322 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



duce variations in the birth-rate, or in the proportions 

 of the sexes in a given locality. 



The data for a satisfactory discussion of the rela- 

 tions of fecundity, in itself considered, to the deter- 

 mination of sex, are unfortunately wanting. 1 



As to the proportions of the sexes in plural 

 births, the statistics are quite limited. In 1852, ac- 

 cording to the registrar-general's report, "in 6,036 

 cases women bore two living children at a birth. In 

 3,587 of the above cases the children were of the 



1 According to Walford ("Insurance Cyclopaedia," vol. iii., p. 193), 

 the women of England, taken collectively, are more prolific than the 

 women of Scotland; 1,000 English women, aged from fifteen to fifty- 

 five, bearing annually 123 registered children, and 1,000 Scotch women 

 bearing 120 children, the proportion of males to females being, ac- 

 cording to the statistics already given, 104.7 to 100 for the former, 

 and 105.3 to 100 for the latter. 



In the vital statistics of seventeen European countries, compiled by 

 the Belgian Government in 1866, under the supervision of M. Quetelet, 

 it is stated that " the most remarkable rate of fecundity is shown in 

 Russia, and especially in the single year under observation (1868), 

 when it was nearly twice as high as reported in France " (Statistical 

 Journal, vol. xxxi., p. 146 ; quoted in " Insurance Cyclopaedia," vol. L, 

 p. 313). 



The proportion of males to 100 females in Russia for the year men- 

 tioned was 104.9, while the births in France for the same year are not 

 given. The details of such fragmentary statistics are not sufficient to 

 admit of any generalizations based upon them. 



Statistics in Michigan show that "the birth-rate is apparently 

 smaller among persons of African descent and larger among Indians 

 than among the white inhabitants of this State. It also shows, what 

 has been noticed in the two preceding "Reports," that in the case 

 where the birth-rate is largest there is the largest proportion of female 

 children, and where the birth-rate is smallest there is the smallest pro- 

 portion of female children " (Michigan " Sixth Registration Report," 

 1872, p. 33). 





