Lush: A Notch in Ears of Jersey Cattle 



II 



GAMBOGE'S RALEIGH'S LEFT EAR 



In all the more deeply notched ears examined the projection at the inner 

 end of the notch was always developed into two lobes. '^ ' 

 incipient double ear. (Fig. 7.) 



equally ex- 

 pressed in 

 both ears of 

 the same ani- 

 mal, but it is 

 as often the 

 right ear as 

 the left which 

 is most deeply 

 notched, and 

 often the two 

 notches are 

 equal, al- 

 though in 

 Gamboge 's 

 Raleigh him- 

 self, the left 

 ear is notched 

 somewhat 

 more deeply. 

 In two indi- 

 viduals where 

 the notch is 

 rather shal- 

 low in one ear, 

 the other ear 

 is so nearly normal that it is a matter 

 of opinion whether a notch is really 

 present. 



An inquiry concerning the inheri- 

 tance of the notch was sent to former 

 owners of Gamboge's Raleigh, and to 

 present owners of his cals^es. C. S. 

 Gainer of Bryan, Texas, who used this 

 bull for several years, says he does 

 "not remember any of his calves with- 

 out the notch." J. F. Houchins of 

 Hallettsville, Texas, who used the bull 

 for a year, says that "all his calves 

 except one, had the mark"; also "one 

 of the daughters has freshened and the 

 bull calf has an 'underbit' in only the 

 left ear." Another daughter of Gam- 

 boge's Raleigh is described by her 

 first owner as having the mark, and 

 by her present owner as having a 

 normal ear "unless there is a slight 

 straightening at the point indicated; 

 v^ery slight indeed. Her calf has no 

 mark of any kind at this place." 

 Another daughter is reported as not 

 having the notch, and as having a 

 heifer calf which does not have the 

 notch. A son is reported as not having 

 the notch, but as having one heifer 



Perhaps this is an 



calf which does have the notch. All 

 these cases, except the last one, agree 

 with the hypothesis already stated, 

 when the natural human tendency to 

 remember peculiar individuals and 

 forget ordinary ones, is taken into 

 account. And before the last case can 

 be considered a very serious objection, 

 one would want to see this son of Gam- 

 boge's Raleigh and determine surely 

 whether the notch was really absent or 

 only rather small. 



OTHER INTERESTING PHASES OF THE 

 CASE 



This character illustrates how easily 

 the old ideas of quantitative inheri- 

 tance might arise, particularly of a 

 character diminishing in intensity 

 rather uniformly as one traces it far- 

 ther from the foundation animal. In 

 this case, there is a rather clear line 

 between notched and normal animals, 

 but there are various degrees of notch- 

 ing and few of his calves are as deeply 

 notched as Gamboge's Raleigh, him- 

 self. One may speculate as to whether 

 this is due to chance, or whether the 

 other hereditary factors of Gamboge's 



