PROTRACTED GESTATION. 917 



most obviously shown by the fusion of the characters of the parents, which 

 is exhibited by hybrids between distinct species or strongly-marked varieties 

 among the lower animals, such as the Horse and Ass, the Lion and Tiger, 

 or the various breeds of Dogs ; or in the offspring of parents belonging to 

 two strongly-contrasted Races of Men, such as the European on the one 

 hand, and the Negro or American Indian on the other. It has long been 

 a prevalent idea that certain parts of the organism of the offspring are 

 derived from the male, and certain other parts from the female parent ; 

 and although no universal rule can be laid down upon this point, yet the 

 independent observations which have been made by numerous practical 

 "breeders" of domestic animals (both mammals and birds), seem to es- 

 tablish that such a tendency has a real existence; the characters of the 

 Animal portion of the fabric being especially (but not exclusively) derived 

 from the male parent, and those of the Organic apparatus being in like 

 manner derived from the female parent. The former will be chiefly mani- 

 fested in the external appearance, in the general configuration of the head 

 and limbs, in the organs of the senses (including the skin), and in the loco- 

 motive apparatus ; whilst the latter show themselves in the size of the body 

 (which is primarily determined by the development of the viscera contained 

 in the trunk), and in the mode in which the vital functions are performed. 

 Thus the mule, which is the produce of the male ass and the mare, is essen- 

 tially a modified ass, having the general configuration of its sire (slightly 

 varied by equine peculiarities), but having the rounder trunk and larger 

 size of its dam ; on the other hand, the hinny, which is the offspring of 

 the stallion and the she-ass, is essentially a modified horse, having the 

 general configuration of the horse (though with a slight admixture of 

 asinine features), but being a much smaller animal than its sire, and thus 

 approaching its darn in size, as well as in the comparative narrowness of its 

 trunk. The influence of the female on the general " constitution," and espe- 

 cially on the fattening, milking, and breeding qualities of the offspring, is 

 asserted to be proved by the history of several races of sheep and cattle, 

 which have been most distinguished in these respects. 1 But however general 

 this rule may prove to be as regards the lower animals, it is by no means 

 universal; for instances are by no means unfrequent, in which the multiple 

 progeny of one conception divide between them the characters of the parents 

 in very different modes. Thus, in a case in which a Setter-bitch, having been 

 " lined " by a Pointer, bore three pups, two of these pups seemed exclusively 

 to resemble the father, appearing to be perfect Pointers in configuration, and 

 growing up. with the habits of that race ; whilst the third seemed equally to 

 resemble its mother, being apparently a true Setter both in structure and in- 

 stinct. Yet notwithstanding this apparent restriction, it subsequent!}' ap- 

 peared that the pointer-pups must have had something of the setter in their 

 constitution, and the setter-pup something of the pointer. For one of the 

 Pointer-pups (a male) having been matched at the proper age with a Pointer- 

 bitch of pure breed, one of the pups borne by the latter was a true setter, ex- 

 actly resembling its paternal grandmother, and another was setter-marked ; 

 and the Setter-pup (a female) having been lined by a Setter-dog of pure 

 breed, there were among its litter of pups two pointers resembling their 

 maternal grandfather. The same variety presents itself to even a greater 

 degree in the human species. For in almost every large family (and some- 



1 See Walker, On Intermarriage; Orton on The Physiology of Breeding, in the 

 Newcastle Chronicle, March 10th, 1854; and Dr. Alex. Harvey, On the Relative In- 

 fluence of the Male and Female Parents in the Reproduction of the Animal Species, 

 in Edinb. Monthly Journ., Auc;. 1854 ; and especially Darwin, On the Variation of 

 Species under Domestication, 1868. 



