CAUSES OF A “HIT.” 143 
in-bred than he or she is. West Australian himself and his stock are 
excellent examples of this theory. His sire, Melbourne, was the result of 
a series of crosses ; while his dam, Mowerina, was in-bred to Whalebone 
and Whisker, own brothers ; and her sire and dam were second cousins. 
The result has been, that both in “The West” and in his stock the 
Whalebone element has been universally manifested, and not the slightest 
trace of Melbourne has ever appeared, as far as my knowledge of his 
stock allows me to judge. This is in perfect accordance with the 13th 
axiom in the epitome of the laws which govern the breeding of our 
domestic animals. (See page 139.) 
CAUSES OF A “HIT.” 
A “ait,” in breeding, is understood to mean an instance of success ; 
but though it often occurs, the reason for it is not always very clear. My 
own belief is that it generally results, as I have laid down in the 16th 
axiom, from the reunion of lines which have been often kept separate for 
several generations. Thus, it is a fact (so patent that every writer on the 
breeding of the horse, of late years, has admitted its truth), that the 
Touchstone and Sultan blood have almost invariably hit. The reason, 
granting the premises which I lay down, is plain enough—each goes back 
to Selim, the former through the dam of his sire, Camel, and the latter 
being son of that horse. Many other examples of a similar nature might be 
adduced, though not observed so extensively as in the case of Touchstone, 
because few horses have been put to so many mares as he has. J do not 
mean to assert that no hit can occur without such a reunion of previously 
separated lines, but I believe that, under other circumstances, it will rarely 
be found to show itself; and if, as I before observed, there is a relation- 
ship between all thoroughbred horses, either remote or near, there must 
be this reunion to some extent. This, however, is not what I mean; the 
return must be to a line only removed two, three, or four generations, 
in order to be at all marked ; and if more than these intervals exist, the 
hit cannot be said to depend upon the reunion, since this must occur in 
all cases ; and what is common to all cannot be instanced as a particular 
cause of any subsequent result. 
THE FACT REALLY Is, as proved by thousands of examples, that by 
putting A and B together, the produce is not necessarily made up of half 
of each. Both parents have qualities belonging to the several members 
of a long line of ancestors, and their son (or daughter) may possibly be 
made up of as many as seven proportions of one parent, and one propor- 
tion of the other. It generally happens, that if there is any considerable 
degree of consanguinity, or even a great resemblance in form, to some ot 
the ancestry on each side, the produce will draw together those elements, 
and will be made up of the characteristics peculiar to them in a very large 
proportion. This accounts for the preponderance of the Touchstone form 
in the West Australian stock ; while the same horse is overpowered in 
Orlando and his stock, by the greater infusion of Selim blood in the dam 
Vulture, who is removed exactly in the same degree as Touchstone from 
Selim and his brother Castrel ; and the two latter, therefore, have more 
influence on the stock than the former. Here, then, we have two remark- - 
able instances, which each show a hit from the reunion of strains after two 
out-crosses; while, at the same time, they severally display an example ot 
two lines overpowering one in the stock of the same horse. It may be 
argued, that in each case it is the blood of the dam which has overpowered 
that of the sire,—West Australian being by Melbourne, out of a daughter 
