scrofa_
type; and Mr. Eyton informs me that, since the publication of his paper,
cross-bred animals from the African and English races were found by Lord
Hill to be perfectly fertile.
----------------+--------+---------+---------+-------------+-----------
| English| | | | French
| Long- | | | | Domestic
| legged | African | Chinese | Wild Boar, | Boar, from
| Male. | Female. | Male. | from Cuvier.| Cuvier.
----------------+--------+---------+---------+-------------+-----------
Dorsal | | | | |
vertebrae | 15 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 14
| | | | |
Lumbar | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5
+--------+---------+---------+-------------+-----------
Dorsal and | | | | |
lumbar together | 21 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 19
| | | | |
Sacral | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4
+--------+---------+---------+-------------+-----------
Total number | | | | |
of vertebrae | 26 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 23
----------------+--------+---------+---------+-------------+-----------
{75}
Some semi-monstrous breeds deserve notice. From the time of Aristotle to
the present time solid-hoofed swine have occasionally been observed in
various parts of the world. Although this peculiarity is strongly
inherited, it is hardly probable that all the animals with solid hoofs have
descended from the same parents; it is more probable that the same
peculiarity has reappeared at various times and places. Dr. Struthers has
lately described and figured[167] the structure of the feet; in both front
and hind feet the distal phalanges of the two greater toes are represented
by a single, great, hoof-bearing phalanx; and in the front feet, the middle
phalanges are represented by a bone which is single towards the lower end,
but bears two separate articulations towards the upper end. From other
accounts it appears that an intermediate toe is likewise sometimes
superadded.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Old Irish Pig, with jaw-appendages. (Copied from H.
D. Richardson on Pigs.)]
Another curious anomaly is offered by the appendages, described by M.
Eudes-Deslongchamps as often characterizing the Normandy pigs. These
appendages are always attached to the same spot, to the corners of the jaw;
they are cylindrical, about three inches in length, covered with bristles,
and with a pencil of bristles rising out of a sinus on one side: they have
a cartilaginous centre, with two small longitudinal muscles; they occur
either symmetrically on both sides of the face or on one {76} side alone.
Richardson figures them on the gaunt old "Irish Greyhound pig;" and
Nathusius states that they occasionally appear in all the long-eared races,
but are not strictly inherited, for they occur or fail in animals of the
same litter.[168] As no wild pigs are known to have analogous appendages,
we have at present no reason to suppose that their appearance is due to
reversion; and if this be so, we are forced to admit that somewhat complex,
though apparently useless, structures may be suddenly developed without the
aid of selection. This case perhaps throws some little light on the manner
of appearance of the hideous fleshy protuberances, though of an essentially
different nature from the above-described appendages, on the cheeks of the
wart-hog or Phacochoerus Africanus.
It is a remarkable fact that the boars of all domesticated breeds have much
shorter tusks than wild boars. Many facts show that with all animals the
state of the hair is much affected by exposure to, or protection from,
climate; and as we see that the state of the hair and teeth are correlated
in Turkish dogs (other analogous facts will be hereafter given), may we not
venture to surmise that the reduction of the tusks in the domestic boar is
related to his coat of bristles being diminished from living under shelter?
On the other hand, as we shall immediately see, the tusks and bristles
reappear with feral boars, which are no longer protected from the weather.
It is not surprising that the tusks should be more affected than the other
teeth; as parts developed to serve as secondary sexual characters are
always liable to much variation.
It is a well-known fact that the young of wild European and Indian
pigs,[169] for the first six months, are longitudinally banded with
light-coloured stripes. This character generally disappears under
domestication. The Turkish domestic pigs, however, have striped young, as
have those of Westphalia, "whatever may be their hue;"[170] whether these
latter pigs belong to the {77} same curly-haired race with the Turkish
swine, I do not know. The pigs which have run wild in Jamaica and the
semi-feral pigs of New Granada, both those which are black and those which
are black with a white band across the stomach, often extending over the
back, have resumed this aboriginal character and produce
longitudinally-striped young. This is likewise the case, at least
occasionally, with the neglected pigs in the Zambesi settlement on the
coast of Africa.[171]
The common belief that all domesticated animals, when they run wild, revert
completely to the character of their parent-stock, is chiefly founded, as
far as I can discover, on feral pigs. But even in this case the belief is
not grounded on sufficient evidence; for the two main types of _S. scrofa_
and _Indica_ have never been distinguished in a feral state. The young, as
we have just seen, reacquire their longitudinal stripes, and the boars
invariably reassume their tusks. They revert also in the general shape of
their bodies, and in the length of their legs and muzzles, to the state of
the wild animal, as might have been expected from the amount of exercise
which they are compelled to take in search of food. In Jamaica the feral
pigs do not acquire the full size of the European wild boar, "never
attaining a greater height than 20 inches at the shoulder." In various
countries they reassume their original bristly covering, but in different
{78} degrees, dependent on the climate; thus, according to Roulin, the
semi-feral pigs in the hot valleys of New Granada are very scantily
clothed; whereas, on the Paramos, at the height of 7000 to 8000 feet, they
acquire a thick covering of wool lying under the bristles, like that on the
truly wild pigs of France. These pigs on the Paramos are small and stunted.
The wild boar of India is said to have the bristles at the end of its tail
arranged like the plumes of an arrow, whilst the European boar has a simple
tuft; and it is a curious fact that many, but not all, of the feral pigs in
Jamaica, derived from a Spanish stock, have a plumed tail.[172] With
respect to colour, feral pigs generally revert to that of the wild boar;
but in certain parts of S. America, as we have seen, some of the semi-feral
pigs have a curious white band across their stomachs; and in certain other
hot places the pigs are red, and this colour has likewise occasionally been
observed in the feral pigs of Jamaica. From these several facts we see that
with pigs when feral there is a strong tendency to revert to the wild type;
but that this tendency is largely governed by the nature of the climate,
amount of exercise, and other causes of change to which they have been
subjected.
The last point worth notice is that we have unusually good evidence of
breeds of pigs now keeping perfectly true, which have been formed by the
crossing of several distinct breeds. The Improved Essex pigs, for instance,
breed very true; but there is no doubt that they largely owe their present
excellent qualities to crosses originally made by Lord Western with the
Neapolitan race, and to subsequent crosses with the Berkshire breed (this
also having been improved by Neapolitan crosses), and likewise, probably,
with the Sussex breed.[173] In breeds thus formed by complex crosses, the
most careful and unremitting selection during many generations has been
found to be indispensable. Chiefly in consequence of so much crossing, some
well-known breeds have undergone rapid changes; thus, according to
Nathusius,[174] the Berkshire breed of 1780 is quite {79} different from
that of 1810; and, since this latter period, at least two distinct forms
have borne the same name.
CATTLE.
Domestic cattle are almost certainly the descendants of more than one wild
form, in the same manner as has been shown to be the case with our dogs and
pigs. Naturalists have generally made two main divisions of cattle: the
humped kinds inhabiting tropical countries, called in India Zebus, to which
the specific name of _Bos Indicus_ has been given; and the common
non-humped cattle, generally included under the name of _Bos taurus._ The
humped cattle were domesticated, as may be seen on the Egyptian monuments,
at least as early as the twelfth dynasty, that is 2100 B.C. They differ
from common cattle in various osteological characters, even in a greater
degree, according to Ruetimeyer,[175] than do the fossil species of Europe,
namely _Bos primigenius, longifrons_, and _frontosus_, from each other.
They differ, also, as Mr. Blyth,[176] who has particularly attended to this
subject, remarks, in general configuration, in the shape of their ears, in
the point where the dewlap commences, in the typical curvature of their
horns, in their manner of carrying their heads when at rest, in their
ordinary variations of colour, especially in the frequent presence of
"nilgau-like markings on their feet," and "in the one being born with teeth
protruding through the jaws, and the other not so." They have different
habits, and their voice is entirely different. The humped cattle in India
"seldom seek shade, and never go into the water and there stand knee-deep,
like the cattle of Europe." They have run wild in parts of Oude and
Rohilcund, and can maintain themselves in a region infested by tigers. They
have given rise to many races differing greatly in size, in the presence
{80} of one or two humps, in length of horns, and other respects. Mr. Blyth
sums up emphatically that the humped and humpless cattle must be considered
as distinct species. When we consider the number of points in external
structure and habits, independently of their important osteological
differences, in which they differ from each other; and that many of these
points are not likely to have been affected by domestication, there can
hardly be a doubt, notwithstanding the adverse opinion of some naturalists,
that the humped and non-humped cattle must be ranked as specifically
distinct.
The European breeds of humpless cattle are numerous. Professor Low
enumerates 19 British breeds, only a few of which are identical with those
on the Continent. Even the small Channel islands of Guernsey, Jersey, and
Alderney, possess their own sub-breeds;[177] and these again differ from
the cattle of the other British islands, such as Anglesea, and the western
isles of Scotland. Desmarest, who paid attention to the subject, describes
15 French races, excluding sub-varieties and those imported from other
countries. In other parts of Europe there are several distinct races, such
as the pale-coloured Hungarian cattle, with their light and free step, and
their enormous horns sometimes measuring above five feet from tip to
tip:[178] the Podolian cattle are remarkable from the height of their
fore-quarters. In the most recent work on Cattle,[179] engravings are given
of fifty-five European breeds; it is, however, probable that several of
these differ very little from each other, or are merely synonyms. It must
not be supposed that numerous breeds of cattle exist only in long-civilized
countries, for we shall presently see that several kinds are kept by the
savages of Southern Africa.
With respect to the parentage of the several European breeds, we
already know much from Nilsson's Memoir,[180] and more especially from
Ruetimeyer's 'Pfahlbauten' and succeeding works. Two or three species or
forms of {81} Bos, closely allied to still living domestic races, have
been found fossil in the more recent tertiary deposits of Europe.
Following Ruetimeyer, we have:--
_Bos primigenius._--This magnificent, well-known species was
domesticated in Switzerland during the Neolithic period; even at this
early period it varied a little, having apparently been crossed with
other races. Some of the larger races on the Continent, as the
Friesland, &c., and the Pembroke race in England, closely resemble in
essential structure _B. primigenius_, and no doubt are its descendants.
This is likewise the opinion of Nilsson. _Bos primigenius_ existed as a
wild animal in Caesar's time, and is now semi-wild, though much
degenerated in size, in the park of Chillingham; for I am informed by
Professor Ruetimeyer, to whom Lord Tankerville sent a skull, that the
Chillingham cattle are less altered from the true primigenius type than
any other known breed.[181]
_Bos trochoceros._--This form is not included in the three species
above mentioned, for it is now considered by Ruetimeyer to be the female
of an early domesticated form of _B. primigenius_, and as the
progenitor of his _frontosus_ race. I may add that specific names have
been given to four other fossil oxen, now believed to be identical with
_B. primigenius_.[182]
_Bos longifrons_ (or _brachyceros_) of Owen.--This very distinct
species was of small size, and had a short body with fine legs. It has
been found in England associated with the remains of the elephant and
rhinoceros.[183] It was the commonest form in a domesticated condition
in Switzerland during the earliest part of the Neolithic period. It was
domesticated in England during the Roman period, and supplied food to
the Roman legionaries.[184] Some remains have been found in Ireland in
certain crannoges, of which the dates are believed to be from 843-933
A.D.[185] Professor Owen[186] thinks it probable that the Welsh and
Highland cattle are descended from this form; as likewise is the case,
according to Ruetimeyer, with some of the existing Swiss breeds. These
latter are of different shades of colour from light-grey to
blackish-brown, with a lighter stripe along the spine, but they have no
pure white marks. The cattle of North Wales and the Highlands, on the
other hand, are generally black or dark-coloured.
_Bos frontosus_ of Nilsson.--This species is allied to _B. longifrons_,
but in the opinion of some good judges is distinct from it. Both
co-existed in Scania during the same late geological period,[187] and
both have been found in the Irish crannoges.[188] Nilsson believes that
his _B. frontosus_ may be the {82} parent of the mountain cattle of
Norway, which have a high protuberance on the skull between the base of
the horns. As Professor Owen believes that the Scotch Highland cattle
are descended from his _B. longifrons_, it is worth notice that a
capable judge[189] has remarked that he saw no cattle in Norway like
the Highland breed, but that they more nearly resembled the Devonshire
breed.
Hence we see that three forms or species of Bos, originally inhabitants of
Europe, have been domesticated; but there is no improbability in this fact,
for the genus Bos readily yields to domestication. Besides these three
species and the zebu, the yak, the gayal, and the arni[190] (not to mention
the buffalo or genus Bubalus) have been domesticated; making altogether
seven species of Bos. The zebu and the three European species are now
extinct in a wild state, for the cattle of the _B. primigenius_ type in the
British parks can hardly be considered as truly wild. Although certain
races of cattle, domesticated at a very ancient period in Europe, are the
descendants of the three above-named fossil species, yet it does not follow
that they were here first domesticated. Those who place much reliance on
philology argue that our cattle were imported from the East.[191] But as
races of men invading any country would probably give their own names to
the breeds of cattle which they might there find domesticated, the argument
seems inconclusive. There is indirect evidence that our cattle are the
descendants of species which originally inhabited a temperate or cold
climate, but not a land long covered with snow; for our cattle, as we have
seen in the chapter on Horses, apparently have not the instinct of scraping
away the snow to get at the herbage beneath. No one could behold the
magnificent wild bulls on the bleak Falkland Islands in the southern
hemisphere, and doubt about the climate being admirably suited to them.
Azara has remarked that in the temperate regions of La Plata the cows
conceive when two years old, whilst in the much hotter country of Paraguay
they do not conceive till three years old; "from which fact," as he adds,
"one may conclude that cattle do not succeed so well in warm
countries."[192]
The above-named three fossil forms of Bos have been ranked {83} by nearly
all palaeontologists as distinct species; and it would not be reasonable to
change their denomination simply because they are now found to be the
parents of several domesticated races. But what is of most importance for
us, as showing that they deserve to be ranked as species, is that they
co-existed in different parts of Europe during the same period, and yet
kept distinct. Their domesticated descendants, on the other hand, if not
separated, cross with the utmost freedom and become commingled. The several
European breeds have so often been crossed, both intentionally and
unintentionally, that, if any sterility ensued from such unions, it would
certainly have been detected. As zebus inhabit a distant and much hotter
region, and as they differ in so many characters from our European cattle,
I have taken pains to ascertain whether the two forms are fertile when
crossed. The late Lord Powis imported some zebus and crossed them with
common cattle in Shropshire; and I was assured by his steward that the
cross-bred animals were perfectly fertile with both parent-stocks. Mr.
Blyth informs me that in India hybrids, with various proportions of either
blood, are quite fertile; and this can hardly fail to be known, for in some
districts[193] the two species are allowed to breed freely together. Most
of the cattle which were first introduced into Tasmania were humped, so
that at one time thousands of crossed animals existed there; and Mr. B.
O'Neile Wilson, M.A., writes to me from Tasmania that he has never heard of
any sterility having been observed. He himself formerly possessed a herd of
such crossed cattle, and all were perfectly fertile; so much so, that he
cannot remember even a single cow failing to calve. These several facts
afford an important confirmation of the Pallasian doctrine that the
descendants of species which when first domesticated would if crossed
probably have been in some degree sterile, become perfectly fertile after a
long course of domestication. In a future chapter we shall see that this
doctrine throws much light on the difficult subject of Hybridism.
I have alluded to the cattle in Chillingham Park, which, according to
Ruetimeyer, have been very little changed from the _Bos primigenius_ type.
This park is so ancient that it is {84} referred to in a record of the year
1220. The cattle in their instincts and habits are truly wild. They are
white, with the inside of the ears reddish-brown, eyes rimmed with black,
muzzles brown, hoofs black, and horns white tipped with black. Within a
period of thirty-three years about a dozen calves were born with "brown and
blue spots upon the cheeks or necks; but these, together with any defective
animals, were always destroyed." According to Bewick, about the year 1770
some calves appeared with black ears; but these were also destroyed by the
keeper, and black ears have not since reappeared. The wild white cattle in
the Duke of Hamilton's park, where I have heard of the birth of a black
calf, are said by Lord Tankerville to be inferior to those at Chillingham.
The cattle kept until the year 1780 by the Duke of Queensberry, but now
extinct, had their ears, muzzle, and orbits of the eyes black. Those which
have existed from time immemorial at Chartley; closely resemble the cattle
at Chillingham, but are larger, "with some small difference in the colour
of the ears." "They frequently tend to become entirely black; and a
singular superstition prevails in the vicinity that, when a black calf is
born, some calamity impends over the noble house of Ferrers. All the black
calves are destroyed." The cattle at Burton Constable in Yorkshire, now
extinct, had ears, muzzle, and the tip of the tail black. Those at
Gisburne, also in Yorkshire, are said by Bewick to have been sometimes
without dark muzzles, with the inside alone of the ears brown; and they are
elsewhere said to have been low in stature and hornless.[194]
The several above-specified differences in the park-cattle, slight though
they be, are worth recording, as they show that animals living nearly in a
state of nature, and exposed to nearly uniform conditions, if not allowed
to roam freely and to cross with other herds, do not keep as uniform as
truly {85} wild animals. For the preservation of a uniform character, even
within the same park, a certain degree of selection--that is, the
destruction of the dark-coloured calves--is apparently necessary.
The cattle in all the parks are white; but, from the occasional appearance
of dark-coloured calves, it is extremely doubtful whether the aboriginal
_Bos primigenius_ was white. The following facts, however, show that there
is a strong, though not invariable, tendency in wild or escaped cattle,
under widely different conditions of life, to become white with coloured
ears. If the old writers Boethius and Leslie[195] can be trusted, the wild
cattle of Scotland were white and furnished with a great mane; but the
colour of their ears is not mentioned. The primaeval forest formerly
extended across the whole country from Chillingham to Hamilton, and Sir
Walter Scott used to maintain that the cattle still preserved in these two
parks, at the two extremities of the forest, were remnants of its original
inhabitants; and this view certainly seems probable. In Wales,[196] during
the tenth century, some of the cattle are described as being white with red
ears. Four hundred cattle thus coloured were sent to King John; and an
early record speaks of a hundred cattle with red ears having been demanded
as a compensation for some offence, but, if the cattle were of a dark or
black colour, one hundred and fifty were to be presented. The black cattle
of North Wales apparently belong, as we have seen, to the small
_longifrons_ type: and as the alternative was offered of either 150 dark
cattle, or 100 white cattle with red ears, we may presume that the latter
were the larger beasts, and probably belonged to the _primigenius_ type.
Youatt has remarked that at the present day, whenever cattle of the
short-horn breed are white, the extremities of their ears are more or less
tinged with red.
The cattle which have run wild on the Pampas, in Texas, and in two parts of
Africa, have become of a nearly uniform dark {86} brownish-red.[197] On the
Ladrone Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, immense herds of cattle, which were
wild in the year 1741, are described as "milk-white, except their ears,
which are generally black."[198] The Falkland Islands, situated far south,
with all the conditions of life as different as it is possible to conceive
from those of the Ladrones, offer a more interesting case. Cattle have run
wild there during eighty or ninety years; and in the southern districts the
animals are mostly white, with their feet, or whole heads, or only their
ears black; but my informant, Admiral Sulivan,[199] who long resided on
these islands, does not believe that they are ever purely white. So that in
these two archipelagos we see that the cattle tend to become white with
coloured ears. In other parts of the Falkland Islands, other colours
prevail: near Port Pleasant brown is the common tint; round Mount Usborne,
about half the animals in some of the herds were lead or mouse-coloured,
which elsewhere is an unusual tint. These latter cattle, though generally
inhabiting high land, breed about a month earlier than the other cattle;
and this circumstance would aid in keeping them distinct and in
perpetuating this peculiar colour. It is worth recalling to mind that blue
or lead-coloured marks have occasionally appeared on the white cattle of
Chillingham. So plainly different were the colours of the wild herds in
different parts of the Falkland Islands, that in hunting them, as Admiral
Sulivan informs me, white spots in one district, and dark spots in another
district, were always looked out for on the distant hills. In the
intermediate districts intermediate colours prevailed. Whatever the cause
may be, this tendency in the wild cattle of the Falkland Islands, which are
all descended from a few brought from La Plata, to break up into herds of
three different colours, is an interesting fact.
Returning to the several British breeds, the conspicuous difference in
general appearance between Short-horns, Long-horns (now rarely seen),
Herefords, Highland cattle, Alderneys, &c., must be familiar to every one.
A large part of the {87} difference, no doubt, may be due to descent from
primordially distinct species; but we may feel sure that there has been in
addition a considerable amount of variation. Even during the Neolithic
period, the domestic cattle were not actually identical with the aboriginal
species. Within recent times most of the breeds have been modified by
careful and methodical selection. How strongly the characters thus acquired
are inherited, may be inferred from the prices realised by the improved
breeds; even at the first sale of Colling's Short-horns, eleven bulls
reached an average of 214l., and lately Short-horn bulls have been sold for
a thousand guineas, and have been exported to all quarters of the world.
Some constitutional differences may be here noticed. The Short-horns arrive
at maturity far earlier than the wilder breeds, such as those of Wales or
the Highlands. This fact has been shown in an interesting manner by Mr.
Simonds,[200] who has given a table of the average period of their
dentition, which proves that there is a difference of no less than six
months in the appearance of the permanent incisors. The period of
gestation, from observations made by Tessier on 1131 cows, varies to the
extent of eighty-one days; and what is more interesting, M. Lefour affirms
"that the period of gestation is longer in the large German cattle than in
the smaller breeds."[201] With respect to the period of conception, it
seems certain that Alderney and Zetland cows often become pregnant earlier
than other breeds.[202] Lastly, as four fully-developed mammae is a generic
character in the genus Bos,[203] it is worth notice that with our domestic
cows the two rudimentary mammae often become fairly well developed and yield
milk.
As numerous breeds are generally found only in long-civilized countries, it
may be well to show that in some countries inhabited by barbarous races,
who are frequently at war with each other and therefore have little free
{88} communication, several distinct breeds of cattle now exist or formerly
existed. At the Cape of Good Hope Leguat observed, in the year 1720, three
kinds.[204] At the present day various travellers have noticed the
differences in the breeds in Southern Africa. Sir Andrew Smith several
years ago remarked to me that the cattle possessed by the different tribes
of Caffres, though living near each other under the same latitude and in
the same kind of country, yet differed, and he expressed much surprise at
the fact. Mr. Andersson has described[205] the Damara, Bechuana, and
Namaqua cattle; and he informs me in a letter that the cattle north of Lake
Ngami are likewise different, as Mr. Galton has heard is the case with the
cattle of Benguela. The Namaqua cattle in size and shape nearly resemble
European cattle, and have short stout horns and large hoofs. The Damara
cattle are very peculiar, being big-boned, with slender legs and small hard
feet; their tails are adorned with a tuft of long bushy hair nearly
touching the ground, and their horns are extraordinarily large. The
Bechuana cattle have even larger horns, and there is now a skull in London
with the two horns 8 ft. 81/4 in. long, as measured in a straight line from
tip to tip, and no less than 13ft. 5in. as measured along their curvature!
Mr. Andersson in his letter to me says that, though he will not venture to
describe the differences between the breeds belonging to the many different
sub-tribes, yet such certainly exist, as shown by the wonderful facility
with which the natives discriminate them.
That many breeds of cattle have originated through variation, independently
of descent from distinct species, we may infer from what we see in South
America, where the genus Bos was not endemic, and where the cattle which
now exist in such vast numbers are the descendants of a few imported from
Spain and Portugal. In Columbia, Roulin[206] describes two peculiar breeds,
namely, _pelones_, with extremely thin and fine hair, and _calongos_,
absolutely naked. According to Castelnau there are two races in Brazil, one
like European cattle, the other different, with {89} remarkable horns. In
Paraguay, Azara describes a breed which certainly originated in S. America,
called _chivos_, "because they have straight vertical horns, conical, and
very large at the base." He likewise describes a dwarf race in Corrientes,
with short legs and a body larger than usual. Cattle without horns, and
others with reversed hair, have also originated in Paraguay.
Another monstrous breed, called niatas or natas, of which I saw two small
herds on the northern bank of the Plata, is so remarkable as to deserve a
fuller description. This breed bears the same relation to other breeds, as
bull or pug dogs do to other dogs, or as improved pigs, according to H. von
Nathusius, do to common pigs.[207] Ruetimeyer believes that these cattle
belong to the primigenius type.[208] The forehead is very short and broad,
with the nasal end of the skull, together with the whole plane of the upper
molar-teeth, curved upwards. The lower jaw projects beyond the upper, and
has a corresponding upward curvature. It is an interesting fact that an
almost similar conformation characterizes, as I have been informed by Dr.
Falconer, the extinct and gigantic Sivatherium of India, and is not known
in any other ruminant. The upper lip is much drawn back, the nostrils are
seated high up and are widely open, the eyes project outwards, and the
horns are large. In walking the head is carried low, and the neck is short.
The hind legs appear to be longer, compared with the front legs, than is
usual. The exposed incisor teeth, the short head and upturned nostrils,
give these cattle the most ludicrous, self-confident air of defiance. The
skull which I presented to the College of Surgeons has been thus described
by Professor Owen:[209] "It is remarkable from the stunted development of
the nasals, premaxillaries, and fore-part of the lower jaw, which is
unusually {90} curved upwards to come into contact with the premaxillaries.
The nasal bones are about one-third the ordinary length, but retain almost
their normal breadth. The triangular vacuity is left between them, the
frontal and lachrymal, which latter bone articulates with the premaxillary,
and thus excludes the maxillary from any junction with the nasal." So that
even the connexion of some of the bones is changed. Other differences might
be added: thus the plane of the condyles is somewhat modified, and the
terminal edge of the premaxillaries forms an arch. In fact, on comparison
with the skull of a common ox, scarcely a single bone presents the same
exact shape, and the whole skull has a wonderfully different appearance.
The first brief published notice of this race was by Azara, between the
years 1783-96; but Don F. Muniz, of Luxan, who has kindly collected
information for me, states that about 1760 these cattle were kept as
curiosities near Buenos Ayres. Their origin is not positively known, but
they must have originated subsequently to the year 1552, when cattle were
first introduced. Signor Muniz informs me that the breed is believed to
have originated with the Indians southward of the Plata. Even to this day
those reared near the Plata show their less civilized nature in being
fiercer than common cattle, and in the cow, if visited too often, easily
deserting her first calf. The breed is very true, and a niata bull and cow
invariably produce niata calves. The breed has already lasted at least a
century. A niata bull crossed with a common cow, and the reverse cross,
yield offspring having an intermediate character, but with the niata
character strongly displayed. According to Signor Muniz, there is the
clearest evidence, contrary to the common belief of agriculturists in
analogous cases, that the niata cow when crossed with a common bull
transmits her peculiarities more strongly than does the niata bull when
crossed with a common cow. When the pasture is tolerably long, these cattle
feed as well as common cattle with their tongue and palate; but during the
great droughts, when so many animals perish on the Pampas, the niata breed
lies under a great disadvantage, and would, if not attended to, become
extinct; for the common cattle, like horses, are able just to keep alive by
browsing on the twigs of trees and on reeds with their lips: this the
niatas cannot so {91} well do, as their lips do not join, and hence they
are found to perish before the common cattle. This strikes me as a good
illustration of how little we are able to judge from the ordinary habits of
an animal, on what circumstances, occurring only at long intervals of time,
its rarity or extinction may depend. It shows us, also, how natural
selection would have determined the rejection of the niata modification had
it arisen in a state of nature.
Having described the semi-monstrous niata breed, I may allude to a white
bull, said to have been brought from Africa, which was exhibited in London
in 1829, and which has been well figured by Mr. Harvey.[210] It had a hump,
and was furnished with a mane. The dewlap was peculiar, being divided
between its fore-legs into parallel divisions. Its lateral hoofs were
annually shed, and grew to the length of five or six inches. The eye was
very peculiar, being remarkably prominent, and "resembled a cup and ball,
thus enabling the animal to see on all sides with equal ease; the pupil was
small and oval, or rather a parallelogram with the ends cut off, and lying
transversely across the ball," A new and strange breed might probably have
been formed by careful breeding and selection from this animal.
I have often speculated on the probable causes through which each separate
district in Great Britain came to possess in former times its own peculiar
breed of cattle; and the question is, perhaps, even more perplexing in the
case of Southern Africa. We now know that the differences may be in part
attributed to descent from distinct species; but this will not suffice.
Have the slight differences in climate and in the nature of the pasture, in
the different districts of Britain, directly induced corresponding
differences in the cattle? We have seen that the semi-wild cattle in the
several British parks are not identical in colouring or size, and that some
degree of selection has been requisite to keep them true. It is almost
certain that abundant food given during many generations directly affects
the size of a breed.[211] That climate directly affects the thickness of
the {92} skin and the hair is likewise certain: thus Roulin asserts[212]
that the hides of the feral cattle on the hot Llanos "are always much less
heavy than those of the cattle raised on the high platform of Bogota; and
that these hides yield in weight and in thickness of hair to those of the
cattle which have run wild on the lofty Paramos." The same difference has
been observed in the hides of the cattle reared on the bleak Falkland
Islands and on the temperate Pampas. Low has remarked[213] that the cattle
which inhabit the more humid parts of Britain have longer hair and thicker
skins than other British cattle; and the hair and horns are so closely
related to each other, that, as we shall see in a future chapter, they are
apt to vary together; thus climate might indirectly affect, through the
skin, the form and size of the horns. When we compare highly improved
stall-fed cattle with the wilder breeds, or compare mountain and lowland
breeds, we cannot doubt that an active life, leading to the free use of the
limbs and lungs, affects the shape and proportions of the whole body. It is
probable that some breeds, such as the semi-monstrous niata cattle, and
some peculiarities, such as being hornless, &c., have appeared suddenly
from what we may call a spontaneous variation; but even in this case a rude
kind of selection is necessary, and the animals thus characterized must be
at least partially separated from others. This degree of care, however, has
sometimes been taken even in little-civilized districts, where we should
least have expected it, as in the case of the niata, chivo, and hornless
cattle in S. America.
That methodical selection has done wonders within a recent period in
modifying our cattle, no one doubts. During the process of methodical
selection it has occasionally happened that deviations of structure, more
strongly pronounced than mere individual differences, yet by no means
deserving to be called monstrosities, have been taken advantage of: thus
the famous Long-horn Bull, Shakespeare, though of the pure Canley stock,
"scarcely inherited a single point of the long-horned breed, his horns
excepted;[214] yet in the hands of Mr. Fowler, {93} this bull greatly
improved his race. We have also reason to believe that selection, carried
on so far unconsciously that there was at no one time any distinct
intention to improve or change the breed, has in the course of time
modified most of our cattle; for by this process, aided by more abundant
food, all the lowland British breeds have increased greatly in size and in
early maturity since the reign of Henry VII.[215] It should never be
forgotten that many animals have to be annually slaughtered; so that each
owner must determine which shall be killed and which preserved for
breeding. In every district, as Youatt has remarked, there is a prejudice
in favour of the native breed; so that animals possessing qualities,
whatever they may be, which are most valued in each district, will be
oftenest preserved; and this unmethodical selection assuredly will in the
long run affect the character of the whole breed. But it may be asked, can
this rude kind of selection have been practised by barbarians such as those
of southern Africa? In a future chapter on Selection we shall see that this
has certainly occurred to some extent. Therefore, looking to the origin of
the many breeds of cattle which formerly inhabited the several districts of
Britain, I conclude that, although slight differences in the nature of the
climate, food, &c., as well as changed habits of life, aided by correlation
of growth, and the occasional appearance from unknown causes of
considerable deviations of structure, have all probably played their parts;
yet that the occasional preservation in each district of those individual
animals which were most valued by each owner has perhaps been even more
effective in the production of the several British breeds. As soon as two
or more breeds had once been formed in any district, or when new breeds
descended from distinct species were introduced, their crossing, especially
if aided by some selection, will have multiplied the number and modified
the characters of the older breeds.
SHEEP.
I shall treat this subject briefly. Most authors look at our domestic sheep
as descended from several distinct species; but how many still exist is
doubtful. Mr. Blyth believes that there {94} are in the whole world
fourteen species, one of which, the Corsican moufflon, he concludes (as I
am informed by him) to be the parent of the smaller, short-tailed breeds,
with crescent-shaped horns, such as the old Highland sheep. The larger,
long-tailed breeds, having horns with a double flexure, such as the
Dorsets, merinos, &c., he believes to be descended from an unknown and
extinct species. M. Gervais makes six species of Ovis;[216] but concludes
that our domestic sheep form a distinct genus, now completely extinct. A
German naturalist[217] believes that our sheep descend from ten
aboriginally distinct species, of which only one is still living in a wild
state! Another ingenious observer,[218] though not a naturalist, with a
bold defiance of everything known on geographical distribution, infers that
the sheep of Great Britain alone are the descendants of eleven endemic
British forms! Under such a hopeless state of doubt it would be useless for
my purpose to give a detailed account of the several breeds; but a few
remarks may be added.
Sheep have been domesticated from a very ancient period. Ruetimeyer[219]
found in the Swiss lake-dwellings the remains of a small breed, with thin
and tall legs, and with horns like those of a goat: this race differs
somewhat from any one now known. Almost every country has its own peculiar
breed; and many countries have many breeds differing greatly from each
other. One of the most strongly marked races is an Eastern one with a long
tail, including, according to Pallas, twenty vertebrae, and so loaded with
fat, that, from being esteemed a delicacy, it is sometimes placed on a
truck which is dragged about by the living animal. These sheep, though
ranked by Fitzinger as a distinct aboriginal form, seem to bear in their
drooping ears the stamp of long domestication. This is likewise the case
with those sheep which have two great masses of fat on the rump, with the
tail in a rudimentary condition. The Angola variety of {95} the long-tailed
race has curious masses of fat on the back of the head and beneath the
jaws.[220] Mr. Hodgson in an admirable paper[221] on the sheep of the
Himalaya infers from the distribution of the several races, "that this
caudal augmentation in most of its phases is an instance of degeneracy in
these pre-eminently Alpine animals." The horns present an endless diversity
in character; being, especially in the female sex, not rarely absent, or,
on the other hand, amounting to four or even eight in number. The horns,
when numerous, arise from a crest on the frontal bone, which is elevated in
a peculiar manner. It is remarkable that multiplicity of horns "is
generally accompanied by great length and coarseness of the fleece."[222]
This correlation, however, is not invariable; for I am informed by Mr. D.
Forbes, that the Spanish sheep in Chile resemble, in fleece and in all
other characters, their parent merino-race, except that instead of a pair
they generally bear four horns. The existence of a pair of mammae is a
generic character in the genus Ovis as well as in several allied forms;
nevertheless, as Mr. Hodgson has remarked, "this character is not
absolutely constant even among the true and proper sheep: for I have more
than once met with Cagias (a sub-Himalayan domestic race) possessed of four
teats."[223] This case is the more remarkable as, when any part or organ is
present in reduced number in comparison with the same part in allied
groups, it usually is subject to little variation. The presence of
interdigital pits has likewise been considered as a generic distinction in
sheep; but Isidore Geoffroy[224] has shown that these pits or pouches are
absent in some breeds.
In sheep there is a strong tendency for characters, which have apparently
been acquired under domestication, to become attached either exclusively to
the male sex, or to be more highly developed in this than in the other sex.
Thus in many breeds the horns are deficient in the ewe, though this
likewise occurs occasionally with the female of the wild musmon. In the
rams of the Wallachian breed "the horns spring almost perpendicularly {96}
from the frontal bone, and then take a beautiful spiral form; in the ewes
they protrude nearly at right angles from the head, and then become twisted
in a singular manner."[225] Mr. Hodgson states that the extraordinarily
arched nose or chaffron, which is so highly developed in several foreign
breeds, is characteristic of the ram alone, and apparently is the result of
domestication.[226] I hear from Mr. Blyth that the accumulation of fat in
the fat-tailed sheep of the plains of India is greater in the male than in
the female; and Fitzinger[227] remarks that the mane in the African maned
race is far more developed in the ram than in the ewe.
Different races of sheep, like cattle, present constitutional differences.
Thus the improved breeds arrive at maturity at an early age, as has been
well shown by Mr. Simonds through their early average period of dentition.
The several races have become adapted to different kinds of pasture and
climate: for instance, no one can rear Leicester sheep on mountainous
regions, where Cheviots flourish. As Youatt has remarked, "in all the
different districts of Great Britain we find various breeds of sheep
beautifully adapted to the locality which they occupy. No one knows their
origin; they are indigenous to the soil, climate, pasturage, and the
locality on which they graze; they seem to have been formed for it and by
it."[228] Marshall relates[229] that a flock of heavy Lincolnshire and
light Norfolk sheep which had been bred together in a large sheep-walk,
part of which was low, rich, and moist, and another part high and dry, with
benty grass, when turned out, regularly separated from each other; the
heavy sheep drawing off to the rich soil, and the lighter sheep to their
own soil; so that "whilst there was plenty of grass the two breeds kept
themselves as distinct as rooks and pigeons." Numerous sheep from various
parts of the world have been brought during a long course of years to the
Zoological Gardens of London; but as Youatt, who attended the animals as a
{97} veterinary surgeon, remarks, "few or none die of the rot, but they are
phthisical; not one of them from a torrid climate lasts out the second
year, and when they die their lungs are tuberculated."[230] Even in certain
parts of England it has been found impossible to keep certain breeds of
sheep; thus on a farm on the banks of the Ouse, the Leicester sheep were so
rapidly destroyed by pleuritis[231] that the owner could not keep them; the
coarser-skinned sheep never being affected.
The period of gestation was formerly thought to be so unalterable a
character, that a supposed difference between the wolf and the dog in this
respect was esteemed a sure sign of specific distinction; but we have seen
that the period is shorter in the improved breeds of the pig, and in the
larger breeds of the ox, than in other breeds of these two animals. And now
we know, on the excellent authority of Hermann von Nathusius,[232] that
Merino and Southdown sheep, when both have long been kept under exactly the
same conditions, differ in their average period of gestation, as is seen in
the following Table:--
Merinos 150.3 days.
Southdowns 144.2 "
Half-bred Merinos and Southdowns 146.3 "
3/4 blood of Southdown 145.5 "
7/8 " " 144.2 "
In this graduated difference, in these cross-bred animals having different
proportions of Southdown blood, we see how strictly the two periods of
gestation have been transmitted. Nathusius remarks that, as Southdowns grow
with remarkable rapidity after birth, it is not surprising that their
foetal development should have been shortened. It is of course possible
that the difference in these two breeds may be due to their descent from
distinct parent-species; but as the early maturity of the Southdowns has
long been carefully attended to by breeders, the difference is more
probably the result of such attention. Lastly, the fecundity of the several
breeds differs much; some generally producing twins or even triplets at a
birth, of which fact the curious Shangai sheep (with their truncated and
rudimentary {98} ears, and great Roman noses), lately exhibited in the
Zoological Gardens, offer a remarkable instance.
Sheep are perhaps more readily affected by the direct action of the
conditions of life to which they have been exposed than almost any other
domestic animal. According to Pallas, and more recently according to Erman,
the fat-tailed Kirghisian sheep, when bred for a few generations in Russia,
degenerate, and the mass of fat dwindles away, "the scanty and bitter
herbage of the steppes seems so essential to their development." Pallas
makes an analogous statement with respect to one of the Crimean breeds.
Burnes states that the Karakool breed, which produces a fine, curled,
black, and valuable fleece, when removed from its own canton near Bokhara
to Persia or to other quarters, loses its peculiar fleece.[233] In all such
cases, however, it may be that a change of any kind in the conditions of
life causes variability and consequent loss of character, and not that
certain conditions are necessary for the development of certain characters.
Great heat, however, seems to act directly on the fleece: several accounts
have been published of the change which sheep imported from Europe undergo
in the West Indies. Dr. Nicholson of Antigua informs me that, after the
third generation, the wool disappears from the whole body, except over the
loins; and the animal then appears like a goat with a dirty door-mat on its
back. A similar change is said to take place on the west coast of
Africa.[234] On the other hand, many wool-bearing sheep live on the hot
plains of India. Roulin asserts that in the lower and heated valleys of the
Cordillera, if the lambs are sheared as soon as the wool has grown to a
certain thickness, all goes on afterwards as usual; but if not sheared, the
wool detaches itself in flakes, and short shining hair like that {99} on a
goat is produced ever afterwards. This curious result seems merely to be an
exaggerated tendency natural to the Merino breed, for as a great authority,
namely, Lord Somerville, remarks, "the wool of our Merino sheep after
shear-time is hard and coarse to such a degree as to render it almost
impossible to suppose that the same animal could bear wool so opposite in
quality, compared to that which has been clipped from it: as the cold
weather advances, the fleeces recover their soft quality." As in sheep of
all breeds the fleece naturally consists of longer and coarser hair
covering shorter and softer wool, the change which it often undergoes in
hot climates is probably merely a case of unequal development; for even
with those sheep which like goats are covered with hair, a small quantity
of underlying wool may always be found.[235] In the wild mountain-sheep
(_Ovis montana_) of North America there is an annual analogous change of
coat; "the wool begins to drop out in early spring, leaving in its place a
coat of hair resembling that of the elk, a change of pelage quite different
in character from the ordinary thickening of the coat or hair, common to
all furred animals in winter,--for instance, in the horse, the cow, &c.,
which shed their winter coat in the spring."[236]
A slight difference in climate or pasture sometimes slightly affects the
fleece, as has been observed even in different districts in England, and as
is well shown by the great softness of the wool brought from Southern
Australia. But it should be observed, as Youatt repeatedly insists, that
the tendency to change may generally be counteracted by careful selection.
M. Lasterye, after discussing this subject, sums up as follows: "The
preservation of the Merino race in its utmost purity at the Cape of Good
Hope, in the marshes of Holland, and under the rigorous climate of Sweden,
furnishes an additional support of this my unalterable principle, that
fine-woolled sheep may be kept wherever industrious men and intelligent
breeders exist."
That methodical selection has effected great changes in several {100}
breeds of sheep no one, who knows anything on the subject, entertains a
doubt. The case of the Southdowns, as improved by Ellman, offers perhaps
the most striking instance. Unconscious or occasional selection has
likewise slowly produced a great effect, as we shall see in the chapters on
Selection. That crossing has largely modified some breeds, no one who will
study what has been written on this subject--for instance, Mr. Spooner's
paper--will dispute; but to produce uniformity, in a crossed breed, careful
selection and "rigorous weeding," as this author expresses it, are
indispensable.[237]
In some few instances new breeds have suddenly originated; thus, in 1791, a
ram-lamb was born in Massachusetts, having short crooked legs and a long
back, like a turnspit-dog. From this one lamb the _otter_ or _ancon_
semi-monstrous breed was raised; as these sheep could not leap over the
fences, it was thought that they would be valuable; but they have been
supplanted by merinos, and thus exterminated. These sheep are remarkable
from transmitting their character so truly that Colonel Humphreys[238]
never heard of "but one questionable case" of an ancon ram and ewe not
producing ancon offspring. When they are crossed with other breeds the
offspring, with rare exceptions, instead of being intermediate in
character, perfectly resemble either parent; and this has occurred even in
the case of twins. Lastly, "the ancons have been observed to keep together,
separating themselves from the rest of the flock when put into enclosures
with other sheep."
A more interesting case has been recorded in the Report of the Juries for
the Great Exhibition (1851), namely, the production of a merino ram-lamb on
the Mauchamp farm, in 1828, which was remarkable for its long, smooth,
straight, and silky wool. By the year 1833 M. Graux had raised rams enough
to serve his whole flock, and after a few more years he was able to sell
stock of his new breed. So peculiar and valuable is the wool, that it sells
at 25 per cent. above the best merino wool: even the fleeces of half-bred
animals are valuable, and are known in France as the "Mauchamp-merino." It
is interesting, as {101} showing how generally any marked deviation of
structure is accompanied by other deviations, that the first ram and his
immediate offspring were of small size, with large heads, long necks,
narrow chests, and long flanks; but these blemishes were removed by
judicious crosses and selection. The long smooth wool was also correlated
with smooth horns; and as horns and hair are homologous structures, we can
understand the meaning of this correlation. If the Mauchamp and ancon
breeds had originated a century or two ago, we should have had no record of
their birth; and many a naturalist would no doubt have insisted, especially
in the case of the Mauchamp race, that they had each descended from, or
been crossed with, some unknown aboriginal form.
GOATS.
From the recent researches of M. Brandt, most naturalists now believe that
all our goats are descended from the _Capra aegagrus_ of the mountains of
Asia, possibly mingled with the allied Indian species _C. Falconeri_ of
India.[239] In Switzerland, during the early Stone period, the domestic
goat was commoner than the sheep; and this very ancient race differed in no
respect from that now common in Switzerland.[240] At the present time, the
many races found in several parts of the world differ greatly from each
other; nevertheless, as far as they have been tried,[241] they are all
quite fertile when crossed. So numerous are the breeds, that Mr. G.
Clark[242] has described eight distinct kinds imported into the one island
of Mauritius. The ears of one kind were enormously developed, being, as
measured by Mr. Clark, no less than 19 inches in length and 43/4 inches in
breadth. As with cattle, the mammae of those breeds which are regularly
milked become greatly developed; and, as Mr. Clark remarks, "it is not rare
to see their teats touching the ground." The following cases are worth
notice as presenting unusual {102} points of variation. According to
Godron,[243] the mammae differ greatly in shape in different breeds, being
elongated in the common goat, hemispherical in the Angora race, and bilobed
and divergent in the goats of Syria and Nubia. According to this same
author, the males of certain breeds have lost their usual offensive odour.
In one of the Indian breeds the males and females have horns of
widely-different shapes;[244] and in some breeds the females are destitute
of horns.[245] The presence of interdigital pits or glands on all four feet
has been thought to characterise the genus Ovis, and their absence to be
characteristic of the genus Capra; but Mr. Hodgson has found that they
exist in the front feet of the majority of Himalayan goats.[246] Mr.
Hodgson measured the intestines in two goats of the Dugu race, and he found
that the proportional length of the great and small intestines differed
considerably. In one of these goats the caecum was thirteen inches, and in
the other no less than thirty-six inches in length!
* * * * *
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