The Transmission of Characters 141 



unable to transmit their desirable traits, it might 

 be quite as profitable to breed from the most use- 

 less of animals. In other words, the value of 

 selection depends upon the ability of the parent 

 to impress its own characteristics upon its off- 

 spring. That characteristics are transmitted to a 



Fig. 50. Breeding and exhibition house and runs 

 Rhode Island Agricultural College. 



certainty, within certain limits, is evident to all. 

 A description of the characteristics of one man 

 will apply to nearly all men. 



Variation. It has long been recognized that 

 there is a tendency to vary within certain limits, 

 and that this tendency is always present in all 

 classes of animals, whether wild or domesticated. 

 The fact that wild birds and animals possess 

 sufficient individuality to make them readily rec- 

 ognizable by each other is adequate proof that 

 these animals are not precisely alike in all re- 

 spects. We readily distinguish the differences 



