208 THE BREEDING OF ANIMALS 



for nineteen generations, but in no single case was there 

 the slightest evidence that this form of mutilation was 

 transmitted. 



The tails of sheep have been cut off for many hundred 

 years by shepherds, but tails reappear regularly with the 

 normal number of vertebrae and without diminution in 

 length. 



A large number of examples have been given of cats 

 whose tails have been removed and who have later trans- 

 mitted to their offspring a tendency to short tails. In 

 the Eiffel, the peasants shorten the tails of cats. It is 

 reported by Tietz that cats with defective tails are common 

 in this region. Many similar examples are reported. In 

 this and most other examples of the inheritance of acquired 

 characters, there is no evidence that the artificial shorten- 

 ing of the tails is the direct cause of the atrophied tails 

 observed in the kittens. Such defective tails are not 

 uncommon in races of cats with normal tails. It must 

 also be remembered that there are tailless breeds of cats 

 such as the Manx and Japanese breeds, and the admixture 

 of such breeds might be sufficient to explain the observed 

 variations. 



The cattlemen of the Nile Valley have for an unknown 

 period of time caused the horns of cattle to grow in curi- 

 ous spiral forms, but there is no evidence that such 

 deformities are transmitted to the offspring. 1 



197. The Brown-Sequard experiments. 2 The most 

 frequently quoted and credible scientific experiment 

 conducted for the purpose of causing somatic modifica- 

 tions and observing their transmission from parent to 



1 Hartman, "Die Haussaugethiere der Wildlander," Ann. 

 Landivirthsch., Berlin, 1864, p. 28. 



2 Romanes, "Darwin and after Darwin," vol. II, chap. IV. 



