The Descent of Man

characters much oftener appear before, than
after the corresponding age. As I have dwelt on
this subject sufficiently in another work (33.
The 'Variation of Animals and Plants under
Domestication,' vol. ii. 1868, p. 75. In the last
chapter but one, the provisional hypothesis of
pangenesis, above alluded to, is fully explained.),
I will here merely give two or three instances,
for the sake of recalling the subject to
the reader's mind. In several breeds of the
Fowl, the down-covered chickens, the young
birds in their first true plumage, and the adults
differ greatly from one another, as well as from
their common parent-form, the Gallus bankiva;
and these characters are faithfully transmitted
by each breed to their offspring at the corresponding
periods of life. For instance, the chickens
of spangled Hamburgs, whilst covered
with down, have a few dark spots on the head
and rump, but are not striped longitudinally, as
in many other breeds; in their first true plumage,
"they are beautifully pencilled," that is each