RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF PARENTS. 249 



dence relating to hybrids tends to disprove the theory 

 under consideration. 



If the male furnishes the external characters, the 

 color of the offspring should, as a rule, follow that of 

 the sire. Mules are, however, varied in color; the 

 white, the gray, the iron-gray, the black, the dun- 

 colored, the spotted, and the cream-colored, are of 

 common occurrence. 1 



" A cow of the Swiss race, having a white skin, 

 spotted with red, is mentioned by M. Girou as having 

 produced five calves, only one of which, a female, re- 

 sembled the bull, and four males which were like 

 their mother, both in the ground-color of the skin and 

 the distribution of the spots. 



" Instances of this nature have been observed by 

 every one in possession of a herd of cattle ; it is never 

 expected that the produce should always resemble the 

 bull in color ; even though his color may predominate 

 in a herd, sufficient variety never fails to appear. 

 Black-and-white kittens are every day produced from 

 cats one of which is wholly black and the other 

 wholly white. A black buck and a white doe have 

 produced at one time a black-and-white fawn, and, at 

 another time, one entirely black, except a spot above 

 the hoof." 3 



The white feet and face of the celebrated horse 

 Dexter are characteristic of his dam and grandam, 

 who transmitted the same marks, with great uniform- 

 ity, to their offspring.* 



1 See "The Mule," by Riley, pp. 22, 40. 



8 Journal of the Highland Agricultural Society , 1857-'59, p. 23. 



3 National Live-Stock Journal, 1876, p. 67. 



