TELEGONY AND REVERSION. 143 



the previous sire, or (3) the subsequent sire, or (4) the dam. 

 Fi-om the fact that Eomulus resembles the Somali zebra, 

 Mulatto's second foal should also, though only to a limited 

 extent, resemble the Somali zebra, — or, which is the same 

 thing, somewhat resemble Romulus. Had Matopo been 

 inbred and more prepotent than Mulatto, then Romulus 

 would in all probability have resembled Matopo. If, con- 

 versely, Mulatto had been inbred and more prepotent 

 than Matopo, Romulus would most likely have resembled 

 Mulatto. Mulatto's second foal, if to a non-prepotent sire, 

 should resemble Romulus ; but if to an inbred prepotent 

 sire, the second foal ought rather to resemble the second 

 sire. • If, however, the second sire belongs to a different 

 breed from Mulatto, — if there is a certain amount of 

 antagonism between the germ-plasms, — the second foal 

 may revert, and resemble one of the less remote ancestors* 

 of the true horses. It would obviously be impossible or 

 all but impossible to distinguish this form of reversion — 

 reversion resulting from crossing two distinct breeds — 

 from reversion due to infection by a previous sire. There 

 is still another possible, it may be a highly probable, 

 result. The influence of the previous sire may be so 



* Many who believe telegony occurs in mammals seem to think it is im- 

 possible in birds. If telegony is due to indirect " infection," to germ- 

 plasm proceeding from the developing eaibryo by a roundabout road to 

 ova in process of maturing, one can understand vphy in birds it is impos- 

 sible. If, however, the germ -plasm of the first sire passes directly to the 

 immature eggs, there is no reason why there should not be telegonous 

 birds as well as telegonous mammals. Sir Everett Millais experimented 

 with ducks, hens, and pigeons, without obtaining any evidence of telegony. 

 If, however, he only looked for a resemblance to the previous sire, or if the 

 subsequent sires were highly inbred, cases of infection may have been over- 

 looked or obscured. For example, if a white fantail hen is first bred with 

 a blue pouter and next with a white fantail, one of two things might 

 happen, — the offspring to the second mate (the white fantail) might be iden- 

 tical with their parents (if they happened to be inbred), or suggestive of a 

 blue rock pigeon. If the latter result iiappened, it would be considered by 

 some a case of reversion, regardless of the fact that the first cross between 

 a white fantail and a blue pouter might (through the influence of reversion) 

 resemble not a pouter but a rock pigeon. 



