TREATMENT OF BREEDING COWS. 225 



"It was long ago Stated by the illustrious Haller, and also by- 

 Becker, that when a mare had a mule by an Ass, and afterwards 

 a foal by a horse, the foal exhibits traces of the ass; a state- 

 ment which I find recently confirmed by Professor Low, of 

 Edinburgh, in a letter to Sir John S. Forbes, of Pitsligo. 



"lu the foregoing cases, the mares were covered in the first 

 instance by males of a different species from their own. But 

 there are cases recorded of mares covered in every instance by 

 horses, but by different horses on different occasions, where the 

 subsequent offspring exhibited the characters of the horse by 

 which impregnation was first effected. Of this, Mr. M'Gillavray 

 gives two examples. Thus, in several foals, in the royal stud at 

 Hampton Court, got by the horse Actaeon, there were unequivo- 

 cal marks of the horse Colonel, by which the dams of these foals 

 were covered the previous year. Again, a colt, the property of 

 the Earl of Suffield, got by Laurel, so resembled another horse, 

 Camel, ' that it was whispered, nay, even asserted, at New 

 Market, that he must have heen got by Camel.' It was ascer- 

 tained, however, that the only relation which the colt bore to 

 Camel was, that the latter had served his mother the previous 

 season. In farther illustration of this point, I adduce an inter- 

 esting statement, made by Professor Low. After remarking that 

 'sometimes there is difficulty in getting a thorough bred mare to 

 breed for the first time with a thorough bred horse,' and that 'in 

 this case, in order to cause her to commence breeding, a coarse 

 stallion is put to her,' Professor Low adds, 'but the effect never 

 fails to be seen in the progeny, the coarser characters of the first 

 male re-appearing, however highly bred the subsequent stallions 

 may be.' 



"2. Breeders of cattle are familiar with analogous facts as 



occurring in the Bovine race. The two following cases, taken 



from Mr. M'Gillavray, may serve as examples: A pure Abcr- 



decnshire heifer, was served with a pure Teeswater bull, by 



10* 



