96 



GOOD FFvOM CROSSING. 



Chap. XVII. 



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 utterl}^ purposeless, 

 as far as we can see, for any other end. 



With Cattle there can be no doubt that extremely close inter- 

 breeding 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* 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 oftspring of a half-brother and 

 sister from Foljambe) was matched with his own danghter, grand- 

 daughter, and great-granddaughter ; so that the prodnce 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.^ Nevertheless CoUings, 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 w^orld. 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,^ 



* ' Cattle,' p. 199. 



* I give this on the authority of 

 Nathusius, ' Uebei* Shorthora Kind- 

 vieh,' 1857, s. 71 {see also ' Gardener's 

 Chronicle,' 1860, p. 270). But Mr. 

 J. Storer, a large breeder of cattle, 

 informs me that the parentage of 

 Clarissa is not well authenticated. In 

 the first vol. of the ' Herd Book,' she 

 was entered as having six descents 

 from Favourite, " which was a palpa- 

 ble mistake," and in all subsequent 

 editions she was spcsen of as having 

 only four descents. Mr. Storer doubts 

 even about the four, as no names of 



the dams are given. Moreover, Cla- 

 rissa bore " only two bulls and one 

 heifer, and in the next generation her 

 progeny became extinct." Analogous 

 cases ot close interbreeding are given 

 in a pamphlet published by Mr. C. 

 Macknight and Dr. H. Madden, ' On 

 the True Principles of Breeding ; ' 

 Melbourne, Australia, 18G5. 



^ Mr. Willoughby Wood, in ' Gar- 

 dener's Chronicle,' 1855, p. 411 ; and 

 1860, p. 270. See the very clear 

 tables and pedigrees given in Nathu- 

 sius' ' Rindvieh/ s. 72-77. 



