| → Colour 1861 1866 1869 |
| colour 1859 1860 |
| but it has been lately stated by Mr. Tait that this is confined to the males. Colour 1872 |
|
| → injured 1866 1869 1872 |
| differently affected from coloured individuals 1859 1860 1861 |
|
| → plants, whilst dark-coloured individuals escape: 1866 1869 1872 |
| vegetable poisons. 1859 1860 |
| vegetable poisons: 1861 |
|
| →
(
I. e.
1869 |
|
(
i.e.
1861 1866 1872 |
|
| → but dimly understood 1869 1872 |
| dimly seen 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
|
|
→Colour
and constitutional peculiarities go together, of which many remarkable cases could be given amongst animals and plants. From
facts collected by Heusinger, it appears that white sheep and pigs are
→injured
by certain
→plants, whilst dark-coloured individuals escape: Professor Wyman has recently communicated to me a good illustration of this fact; on asking some farmers in
how it was that all their pigs were black, they informed him that the pigs ate the paint-root (Lachnanthes), which coloured their bones pink, and which caused the hoofs of all but the black varieties to drop off; and one of the "crackers"
→
(
I. e.
squatters) added, "we select the black members of a litter for raising, as they alone have a good chance of living." Hairless dogs have imperfect
coarse-haired animals are apt to have, as is asserted, long or many horns; pigeons with feathered feet have skin between their outer toes; pigeons with short beaks have small feet, and those with long beaks large feet.
if man goes on selecting, and thus augmenting, any peculiarity, he will almost certainly
modify
parts of the structure, owing to the mysterious laws of
|
|
| The
of the various,
unknown, or
→but dimly understood
laws of variation
infinitely complex and diversified. It is well worth while carefully to study the several treatises
on some of our old cultivated plants, as on the hyacinth, potato, even the dahlia, &c.; and it is really surprising to note the endless points
structure and constitution in which the varieties and sub-varieties differ slightly from each other. The whole organisation seems to have become plastic, and
in
degree from that of the parental type.
|
