166 THE BREEDING OF ANIMALS 



amount of fat deposited in the tissues rather than to differ- 

 ences in the development of the skeleton and muscular tis- 

 sues. The very great differences in weight noted are of the 

 greatest significance if they represent differences in the 

 fundamental skeletal and muscular tissues of the body. 

 If they represent alone differences in the amount of fat, 

 they are not so significant. The height of each animal 

 as observed seems to indicate clearly that not only is 

 the amount of fat deposited in the tissues directly 

 determined by the amount of food available, but the 

 skeletal growth also is profoundly influenced by the food 

 supply. 



There can be no question but that limiting the amount 

 of food supplied to young animals has a profound influ- 

 ence upon the rate of growth as well as its ultimate size. 

 This influence is to be found in smaller skeleton, probably 

 arrested development of the muscular tissues, and a much 

 smaller percentage of fat. 



157. Telegony. There was a time when eminent 

 biologists and practical breeders firmly believed that the 

 influence of the sire was not confined to his immediate 

 offspring but the mother herself was in some manner so 

 impressed with the characters of the sire that her subse- 

 quent progeny sired by entirely different males might 

 take on the characters of the former sire. " The act of 

 fecundation is not an act which is limited in its effect," 

 says Agassiz, 1 " but that it is an act which affects the 

 whole system, the sexual system especially; and in the 

 sexual system the ovary to be impregnated hereafter 

 is so modified by the first act that later impregnations 

 do not efface that first impression." Darwin supported 

 his belief in telegony by citing many cases among plants 



1 Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1863, p. 56. 



