BY HON, A. NORTON, M.L.C. 49 
its sister in size and condition. Still the mother hated it, 
and she gave all her love to the other. One day, however, 
a notable thing happened. Both twins had been let loose 
in the yard before their mother was released trom the bail, 
but no sooner was she free that she rushed at the waif 
as she thought, and knocked it over. Then, and not until 
then, she discovered her mistake ; it was the child of her 
affection that she had knocked down. Poor Daisy was 
greatly disconcerted at the untoward event, and the end 
of it was she let both calves take her milk, and afterwards 
treated them as equals. 
In no other instance have I observed so marked a 
resemblance between twin calves that their mother found a 
difficulty in distinguishing between them even when their 
size and condition were practically equal. That the cow, 
having made a mistake, should afterwards have received 
the twins on equal terms, suggests to my mind a further 
explanation than that afforded by instinct. For the 
first time, apparently, she realised how greatly they 
resembled each other ; and how could she continue to make 
a difference between them when she could not with certainty 
distinguish between them. 
The atavistic phenomemon in this instance is remark- 
able, the two calves showing so plainly a resemblance to 
an ancestor from whom they must have been separated 
by at least several generations. The circumstance, how- 
ever, emphasises a fact which is often allowed to pass 
without comment. In the prosecution of their business, 
breeders of pure bred stock have discovered that by “ in- 
breeding ” certain marked characteristics may become 
‘fixed’; not absolutely fixed, but fixed in a majority 
of cases, and some of them have persevered in an otherwise 
pernicious practice w th the expectation of increasing that 
majority with each cross. It is in this way probably that 
the types of each class of wild animal has become a type. 
But ‘‘in-breeding ” has its disadvantages also, tor by the 
crossing of near relatives, the characteristics which it is 
desired to breed out, may also be developed, and reversion 
to the original type may be effected unintentionally. I 
refer to this aspect of the case, because where the instinct 
or the mental power of animals are looked for as the result 
D 
