HEREDITY IN GOATS. 



By C. J. DAVIES. 



In all the literature dealing with modern heredity- 

 only the slightest allusion is made to goats. It 

 might have been thought that some of the obvious 

 difierentiating characters possessed by domesticated 

 animals of the genus Capra would have been seized 

 upon to demonstrate the working of familiar principles 

 or to prove exceptions to accepted rules. Yet this 

 is so far from being the case that we find heredity in 

 goats either being taken for granted as analogous 

 to that in other forms, or else being described as 

 baffling. 



In the early days of Mendelism it was tenta- 

 tively assumed that the inheritance of horns in 

 goats followed the same course as in cattle. The 

 following paragraph on page 133 of Report 1 to the 

 Evolution Committee of the Royal Society (1901) 

 expresses the view taken at the time : — 



" The fact that the hornless breeds of goats still 

 give some horned offspring is probably referable to 

 the same cause, namely, promiscuous selection. 

 The point is, of course, not certain, but from the 

 analogy of cattle (page 140) we may anticipate that 

 the hornless form is dominant. In the polled breeds 

 of cattle, which are never promiscuously selected, 

 the polled character has naturally been easily fijxed 

 pure, but in goats selection among the ewes has been 

 probably to a large extent promiscuous." 



