INFLUENCE OF IMAGINATION 13 



cows with heifer-calves when turned out in May, and the 

 herd was thus grazed in two divisions of about equal numbers 

 (which for convenience we shall term A and B) ; but from 

 year to year the cows forming these divisions varied with 

 the sexes of their calves. It was observed for a number of 

 years that about 20 per cent, of the calves produced by the 

 cows of division B were " badly marked " in colour viz., 

 red or black-and-white while the colour of the calves of 

 division A was uniformly black, as it ought to be. The 

 same well-bred bulls were put to the two divisions, and 

 changed from one to the other from time to time. The 

 field in which division A grazed was located so that no 

 cattle of broken colours could be seen by the animals at 

 pasture in it, while the field in which division B was kept 

 adjoined two other fields, in one of which up till 1890 were 

 pastured black steers, and in the other Ayrshire cows, 

 displaying a great variety of broken colours. The black 

 polled cows of division B were within smelling distance and 

 within full view of the cattle in the two fields in question 

 (being separated merely by a wire fence), and, in consequence, 

 from two to four badly-marked calves were born annually. 

 In 1890 both of the fields adjoining division B were occupied 

 by red-and-white cattle, with the result that six pure-bred 

 Polled Angus calves came badly marked, some being black- 

 and-white, and others red. Some of the cows which bore 

 badly-marked calves were three or four months gone in 

 calf before they were brought in contact with cattle of other 

 colours than their own, from which it may be inferred that 

 the influence of imagination is not confined to the period 

 of conception. One of the red calves had a black fringe 

 round his muzzle, and a black stripe along the back. This 

 red calf developed into a pure black bull, with a reddish 

 fringe round the muzzle, and a reddish stripe along the back. 

 In 1891 the adjoining fields were intentionally stocked with 

 black cattle exclusively, and all the calves of 1892 were for 

 the first time for several years of pure Polled Angus colour, 

 like the colour of the sires and dams and of the calves of 

 division A, which bred always true to colour. Only one 

 calf had a small patch of white upon it ; and this is a 

 common occurrence in the best-bred black polled cattle. 

 The fact that the sires of the badly-marked calves of 1891 were 



