Ixii GENERAL INTRODDCTION. 



the oldest type is likely to prevail, the offspring will 

 take after the most inbred parent, regardless of the 

 length of the pedigree ; but when one of the parents is a 

 sport, it is likely to transmit to at least some of its off'- 

 spring its own peculiar characters, even if the other 

 parent is inbred and wild. 



That sports ai'e prepotent is supported by the results 

 of recent experiments with insects. Dr. Standfuss, of 

 Ziirich, e.g., has, as the result of careful observation and 

 experiment, come to the conclusion that when the normal 

 form is crossed with a sport or aberrant variation, the 

 result in many cases is that the offspring either take 

 after the normal form or the sport, intermediate forms 

 being absent.* 



Having considered the question. Is the wild parent 

 most prepotent ? it may now be asked. Is the male pre- 

 potent over the female ? This second question naturally 

 leads to the consideration of various dogmas commonly 

 subscribed to by breeders. It is, e. g., generally supposed 

 that certain structures and organs are more often inherited 

 from one parent than another. According to the teach- 

 ing of the late Mr. James Howard, (1) the male 

 parent is mainly responsible for the external structure, 

 configuration, outward characteristics, and the locomotive 

 system ; (2) the female parent supplies the internal struc- 

 ture, the vital organs, and in a larger proportion than 

 the male, the constitution, temper, and habits ; (3) the 

 purer the race of the parent the more certainty there is 

 of its transmitting its qualities to the offspring — the 

 parent of the purest descent having the greatest influ- 

 ence; and (4) apart from certain disturbiug influences, the 

 male, if of pure descent and descended from a stock of 

 uniform colour, stamps his colour on his offspring.f 



Even although these dogmas are widely accepted, they 

 might have been neglected in the meantime had Sir 



* See paper on " Experiments in Hybridisation," by Mr. Dixey, M.A., 

 of Wadhani College, Oxford {Science Progress, April, 1S9S.) 



t See Millais's ' Two Problems of Reproduction,' ' Our Dogs ' Publisliiug 

 Company, Manchester, p. 4. 



