ret THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 39 
enforced by Nature upon the newly-arrived ram ; 
and they advised Wright to kill the old patriarch 
_ of his fold, and install the Ancon ram in his place. 
' The result justified their sagacious anticipations, 
and coincided very nearly with what occurred to 
the progeny of Gratio Kelleia. The young lambs 
- were almost always either pure Ancons, or pure 
ordinary sheep.1. But when sufficient Ancon 
sheep were obtained to interbreed with one 
another, it was found that the offspring was 
_ always pure Ancon. Colonel Humphreys, in fact, 
states that he was acquainted with only “one 
questionable case of a contrary nature.” Here, 
then, is a remarkable and_ well-established 
instance, not only of a very distinct race being 
established per saltwm, but of that race breeding 
“true” at once, and showing no mixed forms, 
even when crossed with another breed. 
By taking care to select Ancons of both sexes, 
for breeding from, it thus became easy to establish 
an extremely well-marked race; so peculiar that, 
1 Colonel Humphreys’ statements are exceedingly explicit on 
this point :—‘‘ When an Ancon ewe is impregnated by a com- 
mon ram, the increase resembles wholly either the ewe or the 
ram. The increase of the common ewe impregnated by an 
Ancon ram follows entirely the one or the other, without 
blending any of the distinguishing and essential peculiarities 
of both. Frequent instances have happened where common 
ewes have had twins by Ancon rams, when one exhibited the 
complete marks and features of the ewe, the other of the ram. 
The contrast has been rendered singularly striking, when one 
short-legged and one long-legged lamb, produced at a birth, 
have been seen sucking the dam at the same time.’’—Philoso- 
phical Transactions, 1813, Pt. TI. pp. 89, 90. 
