48 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



tional activity of the lacteal glands, which is but a 

 modified habit of the system. 



Pritchard, in his " Natural History of Man," states 

 that the peculiar ambling pace to which the horses 

 bred on the table-lands of the Cordilleras are trained, 

 has, by inheritance, resulted in a " race in which the 

 ambling pace is natural and requires no teaching." 



The Norwegian ponies, descended from animals 

 that " have been in the habit of obeying the voice of 

 their riders and not the bridle," are said to inherit the 

 same peculiarity, so that it is difficult to break them 

 to drive in the ordinary way. 1 



The habit of migration at particular seasons of the 

 year is inherited, and I have often observed it in mal- 

 lard ducks bred for several generations in a state of 

 domestication. 



It must be admitted, however, that acquired habits 

 are not in all cases hereditary, but it would be diffi- 

 cult, perhaps, in the present state of our knowledge 

 of the subject, to fix a limit to their inheritance, so 

 far, at least, as a predisposition is concerned. 



Acquired habits and the original traits of animals 

 appear to be conflicting elements in their constitution, 

 either one of which may, from its intensity, predomi- 

 nate in hereditary transmission. 



Pigs have been taught to point game and to per- 

 form various tricks, but, in the hereditary transmission 

 of their characters, " Nature " has had a stronger in- 

 fluence than " culture." 



1 The last two statements are quoted from Goodale's " Principles of 

 Breeding," p. 25. See also " Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology," 



