Rabaud: Telegony 



391 



not rigorously controlled, one would feel 

 compelled to suggest telegony. In 

 reality, the explanation is found in the 

 genealogy of the white mice. One can 

 certainly find — and we will notice some 

 of them — similar results among all sorts 

 of animals. 



After that, when a French braque 

 bitch, first mated to a Gordon setter 

 and then to an Irish setter, produces 

 pups which differ both from her and 

 from the Irish setter, it would be a good 

 idea, before talking about telegony, to 

 try the same matings separately with 

 bitches that have never before been 

 bred. 



Similarly, when Lord Morton's mare, 

 stated to be seven-eighths Arab, is bred 

 by a stallion of pure Arab blood, there 

 is nothing to prove that the zebra-like 

 stripes and other peculiarities are traces 

 of the zebra which fecundated the mare 

 for the first time; they can just as easily 

 be produced when the mare is bred to a 

 black stallion. And as a fact, the 

 stripes, in particular, have not the 

 slightest importance. We know, now, 

 that they appear rather commonly 

 among horses, when there is not any 

 possible reason to suspect the interven- 

 tion of a zebra. Darwin himself, who 

 unreservedly admits the fact of telegony, 

 at the end of the first volume of this 

 "Variation of Animals and Plants under 

 Domestication," gives at the beginning 

 of the same volume a series of examples 

 showing that zebra-markings do not 

 constitute a valid proof. Among others, 

 there is the case of a brown Devonshire 

 pony which "had on its back a very 

 distinct stripe along the spine, light 

 transverse rays on the inside of the 

 legs, and four parallel bands on each 

 shoulder." In volume II, Darwin con- 

 siders these stripes to be the result of a 

 cross between individuals of different 

 color, and as constituting a case of 

 "atavism." This last hypothesis opens 

 up a different question altogether — we 

 are absolutely in ignorance, and so was 

 Darwin, whether the ancestors of the 

 modern horse were or were not striped. 

 It is a matter of little importance, any- 

 how; it is enough for us to know that 

 the birth of a colt with stripes is far 



from being sure evidence that its mother 

 had been previously fecundated 'by a 



A STRIKING CASE. 



In support of this statement, Na- 

 thusius brings up a well-ascertained 

 fact: a light bay mare, five times bred 

 to a stallion of pure blood, foaled five 

 colts with the same coat color. After- 

 ward bred to a dappled gray stallion, 

 she foaled a colt on whose back, 

 shoulders and lower legs were stripes 

 perhaps even more distinct than those 

 on the offspring of Lord Morton's mare. 



One can not argue from the appear- 

 ance of the mane, either, to sustain the 

 theory that a colt shows zebra charac- 

 ters. A short, erect mane is found in 

 many breeds of horse, particularly 

 among the ponies. 



Thus, the ignorance of breeders as to 

 the origin of their "pure breeds," and 

 the absence of any control of experi- 

 ments in their breeding, demand that 

 we exercise great caution in accepting 

 their conclusions on this subject. 



Nor is that all. Let us not forget 

 that in any stock, at any moment, a 

 morphological variation of great or 

 small importance may appear: horn- 

 lessness in cattle, taillessness in cats, 

 mice and rats, the cerebral hernia which 

 produces the so-called crest or hood in 

 fowls, merino sheep, niata cattle of 

 Chile (with undershot jaws like bull- 

 dogs), the franqueiro cattle of Brazil 

 (with long, spiral horns), appeared thus, 

 without anything to allow us to invoke 

 the influence of telegony. We ought, 

 then, always to suspect a coincidence of 

 this sort when we are in the presence of 

 a unique fact, which no experience or 

 control observation corroborates. 



Finally, there is one more way in 

 which an honest observer may be de- 

 ceived. I refer to superfetation — that 

 is, the possibility that females may be 

 bred twice with an interval of some 

 hours or days, by two different males, 

 and may produce offspring some of 

 which are due to the first male and some 

 to the second. There is no room for 

 doubt about the reality of superfetation 

 among dogs. Engelmann, von Rath, 

 Tornier and others have reported in- 



