54: PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



aged fifty-two years, a native of County Wexford 

 (Ireland), who had fifteen brothers and five sisters, all 

 of whom possessed the family peculiarity of tortoise- 

 shell-colored eyes. The inheritance was derived from 

 the mother, whose maiden name was Murray. She 

 had three sisters and one brother, who were all simi- 

 larly affected, and who inherited the peculiarity from 



their mother, whose maiden name was F . It is 



to this latter family that the peculiarity belongs, inso- 

 much that in the part of the country where they re- 

 sided they have been commonly recognized by this 

 distinction, and celebrated for communicating it to 

 their posterity." In this case, for three generations 

 "the transmission of the defect has been restricted 

 exclusively to the female sex." * 



" In the year 1770, as we learn from D'Azara, a 

 hornless bull was produced in Paraguay, which has 

 been the progenitor of a race of hornless cattle that 

 has since multiplied extensively in that country." a 



The polled breeds of Great Britain undoubtedly 

 had a similar origin. 



According to Dr. Randall, " a ram having ears of 

 not more than a quarter of the usual size appeared in 

 a flock of Saxon sheep in Germany. He was a supe- 

 rior animal, and got valuable stock. These were in- 

 terbred, and a ' little-eared ' sub-family created. Some 

 of these found their way into the United States, be- 

 tween 1824 and 1828. One of the rams came into 



1 British and Foreign Medico- Chirurgical Review, April, 1861, r>. 

 248. The case was originally published in the Dublin Medical Journal 

 for 1835. 



8 "Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology," vol. iv., p. 1311. 



