128 Heredity. 



slie-ass is what is called a hinnej. It is a very rare thing in 

 this country to see a hinney. I never saw one myself; but 

 *they have been very carefully studied. Now the curious 

 thing is this, that although you have the same elements 

 in the experiment in each case, the offspring is entirely 

 different in character, according as the male influence 

 comes from the ass or the horse. When the ass is used 

 as the male, as in the case of the mule, you find that the 

 head is like that of the ass, that the ears are long, the 

 tail is tufted at the end, the feet are small, and the voice 

 is an unmistakable bray; these are all points of similarity 

 to the ass; but, on the other hand, the barrel of the 

 body and the cut of the neck are much more like those 

 of the mare. Then if you look at the hinney — the re- 

 sult of the union of the stallion and the she-ass — then 

 you find it is the horse which has the predominance; that 

 ihe head is more like that of the horse; the ears are 

 shorter, the legs coarser, and the type is altogether 

 altered, while the voice, instead of being a bray, is the 

 ordinary neigh of the horse. Here, you see, is a most 

 curious thing; you take exactly the same elements, ass 

 and horse, but you combine the sexes in a different man- 

 ner, and the result is modified accordingly.*' 



It would certainly be a wonderful thing if the combi- 

 nation of the same elements should give such different 

 results, and I think we must conclude that the elements 

 are not the same, but that the ovum and the male cell do 

 not play the same parts in heredity. 



There are not many cases in which reciprocal crosses 

 have been made so frequently, and single observations are 

 not of very great value. I will, however, cite a few, to 

 show that the one given is not exceptional. The Manx 

 cat is a variety of the domestic cat peculiar to the Isle of 

 Man. It differs from the ordinarv cat in having no tail, 



