CHAPTER XXXVI 

 SOME BELIEFS OF PRACTICAL BREEDERS 



It is proposed in this chapter to discuss not only some matters which 

 belong to the discarded remnants of scientific thought, but also some 

 beliefs of animal breeders which have not yet been subjected to the 

 rigid scrutiny of scientific investigation necessary for analyzing them 

 completely. 



Telegony. By telegony is designated the supposed influence which 

 a sire exerts upon the females with which he is mated such that the 

 products of subsequent matings with other sires show some influence of 

 the previous ones. The same phenomenon is known in popular speech as 

 infection of the germ, the influence of previous impregnation, etc. 



One does not need to go far to find support for the hold which the 

 belief in telegony has upon the popular mind. In certain cases the belief 

 has been so strong as to affect rules of registration of pure-bred animals. 

 Riley has collected from flock book records a few typical rules of regis- 

 tration which are founded upon a belief in telegony. They are given 

 below: 



Vermont Merino Sheep Breeders' Association. 



Ride 24. The record of registered ewes will be forfeited if bred to rams other than 

 pure descendants of importations direct from Spain, and it shall be the duty of 

 members to report to the Secretary the label marks and numbers within the year in 

 which they are so bred, who shall enter them on the records of the flocks in which they 

 are recorded. Any member who shall fail to report according to this rule or offer 

 lambs from such ewes for record shall be suspended or expelled. 

 New York State American Merino Sheep Breeders' Association. 



Rule 17. That this association exclude from its records all breeding ewes that 

 have been previously bred to coarse wooled rams. 

 American Rambouillet Sheep Breeders' Association. 



Rule 4. No product of a Rambouillet ewe shall be eligible for registry after 

 such ewe shall have been bred to any other ram but a registered Rambouillet. 

 Dorset Horn Sheep Breeders' Association. 



Rule 6. No ewe or ewe lambs shall be eligible for entry that have been served 

 with any ram other than a pure bred Dorset Horn from the date thereof. 

 Michigan Merino Sheep Breeders' Association. 



Rule 12. The product of a registered ewe which shall at any time have been 

 bred to a ram not a registered American Merino, or one eligible to register shall be 

 excluded from registry. 



664 



