CHAPTER V. 



PREPOTENCY IN CHARACTERS. 



THIS principle of prepotency in heredity may be said 

 to act in opposition to that of reversion, and so render 

 the building up of new races and varieties possible. 

 Reversion is conservative ; it tends to stamp out all 

 new characters and to continue the race as it is, or 

 was, while the principle of prepotency permits the 

 new character to acquire, in time, strength and fixity 

 sufficient to resist the action of reversion, and ensure 

 the transmission of the new character to the next 

 generation. 



When speaking on the subject of heredity, many 

 take it as a fact that all characters in the parental 

 economy are equally potent, and, consequently, stand 

 an equal chance of being transmitted to the offspring. 

 But such is certainly not the case. We have already 

 seen that recently acquired characters are not trans- 

 mitted with the same certainty that those of long 

 standing are. At first, before the new character has 

 become deeply impressed upon the animal organism, 

 there is a very great liability on the part of the off- 

 spring to revert to the status quo ante; but with each 



