INFLUENCE OF SIRE A^D DAM RESPECTIVELY 173 



My own belief in this matter, founded upon observations made during 

 a long series of years on the horse as well as the dog, is that no rule can 

 be laid down with any certainty. Much depends upon the comparative 

 physical power and strength of constitution in each parent, even more 

 perhaps than the composition of the blood. There have been many 

 instances of two brothers being used in the stud, both among horses and 

 greyhounds, in which one has almost invariably got his stock resembling 

 himself in all particulars, not even excluding colour, while the descendants 

 of the other have rarely been recognizable as his. Thus among horses the 

 Touchstones have been mostly brown or dark bay, and as a lot have shown 

 a high form as race-horses, while the Launcelots have been of all colours, 

 and have been below mediocrity on the turf. Several examples of the same 

 nature may be quoted from among greyhounds, such as Ranter, Gipsy 

 Prince, and Gipsy Royal, three brothers whose stock were as different as 

 possible, but the fact is so generally recognized that it is not necessary to 

 dwell upon it. Now surely this difference in the power of transmitting the 

 likeness of the sire, when the blood is exactly the same as it is observed to 

 extend over large numbers, can only depend upon a variation in individual 

 power. Not only does this apply to the males, but the females also show 

 the same difference. Some mares have gone on producing foals which 

 afterwards turned out first-class whatever horse they were put to, as, for 

 instance, Phryne (dam of winners by Pantaloon, Melbourne, and The 

 Flying Dutchman), Barbelle, who produced Yan Tromp by Lanercost, De 

 Witt by The Provost, and The Flying Dutchman by Bay Middleton ; 

 Alice Hawthorn, successively as well as successfully put to Birdcatcher, 

 Melbourne, Touchstone, Windhound, Melbourne or Windhound, and 

 Sweetmeat; and lastly, Ellerdale, dam of Ellington and EUermere, and 

 Gildermire by Flying Dutchman, Summerside by West Australian, and 

 Wardersmarke by Birdcatcher. On appealing to the greyhound, also, we 

 see some remarkable instances within the last few years, of which Mr. 

 Jardine's Ladylike and Mr. Randell's Riot may be considered as very 

 strong cases in point. The latter bitch also may be instanced as having 

 been extremely successful in the stud, while her own brother. Ranter, in 

 the same kennel, was a total failure. There must consequently be some- 

 thing more than mere breeding to produce a successful result, and this I 

 am inclined to think resides in the strength of the constitution possessed by 

 the individual. 



But even supposing the horse or mare displays this constitutional power, 

 there is a something which controls it, as we have seen in the two cases 

 already instanced of Orlando and West Australian. In the former horse 

 the influence of the sire, great as it usually has been shown to be, was com- 

 pelled to succumb to the combination of the three lines traceable to Selira 

 and his brother Castrel, while in the other this same horse Touchstone 

 prevailed (still, however, on the side of the dam) apparently only because 

 there was a combination of two very recently separated lines of Waxy blood 

 through his sons Whalebone and Whisker. The second of these examples 

 is the more worthy of note, because, in tracing back the lines of the sire 

 and dam, the name of Trumpator, from whom Melbourne is lineally de- 

 scended, is met with three times in the pedigree of the former, and four 

 times in that of the latter. Here then, but for the nearness of the two 



