Note 61 — Chapter IX · COINCIDENCE BETWEEN HIGH NUTRITION AND GENESIS.

The climate, the locality, and the kind of food, are of course all factors; and hence, probably, the differences between the statements of different authorities concerning these several cases. Prof. MacBride writes:—

“According to Flower (Mammals, Living and Extinct) the Ferret is a domesticated variety of the common polecat, which has 3 to 8 young. Darwin (Animals and Plants) says that the wild sow often breeds twice a year and produces a litter of 4 to 8, and sometimes even 12. The domestic sow breeds twice and would breed oftener if permitted, and if any good at all produces 8 in litter.”