The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication — Volume 2

Evidence of the evil effects of close interbreeding can most readily be acquired in the case of animals, such as fowls, pigeons, etc., which propagate quickly, and, from being kept in the same place, are exposed to the same conditions. Now I have inquired of very many breeders of these birds, and I have hitherto not met with a single man who was not thoroughly convinced that an occasional cross with another strain of the same sub-variety was absolutely necessary. Most breeders of highly improved or fancy birds value their own strain, and are most unwilling, at the risk, in their opinion, of deterioration, to make a cross. The purchase of a first-rate bird of another strain is expensive, and exchanges are troublesome; yet all breeders, as far as I can hear, excepting those who keep large stocks at different places for the sake of crossing, are driven after a time to take this step.

Another general consideration which has had great influence on my mind is, that with all hermaphrodite animals and plants, which it might have been thought would have perpetually fertilised themselves and been thus subjected for long ages to the closest interbreeding, there is not a single species, as far as I can discover, in which the structure ensures self-fertilisation. On the contrary, there are in a multitude of cases, as briefly stated in the fifteenth chapter, manifest adaptations which favour or inevitably lead to an occasional cross between one hermaphrodite and another of the same species; and these adaptive structures are utterly purposeless, as far as we can see, for any other end.

[With CATTLE there can be no doubt that extremely close interbreeding may be long carried on advantageously with respect to external characters, and with no manifest evil as far as constitution is concerned. The case of Bakewell's Longhorns, which were closely interbred for a long period, has often been quoted; yet Youatt says (17/4. 'Cattle' page 199.) the breed "had acquired a delicacy of constitution inconsistent with common management," and "the propagation of the species was not always certain." But the Shorthorns offer the most striking case of close interbreeding; for instance, the famous bull Favourite (who was himself the offspring of a half-brother and sister from Foljambe) was matched with his own daughter, granddaughter, and great- granddaughter; so that the produce of this last union, or the great-great- granddaughter, had 15-16ths, or 93.75 per cent of the blood of Favourite in her veins. This cow was matched with the bull Wellington, having 62.5 per cent of Favourite blood in his veins, and produced Clarissa; Clarissa was matched with the bull Lancaster, having 68.75 of the same blood, and she yielded valuable offspring. (17/5. I give this on the authority of Nathusius 'Ueber Shorthorn Rindvieh' 1857 s. 71, see also 'Gardeners Chronicle' 1860 page 270. But Mr. J. Storer, a large breeder of cattle, informs me that the parentage of Clarissa is not well authenticated. In the first volume of the 'Herd Book' she was entered as having six descents from Favourite, "which was a palpable mistake," and in all subsequent editions she was spoken of as having only four descents. Mr. Storer doubts even about the four, as no names of the dams are given. Moreover, Clarissa bore "only two bulls and one heifer, and in the next generation her progeny became extinct." Analogous cases of close interbreeding are given in a pamphlet published by Mr. C. Macknight and Dr. H. Madden 'On the True Principles of Breeding' Melbourne Australia 1865.) Nevertheless Collings, who reared these animals, and was a strong advocate for close breeding, once crossed his stock with a Galloway, and the cows from this cross realised the highest prices. Bates's herd was esteemed the most celebrated in the world. For thirteen years he bred most closely in and in; but during the next seventeen years, though he had the most exalted notion of the value of his own stock, he thrice infused fresh blood into his herd: it is said that he did this, not to improve the form of his animals, but on account of their lessened fertility. Mr. Bates's own view, as given by a celebrated breeder (17/6. Mr. Willoughby Wood in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1855 page 411; and 1860 page 270. See the very clear tables and pedigrees given in Nathusius 'Rindvieh' s. 72-77.), was, that "to breed in-and-in from a bad stock was ruin and devastation; yet that the practice may be safely followed within certain limits when the parents so related are descended from first-rate animals." We thus see that there has been much close interbreeding with Shorthorns; but Nathusius, after the most careful study of their pedigrees, says that he can find no instance of a breeder who has strictly followed this practice during his whole life. From this study and his own experience, he concludes that close interbreeding is necessary to ennoble the stock; but that in effecting this the greatest care is necessary, on account of the tendency to infertility and weakness. It may be added, that another high authority (17/7. Mr. Wright 'Journal of Royal Agricult. Soc.' volume 7 1846 page 204. Mr. J. Downing (a successful breeder of Shorthorns in Ireland) informs me that the raisers of the great families of Shorthorns carefully conceal their sterility and want of constitution. He adds that Mr. Bates, after he had bred his herd in-and-in for some years, "lost in one season twenty-eight calves solely from want of constitution.") asserts that many more calves are born cripples from Shorthorns than from other and less closely interbred races of cattle.

Although by carefully selecting the best animals (as Nature effectually does by the law of battle) close interbreeding may be long carried on with cattle, yet the good effects of a cross between almost any two breeds is at once shown by the greater size and vigour of the offspring; as Mr. Spooner writes to me, "crossing distinct breeds certainly improves cattle for the butcher." Such crossed animals are of course of no value to the breeder; but they have been raised during many years in several parts of England to be slaughtered (17/8. 'Youatt on Cattle' page 202.); and their merit is now so fully recognised, that at fat-cattle shows a separate class has been formed for their reception. The best fat ox at the great show at Islington in 1862 was a crossed animal.

The half-wild cattle, which have been kept in British parks probably for 400 or 500 years, or even for a longer period, have been advanced by Culley and others as a case of long-continued interbreeding within the limits of the same herd without any consequent injury. With respect to the cattle at Chillingham, the late Lord Tankerville owned that they were bad breeders. (17/9. 'Report British Assoc. Zoolog. Sect.' 1838.) The agent, Mr. Hardy, estimates (in a letter to me, dated May, 1861) that in the herd of about fifty the average number annually slaughtered, killed by fighting, and dying, is about ten, or one in five. As the herd is kept up to nearly the same average number, the annual rate of increase must be likewise about one in five. The bulls, I may add, engage in furious battles, of which battles the present Lord Tankerville has given me a graphic description, so that there will always be rigorous selection of the most vigorous males. I procured in 1855 from Mr. D. Gardner, agent to the Duke of Hamilton, the following account of the wild cattle kept in the Duke's park in Lanarkshire, which is about 200 acres in extent. The number of cattle varies from sixty-five to eighty; and the number annually killed (I presume by all causes) is from eight to ten; so that the annual rate of increase can hardly be more than one in six. Now in South America, where the herds are half-wild, and therefore offer a nearly fair standard of comparison, according to Azara the natural increase of the cattle on an estancia is from one-third to one-fourth of the total number, or one in between three and four and this, no doubt, applies exclusively to adult animals fit for consumption. Hence the half-wild British cattle which have long interbred within the limits of the same herd are relatively far less fertile. Although in an unenclosed country like Paraguay there must be some crossing between the different herds, yet even there the inhabitants believe that the occasional introduction of animals from distant localities is necessary to prevent "degeneration in size and diminution of fertility." (17/10. Azara 'Quadrupedes du Paraguay' tome 2 pages 354, 368.) The decrease in size from ancient times in the Chillingham and Hamilton cattle must have been prodigious, for Professor Rutimeyer has shown that they are almost certainly the descendants of the gigantic Bos primigenius. No doubt this decrease in size may be largely attributed to less favourable conditions of life; yet animals roaming over large parks, and fed during severe winters, can hardly be considered as placed under very unfavourable conditions.

With SHEEP there has often been long-continued interbreeding within the limits of the same flock; but whether the nearest relations have been matched so frequently as in the case of Shorthorn cattle, I do not know. The Messrs. Brown during fifty years have never infused fresh blood into their excellent flock of Leicesters. Since 1810 Mr. Barford has acted on the same principle with the Foscote flock. He asserts that half a century of experience has convinced him that when two nearly related animals are quite sound in constitution, in-and-in breeding does not induce degeneracy; but he adds that he "does not pride himself on breeding from the nearest affinities." In France the Naz flock has been bred for sixty years without the introduction of a single strange ram. (17/11. For the case of the Messrs. Brown see 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1855 page 26. For the Foscote flock 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1860 page 416. For the Naz flock 'Bull. de la Soc. d'Acclimat.' 1860 page 477.) Nevertheless, most great breeders of sheep have protested against close interbreeding prolonged for too great a length of time. (17/12. Nathusius 'Rindvieh' s. 65; 'Youatt on Sheep' page 495.) The most celebrated of recent breeders, Jonas Webb, kept five separate families to work on, thus "retaining the requisite distance of relationship between the sexes" (17/13. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1861 page 631.); and what is probably of greater importance, the separate flocks will have been exposed to somewhat different conditions.

Although by the aid of careful selection the near interbreeding of sheep may be long continued without any manifest evil, yet it has often been the practice with farmers to cross distinct breeds to obtain animals for the butcher, which plainly shows that good of some kind is derived from this practice. We have excellent evidence on this head from Mr. S. Druce (17/14. 'Journal R. Agricult. Soc.' volume 14 1853 page 212.), who gives in detail the comparative numbers of four pure breeds and of a cross-breed which can be supported on the same ground, and he gives their produce in fleece and carcase. A high authority, Mr. Pusey, sums up the result in money value during an equal length of time, namely (neglecting shillings), for Cotswolds 248 pounds, for Leicesters 223 pounds, for Southdowns 204 pounds, for Hampshire Downs 264 pounds, and for the crossbred 293 pounds. A former celebrated breeder, Lord Somerville, states that his half-breeds from Ryelands and Spanish sheep were larger animals than either the pure Ryelands or pure Spanish sheep. Mr. Spooner concludes his excellent Essay on Crossing by asserting that there is a pecuniary advantage in judicious cross-breeding, especially when the male is larger than the female. (17/15. Lord Somerville 'Facts on Sheep and Husbandry' page 6. Mr. Spooner in 'Journal of Royal Agricult. Soc. of England' volume 20 part 2. See also an excellent paper on the same subject in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1860 page 321 by Mr. Charles Howard.)

As some of our British parks are ancient, it occurred to me that there must have been long-continued close interbreeding with the fallow-deer (Cervus dama) kept in them; but on inquiry I find that it is a common practice to infuse new blood by procuring bucks from other parks. Mr. Shirley (17/16. 'Some Account of English Deer Parks' by Evelyn P. Shirley 1867.), who has carefully studied the management of deer, admits that in some parks there has been no admixture of foreign blood from a time beyond the memory of man. But he concludes "that in the end the constant breeding in-and-in is sure to tell to the disadvantage of the whole herd, though it may take a very long time to prove it; moreover, when we find, as is very constantly the case, that the introduction of fresh blood has been of the very greatest use to deer, both by improving their size and appearance, and particularly by being of service in removing the taint of 'rickback,' if not of other diseases, to which deer are sometimes subject when the blood has not been changed, there can, I think, be no doubt but that a judicious cross with a good stock is of the greatest consequence, and is indeed essential, sooner or later, to the prosperity of every well-ordered park."

Mr. Meynell's famous foxhounds have been adduced, as showing that no ill effects follow from close interbreeding; and Sir J. Sebright ascertained from him that he frequently bred from father and daughter, mother and son, and sometimes even from brothers and sisters. With greyhounds also there has been much close interbreeding, but the best breeders agree that it may be carried too far. (17/17. Stonehenge 'The Dog' 1867 pages 175-188.) But Sir J. Sebright declares (17/18. 'The Art of Improving the Breed' etc. page 13. With respect to Scotch deerhounds see Scrope 'Art of Deer Stalking' pages 350-353.), that by breeding in-and-in, by which he means matching brothers and sisters, he has actually seen the offspring of strong spaniels degenerate into weak and diminutive lapdogs. The Rev. W.D. Fox has communicated to me the case of a small lot of bloodhounds, long kept in the same family, which had become very bad breeders, and nearly all had a bony enlargement in the tail. A single cross with a distinct strain of bloodhounds restored their fertility, and drove away the tendency to malformation in the tail. I have heard the particulars of another case with bloodhounds, in which the female had to be held to the male. Considering how rapid is the natural increase of the dog, it is difficult to understand the large price of all highly improved breeds, which almost implies long-continued close interbreeding, except on the belief that this process lessens fertility and increases liability to distemper and other diseases. A high authority, Mr. Scrope, attributes the rarity and deterioration in size of the Scotch deerhound (the few individuals formerly existing throughout the country being all related) in large part to close interbreeding.

With all highly-bred animals there is more or less difficulty in getting them to procreate quickly, and all suffer much from delicacy of constitution. A great judge of rabbits (17/19. 'Cottage Gardener' 1861 page 327.) says, "the long-eared does are often too highly bred or forced in their youth to be of much value as breeders, often turning out barren or bad mothers." They often desert their young, so that it is necessary to have nurse-rabbits, but I do not pretend to attribute all these evil results to close interbreeding. (17/20. Mr. Huth gives ('The Marriage of Near Kin' 1875 page 302) from the 'Bulletin de l'Acad. R. de Med. de Belgique' (volume 9 1866 pages 287, 305), several statements made by a M. Legrain with respect to crossing brother and sister rabbits for five or six successive generations with no consequent evil results. I was so much surprised at this account, and at M. Legrain's invariable success in his experiments, that I wrote to a distinguished naturalist in Belgium to inquire whether M. Legrain was a trustworthy observer. In answer, I have heard that, as doubts were expressed about the authenticity of these experiments, a commission of inquiry was appointed, and that at a succeeding meeting of the Society ('Bull. de l'Acad. R. de Med. de Belgique' 1867 3rd series tome 1 no. 1 to 5), Dr. Crocq reported "qu'il etait materiellement impossible que M. Legrain ait fait les experiences qu'il annonce." To this public accusation no satisfactory answer was made.)

With respect to PIGS there is more unanimity amongst breeders on the evil effects of close interbreeding than, perhaps, with any other large animal. Mr. Druce, a great and successful breeder of the Improved Oxfordshires (a crossed race), writes, "without a change of boars of a different tribe, but of the same breed, constitution cannot be preserved." Mr. Fisher Hobbs, the raiser of the celebrated Improved Essex breed, divided his stock into three separate families, by which means he maintained the breed for more than twenty years, "by judicious selection from the THREE DISTINCT FAMILIES." (17/21. Sidney's edition of 'Youatt on the Pig' 1860 page 30; page 33 quotation from Mr. Druce; page 29 on Lord Western's case.) Lord Western was the first importer of a Neapolitan boar and sow. "From this pair he bred in-and-in, until the breed was in danger of becoming extinct, a sure result (as Mr. Sidney remarks) of in-and-in breeding." Lord Western then crossed his Neapolitan pigs with the old Essex, and made the first great step towards the Improved Essex breed. Here is a more interesting case. Mr. J. Wright, well known as a breeder, crossed (17/22. 'Journal of Royal Agricult. Soc. of England' 1846 volume 7 page 205.) the same boar with the daughter, granddaughter, and great- granddaughter, and so on for seven generations. The result was, that in many instances the offspring failed to breed; in others they produced few that lived; and of the latter many were idiotic, without sense, even to suck, and when attempting to move could not walk straight. Now it deserves especial notice, that the two last sows produced by this long course of interbreeding were sent to other boars, and they bore several litters of healthy pigs. The best sow in external appearance produced during the whole seven generations was one in the last stage of descent; but the litter consisted of this one sow. She would not breed to her sire, yet bred at the first trial to a stranger in blood. So that, in Mr. Wright's case, long-continued and extremely close interbreeding did not affect the external form or merit of the young; but with many of them the general constitution and mental powers, and especially the reproductive functions, were seriously affected.

Nathusius gives (17/23. 'Ueber Rindvieh' etc. s. 78. Col. Le Couteur, who has done so much for the agriculture of Jersey, writes to me that from possessing a fine breed of pigs he bred them very closely, twice pairing brothers and sisters, but nearly all the young had fits and died suddenly.) an analogous and even more striking case: he imported from England a pregnant sow of the large Yorkshire breed, and bred the product closely in-and-in for three generations: the result was unfavourable, as the young were weak in constitution, with impaired fertility. One of the latest sows, which he esteemed a good animal, produced, when paired with her own uncle (who was known to be productive with sows of other breeds), a litter of six, and a second time a litter of only five weak young pigs. He then paired this sow with a boar of a small black breed, which he had likewise imported from England; this boar, when matched with sows of his own breed, produced from seven to nine young. Now, the sow of the large breed, which was so unproductive when paired with her own uncle, yielded to the small black boar, in the first litter twenty-one, and in the second litter eighteen young pigs; so that in one year she produced thirty-nine fine young animals!

As in the case of several other animals already mentioned, even when no injury is perceptible from moderately close interbreeding, yet, to quote the words of Mr. Coate (who five times won the annual gold medal of the Smithfield Club Show for the best pen of pigs), "Crosses answer well for profit to the farmer, as you get more constitution and quicker growth; but for me, who sell a great number of pigs for breeding purposes, I find it will not do, as it requires many years to get anything like purity of blood again." (17/24. Sidney on the 'Pig' page 36. See also note page 34. Also Richardson on the 'Pig' 1847 page 26.)]

Almost all the animals as yet mentioned are gregarious, and the males must frequently pair with their own daughters, for they expel the young males as well as all intruders, until forced by old age and loss of strength to yield to some stronger male. It is therefore not improbable that gregarious animals may have been rendered less susceptible than non-social species to the evil consequences of close interbreeding, so that they may be enabled to live in herds without injury to their offspring. Unfortunately we do not know whether an animal like the cat, which is not gregarious, would suffer from close interbreeding in a greater degree than our other domesticated animals. But the pig is not, as far as I can discover, strictly gregarious, and we have seen that it appears eminently liable to the evil effects of close interbreeding. Mr. Huth, in the case of the pig, attributes (page 285) these effects to their having been "cultivated most for their fat," or to the selected individuals having had a weak constitution; but we must remember that it is great breeders who have brought forward the above cases, and who are far more familiar than ordinary men can be, with the causes which are likely to interfere with the fertility of their animals.

The effects of close interbreeding in the case of man is a difficult subject, on which I will say but little. It has been discussed by various authors under many points of view. (17/25. Dr. Dally has published an excellent article (translated in the 'Anthropolog. Review' May 1864 page 65), criticising all writers who have maintained that evil follows from consanguineous marriages. No doubt on this side of the question many advocates have injured their cause by inaccuracies: thus it has been stated (Devay 'Du Danger des Mariages' etc. 1862 page 141) that the marriages of cousins have been prohibited by the legislature of Ohio; but I have been assured, in answer to inquiries made in the United States, that this statement is a mere fable.) Mr. Tylor (17/26. See his interesting work on the 'Early History of Man' 1865 chapter 10.) has shown that with widely different races in the most distant quarters of the world, marriages between relations — even between distant relations — have been strictly prohibited. There are, however, many exceptions to the rule, which are fully given by Mr. Huth (17/27. 'The Marriage of Near Kin' 1875. The evidence given by Mr. Huth would, I think, have been even more valuable than it is on this and some other points, if he had referred solely to the works of men who had long resided in each country referred to, and who showed that they possessed judgment and caution. See also Mr. W. Adam 'On Consanguinity in Marriage' in the 'Fortnightly Review' 1865 page 710. Also Hofacker 'Ueber die Eigenschaften' etc. 1828.) It is a curious problem how these prohibitions arose during early and barbarous times. Mr. Tylor is inclined to attribute them to the evil effects of consanguineous marriages having been observed; and he ingeniously attempts to explain some apparent anomalies in the prohibition not extending equally to the relations on the male and female side. He admits, however, that other causes, such as the extension of friendly alliances, may have come into play. Mr. W. Adam, on the other hand, concludes that related marriages are prohibited and viewed with repugnance, from the confusion which would thus arise in the descent of property, and from other still more recondite reasons. But I cannot accept these views, seeing that incest is held in abhorrence by savages such as those of Australia and South America (17/28. Sir G. Grey 'Journal of Expeditions into Australia' volume 2 page 243; and Dobrizhoffer 'On the Abipones of South America.'), who have no property to bequeath, or fine moral feelings to confuse, and who are not likely to reflect on distant evils to their progeny. According to Mr. Huth the feeling is the indirect result of exogamy, inasmuch as when this practice ceased in any tribe and it became endogamous, so that marriages were strictly confined to the same tribe, it is not unlikely that a vestige of the former practice would still be retained, so that closely-related marriages would be prohibited. With respect to exogamy itself Mr. MacLennan believes that it arose from a scarcity of women, owing to female infanticide, aided perhaps by other causes.