56 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



a ram in which the malformation was congenital. It 

 is stated, on the authority of Colonel Humphreys, that 

 this defect became so fixed by inheritance that it was 

 uniformly transmitted. 



The Niata cattle, on the northern bank of the 

 Plata, described by Darwin, have a peculiar malfor- 

 mation of the skull, that undoubtedly has been devel- 

 oped by the inheritance of a deformity of some of the 

 ancestors. 



In this breed "the forehead is very short and 

 broad, with the nasal end of the skull, together with 

 the whole plane of the upper molar teeth, curved up- 

 ward. The lower jaw projects beyond the upper, and 

 has a corresponding upward curvature." l 



A very singular abnormal peculiarity is hereditary 

 in some families of pigs the tail, which is perfectly 

 formed at birth, having a tendency to waste away and 

 drop off when the animals are a few weeks old. 3 



Cases are reported of families with a single lock 

 of hair of a different color from the rest of the hair, 

 which in one generation may be upon the right side, 

 and in the next on the left. 8 



A family of my acquaintance have several abnor- 

 mal peculiarities that are transmitted with great uni- 

 formity. The little toes lap over the adjoining toes, 

 and the nails have a longitudinal groove that gives 

 them a bifid termination, so that when the nail is 

 trimmed the part cut off is in two pieces. This same 

 character of the nail is seen also on the index-fingers. 



1 "Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. i., p. 113. 



2 Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. xvi., p. 41. 

 8 "Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. ii., p. 14. 



