VARIATIONS IX POTENCY 



able and was transmitted from generation to 

 generation. 1 See Fig. 36. 



It is an important question whether potency 

 is a property of the unit-character or of the 

 gamete, i. e. whether it affects all the charac- 

 ters transmitted by a gamete or only a par- 

 ticular one. Practical breeders as a rule favor 

 the idea of gametic rather than of unit-character 

 potency, but this is probably due to a failure 

 to discriminate between the two. They desig- 

 nate as " prepotent " an individual supposed 

 to impress all its characters upon the offspring, 

 but it is very doubtful whether such individuals 

 exist. It is easy to mistake for an animal 

 potent in all respects one which is potent in 

 one or two important respects only, especially 

 if the observer is unaware, as every one has 

 been until quite recently, that one character is 

 independent of another in transmission. 



Conditions other than the character of the 

 gametes themselves may determine the extent 



1 An alternative explanation is possible, viz. that the develop- 

 ment of the fourth toe depends upon the inheritance of several 

 independent factors, and that the more of these there are present, 

 the better will the structure be developed. The correctness of 

 such an interpretation must be tested by further investigations. 



8 101 



