IN-AND-IN BKEEDING. 159 



As an illustration of this class of cases, attention is 

 called to the family history of Mr. Fowler's Long-Horn 

 bull Shakespeare, which is often quoted as an example 

 of spontaneity. His pedigree, as given on page 148, 

 shows him to have been deeply in-and-in bred from 

 animals of acknowledged merit. Mr. Marshall says : 

 " This bull is a striking specimen of what naturalists 

 term accidental varieties. 



" Though bred in the manner that has been men- 

 tioned, he scarcely inherits a single point of the Long- 

 Horned breed, his horns excepted." 1 



Then follows a description of the animal that shows 

 him to have been somewhat better, in general form, 

 than the ordinary Long-Horns of his day. 2 



Mr. Marshall also says, Mr. Fowler's " cows have 

 long been considered of the first quality of the best 

 Canley blood and his bull Shakespeare, already men- 

 tioned, has raised them to a degree of perfection, 

 which, in the opinion of the first judges, the breed of 

 cattle under notice never before attained." J 



1 " Rural Economy of the Midland Counties," vol. i., p. 322. 



2 Loc. fit., p. 322. 



3 A careful comparison of Mr. Marshall's description of the bul 

 Shakespeare "with his " general description " of " the higher class of 

 individuals " of the Long-Horn breed, in the herds of Messrs. Fowler, 

 Bakewell, an<i Princep, will show that aside from a deeper chest, shorter 

 legs, and a peculiarity in the setting on of the tail, Shakespeare did not 

 differ essentially from the best type of the breed to which he belonged- 



In his " general description " of the breed, Mr. Marshall says, " The 

 tail set on variously, even in individuals of the highest repute." So 

 that the peculiarities in the tail of Shakespeare cannot be considered as 

 exceptional in a breed in which variety in the character was the rule. 



Compare Marshall, loc. cit., pp. 323-325, with pp. 327-331 ; and 

 Youatt on "Cattle," pp. 193-197. 



