188 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



in those cases where the action is recognized, the phenomena 

 called prepotency. 



On the relations between the period of development of a 

 character and its transference to one sex or to both sexes; or, 

 as again more fully expressed by Darwin, variations which 

 first appear in either sex at a late period of life tend to be 

 developed in the same sex alone; while variations which first 

 appear early in life in either sex tend to be developed in both 

 sexes. As sexual characters receive their development late 

 in life, through the doctrine we are here enunciating there 

 must be, necessarily, a correlation between the sexual distinc- 

 tions and those parts developed under process of law at the 

 period of their activity. Hence, a prepotency through sex 

 might be established. In early lie, the sexual organs being 

 immature, there is less of correlation with sex, and, conse- 

 quently, less sexual prepotency. When, therefore, the adult 

 male differs from the adult female, and from the young of 

 both sexes, we may assume that the variations which brought 

 it about occurred late in life ; for, through the transinissal of 

 forces, the adult is the product of forces acting through the 

 young, and the history of the development must furnish a clue 

 to the order in which the changes have occurred. When the 

 adult male closely resembles the adult female and the young 

 of both sexes, the variations through which their characters 

 were acquired occurred in ea ly life.* 



Inheritance limited by sex. — In correlation of structure, 

 brought about through persistence of force, we seek an 

 explanation for this curious phenomenon. It is seldom that 

 this species of inheritance is absolute ; but this can be 

 explained from the fact that, in foetal life, the distinctions 

 between the sexes are less than in adult life, and therefore 

 their influence is less strongly marked upon correlations. It 

 must be borne in mind that the individual is the product and 

 the equilibrium of all the forces which have had to do in his 

 making, both past and present. Originally, a simple force, 

 becoming differentiated, changes character, and concrete 

 forms result, the direct effect of the changes which are affect- 

 ing and have acted. The sexual changes are of importance; 

 produced by environmental circumstances, they in turn, as 



* Darwin, " Descent of Man," Vol. I., p. 277. 



