TRANSMISSION OF MALFORMATIONS. 1 87 
interesting account of the malformation of the tail in 
these fish. The most salient peculiarity of these Loch- 
namaorachan trout is that the rays of the caudal fin are 
abnormally shortened, coarse at the extremities, and 
deficient as to the amount of dichotomization and 
'number of the transverse joints; besides which, they 
also show a tendency to coalesce at their terminations. 
By the convergence downwards of the upper long rays, 
and upwards of the lower ones, the fin assumes a 
rounded form instead of presenting the usual broad fan- 
shaped aspect. The abnormal condition of the ex- 
tremities of the rays may affect other fins besides the 
caudal (fig. 98). 
The lake in question is about 1,000 feet above the 
level of the sea. It is about an acre in extent, and so 
shallow that a man can wade through it ; the bottom is 
of quartz rock. Several other lochs near contain trout, 
but none are “ tailless.” So constant is this abnormality 
in trout taken from the lake in question, that one keen 
fisher, with thirty years’ experience of this loch, has never 
taken any but docked ones. 
It is quite possible, indeed probable, that a more 
perfect knowledge of the mode of development of the 
spatulate or racket-shaped feathers in the motmots, 
and of the tails in the Lochnamaorachan trout would 
put a new complexion on the matter. It may be con- 
fidently stated that at present there is no satisfactory 
case known of the transmission of a defect, the result of 
mutilation. 
Inherited Malformations —There can be no reasonable 
doubt that defects arising in the course of development 
