462 British Dogs. 



This shows the urgent necessity, especially with young bitches, of 

 acting on Somerville's advice 



Watch o'er the bitches with a cautious eye, 

 And separate such as are going to be proud. 



If this is not done an undesirable union will almost certainly be the 

 result, and the value of the bitch for stock greatly reduced. 



In such a case many breeders would at once put the strayed bitch 

 down or discard her from their kennels ; but as it is not absolutely certain 

 to follow in every such instance that subsequent litters will be affected, 

 and, as before stated, I do not think that in any case all pups in any 

 subsequent litter would be so affected, I should not, if the bitch was 

 much valued for brood purposes, go so far, but keep her for future use 

 and see the result. 



Perhaps, still more curious and inexplicable is the startling fact that 

 the mental impression made on the mind of a bitch by a dog she has 

 been denied sexual intercourse with, affects most sensibly the progeny 

 resulting from a sire of a totally different form and colour. On this 

 subject I cannot do better for readers than quote at length from such a 

 high authority as Delabere Elaine, who had the distinguished honour 

 of being called by his contemporaries "the father of canine pathology." 

 Mr. Elaine says : 



" Superfcetation is apt to be confounded with, or its phenomena are 

 sometimes accounted for by, another process, still more curious and inex- 

 plicable, but which is wholly dependent on the mother where imprint- 

 ings which have been received by her mind previous to her sexual 

 intercourse are conveyed to the germs within her, so as to stamp one or 

 more of them with characteristic traits of resemblance to the dog from 

 which the impression was taken, although of a totally different breed 

 from the real father of the progeny. In superf rotation, on the contrary, 

 the size, form, &c., of the additional progeny all fully betoken their 

 origin. In the instances of sympathetic deviation, the form, size, and 

 character of the whelps are principally the mother's, but the colour is more 

 often the father's. It would appear that this mental impression, which is, 

 perhaps, usually raised at some period of oestrum, always recurs at that 

 period, and is so interwoven with the organization even, so as to become 

 a stamp or mould for some if not all of her future progeny, the existence 

 of which curious anomaly in the reproductive or breeding system is 



