86 THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY 



II. TELEGONY. 



It is a widely accepted belief among dog-breeders that a 

 pure-bred bitch once lined by a mongrel becomes spoilt for 

 further true breeding, it being assumed that the mongrel's 

 influence extends to the offspring the bitch may have from 

 a later mate. This distant effect of one male on the 

 progeny of another male from the same female is termed 

 " Telegony." Many such cases are on record, the most 

 famous one being that of Lord Morton's mare, mentioned 

 by Darwin. " A nearly pure-bred Arabian chestnut mare 

 bore a hybrid to a quagga, and subsequently two colts to 

 a black Arabian horse, which were partially dun-coloured, 

 and striped on the legs more plainly than the real hybrid, 

 or even than the quagga. . . . The hair of the mane re- 

 sembled that of the quagga, too, being short, stiff, and 

 upright." 



Similarly, a white woman, after having had intercourse 

 with a negro, is said to have borne children to a white 

 man which showed some negro peculiarities. It may be 

 said at the outset that in most cases the pedigree on both 

 sides was not fully enough known in order to establish 

 beyond .doubt the occurrence of real Telegony. 



Many suggestions have, therefore, been made in order to 

 explain away the supposed cases of Telegony. Thus, the 

 characteristics of the progeny from the second sire may have 

 been due to reversion to an ancestor whom the first sire 

 himself resembled. For instance, the occurrence of 

 quagga-like characters in the above-mentioned case may 

 have been nothing but the reappearance of latent ancestral 

 characters, as such are not rare in horses. The resemblance 

 may in other instances be merely coincidence, as cases of 

 Telegony are, after all, very rare. Another explanation, 

 that the first sire leaves on the female a permanent im- 

 pression, which communicates itself to the offspring df the 

 second sire, is hardly acceptable, because maternal im- 

 pressions are, as we shall see later on, not proven. 



