178 LIFE AND HABIT. 



however, the conclusion arrived at is, that, " after all, the 

 cause more probably lies in some imperfection in the 

 original act of impregnation, causing the embryo to be 

 imperfectly developed rather than in the conditions to 

 which it is subsequently exposed." A conclusion which 

 I am not prepared to accept. 



Returning to my second alternative, that is to say, to 

 the case of hybrids which are born well developed and 

 healthy, but nevertheless perfectly sterile, it is less 

 obvious why, having succeeded in understanding the 

 conflicting memories of their parents, they should fail 

 to produce offspring ; but I do not think the reader will 

 feel surprised that this should be the case. The follow- 

 ing anecdote, true or false, may not be out of place 

 here : — 



" Plutarch tells us of a magpie, belonging to a barber 

 at Rome, which could imitate to a nicety almost every 

 word it heard. Some trumpets happened one day to be 

 sounded before the shop, and for a day or two after- 

 wards the magpie was quite mute, and seemed pensive 

 and melancholy. All who knew it were greatly sur- 

 prised at its silence; and it was supposed that the 

 sound of the trumpets had so stunned it as to deprive 

 it at once of both voice and hearing. It soon appeared, 

 however, that this was far from being the case; for, 

 says Plutarch, the bird had been all the time occupied 

 in profound meditation, studying how to imitate the 

 sound of the trumpets ; and when at last master of it, 

 the magpie, to the astonishment of all its friends, sud- 

 denly broke its long silence by a perfect imitation of 

 the flourish of trumpets it had heard, observing with 



