128 PRINCIPLES OF STOCR-BKEEDING. 



twins four times running ; and in a fifth case the 

 mother and two sisters of the idiot each bore twins 

 once. 



" It is also well known that the hereditary produc- 

 tion of twins in sheep is encouraged by saving the 

 ewe-lambs that are twins. 1 Notwithstanding these 

 facts, there are some cases which show that twins oc- 

 casionally owe their descent as such to the male line, 

 of which the following case affords a good illustra- 

 tion : Two brothers (twins) both had twins by their 

 wives many times in succession ; the wife of one of 

 them having died, the second wife produced, like the 

 first, twins ; 3 and, in the case recorded by Mr. Stocks, 8 

 of Salford, twin brothers also produced twins ; one of 

 them having a family of ten children, eight daughters 

 and two sons, all of whom were twin-born ; and the 

 other a family of eleven children, of whom eight were 

 twin born ; it is, moreover, to be noticed that in this 

 last case, while five of the female twins in the suc- 

 ceeding generation produced twins at their first birth, 

 the three children of the only one of the male twins 

 of whom any account is given, were all born singly, 

 leading us to infer that the hereditary predisposition 

 to twins was probably derived from a female ances- 

 tor, and that each of the twin brothers referred to, in 

 addition to being the medium of transmission, also 

 shared in the inheritance. 



" In connection also with the influence of sex in the 



1 "Notes on Fields and Cattle," by Ptev. W. H. Beever, 1862, p. 

 144. 



9 " Nouvelle Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle," tome xii., p. 5*>6. 

 8 Lancet, July 20, 1861, p. 78. 



