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convinced that a damp climate affects the growth of the hair, and that with the hair the horns are correlated. Mountain breeds always differ from lowland breeds; and a mountainous country would probably affect the hind limbs from exercising them more, and possibly even the form of the pelvis; and then by the law of homologous variation, the front limbs and
the head would probably be affected. The shape, also, of the pelvis might affect by pressure the shape of
of the young in the womb. The laborious breathing necessary in high regions
we have
reason to believe,
the size of the chest; and again correlation would come into play. The effects
→on the whole organisation
of lessened exercise
abundant food
→is
probably still more important; and this, as H. von Nathusius has lately shown in his excellent Treatise, is apparently one chief cause of the great modification which the breeds of swine have undergone. Animals kept by savages in different countries often have to struggle for their own subsistence, and
exposed to a certain extent to natural
and individuals with slightly different constitutions would succeed best under different
A good
states that in cattle susceptibility to the attacks of flies is correlated with colour, as is the liability to be poisoned by certain plants; so that
would be thus subjected to the action of natural selection. But we are far too ignorant to speculate on the relative importance of the several known and unknown
of variation; and I have
→made these remarks
only to show that, if we are unable to account for the characteristic differences of our
breeds, which nevertheless
generally
to have arisen through ordinary
→from one or a few parent-stocks, we
ought not to lay too much stress on our ignorance of the precise cause of the slight analogous differences between
I might have adduced for this same purpose the differences between the races of man, which are so strongly marked; I may add that some
light can apparently be thrown on
→OMIT
these differences,
through sexual selection of a particular kind, but without
entering on
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