1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 



gree collie, the result was, as already stated, three pups 

 with a white ground colour like tlie sire, and several 

 large blotclies such as presumably characterised the sire's 

 ancestors. In this case the prepotency of the Dalmatian 

 is so marked that the collie can hardly be said to be 

 represented in the offspring. A still better instance of 

 inbreeding in hounds is given by the late Sir Everett 

 Millais. Sir Everett crossed a bloodhound with a 

 typical tricoloured basset dog. The half-breeds were 

 bassets in form, but not quite bassets in colour. When 

 these crosses were bred with a male basset, the majority 

 of the pups presented both the form and colour of highly 

 bred bassets. It may be mentioned that the bassets are 

 bloodhounds with short crooked legs, and that the 

 English bassets have all descended from a few indi- 

 viduals imported from France not many years ago. They 

 are all decidedly inbred. Hence, although the blood- 

 hound" used was inbred and of an older type than the 

 basset, the offspring were in form bassets. Evidently 

 Sir Everett believed that had the bloodhound dam been 

 less inbred the crosses would have been from the first 

 bassets in colour as well as in form.'^ 



It seems to be generally admitted that British cattle 

 have mainly descended from the ancient Celtic short- 

 horns, from Chillingham-like cattle introduced by the 

 Romans, and from longhorns imported from Holstein, &c. 

 Whether this be so or not, there is no evidence that any 

 of the less remote ancestors of our modern cattle were 

 hornless ; there was a time, doubtless, when the repre- 

 sentatives of our cattle, sheep, deer, and antelopes were 

 all hornless, but that was a very long time ago. It 

 follows that the polled cattle of to-day are recent pro- 

 ductions ; whether they are sports or reversions we need 

 not wait to consider. When long-horned Highland 



* Sir Everett Millais, who worked long with highly bred stock, poiuts 

 out some of the evils of inbreeding. He says of inbred dogs, distemper 

 carries off about 60 to 70 per cent, of those attacked, and that in breeding 

 to type we too frequently bring about hereditary deformity, rickets, and 

 other diseases. 



