RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF PARENTS. 231 



there can be no doubt that such is the case gener- 

 ally." 1 



It is well known to the breeders of Ayrshire cattle 

 that the sire has an important influence upon the form 

 and functional activity of the udder ; and the position 

 and development of the false teats of the bull are be- 

 lieved to furnish an indication of the milking qualities 

 he will be likely to transmit. 



In the large number of grade Ayrshires that I have 

 bred for dairy-purposes, the udder, in most instances, 

 has resembled the family type of the sire in form and 

 general proportions. The males of the dairy-breeds, 

 generally, are prepotent in the transmission of the 

 characteristics of the females of their race. 



It is well known, for example," says Mr. Sedg- 

 wick, " that the supply of milk by cows is hereditarily 

 luenced by the bulls rather than by the cows from 

 rhich they are directly descended, and that the char- 

 jter of the secretion, as regards both the quantity and 

 quality of the milk, is chiefly derived from the 

 iternal grandmother, by atavic descent " (Burdach, 

 " Traite de Physiologic," vol. iii., page 117 ; and Girou, 

 , tit., page 127); "and as we descend still lower 

 the scale, we find, for example, in the case of in- 

 evidence more or less (decisive in favor of the 

 emission by either sex of the distinctive peculiari- 

 ties of the other ; while the capability of both sexes 

 in the human race to transmit disease by atavic de- 

 it is occasionally illustrated by the occurrence of 

 in which the transmission is effected by a male 



1 Country Gentleman, April, 1865, p. 236. For other similar cases, 

 see Country Gentleman, 1873, p. 42. 



