LOWER ANIMALS. 223 



When these pedigrees were examined for activity rather than 

 for age., it was found that the sires, grandsires and great-grandsires 

 of fast stallions were more highly trained than were the sires, 

 grandsires and great-grandsires of fast mares. It was also found 

 that the dams, granddams and great-granddams of mares were 

 more highly trained than were the dams, granddams and great- 

 granddams of fast stallions. These facts show that the develop- 

 ment acquired by training is transmitted by sex. This is further 

 exemplified by the fact that George Wilkes, the most highly trained 

 of all stallions, appears almost invariably as grandsire or great- 

 grandsire in the straight male line. In other words, he transmitted 

 excessive speed to the third and fourth generations only through 

 his sons. 



THE RELATION OF AGE AND TRAINING IN SIRES. 



Because the sires of fast stallions are both older and more 

 highly trained than are the sires of mares, it may be assumed that 

 the highly trained horses appear as the old horses, but such is not 

 the fact. When the sires in the pedigrees of stallions were sorted 

 out for both training and age, it was found that whenever com- 

 paratively young sires appeared in the pedigrees they were the 

 highly trained ones, and that whenever sires appeared which were 

 not highly trained they were old ones. The same thing is true of 

 the dams in the pedigrees of fast mares. These facts show that to 

 produce fast horses the progenitors must be developed either by 

 severe training or by the allowance of a sufficient amount of time 

 for the development to be acquired by moderate training. 



While the results found for the thoroughbred stallions and for 

 the list quoted from Sanders indicates that the best age for stallions 

 is about thirteen years, my own personal investigations into the 



