APPENDIX. 



TELEGONY. 

 I. 



Leaving out of consideration the question whether ac- 

 quired (i. e. non-congenital) characters are transmitted, 

 there is no problem that claims wider a^ttention at the 

 present time than what is now generally knoAvu as 

 Telegony.* Both naturalists and breeders are most anxious 

 to ascertain whether what has frequently been termed the 

 '''infection of the ge^-rn" is possible — whether there is any 

 reason for the wide-spread belief that the first sii-e influences 

 the after progeny obtained by subsequent sires. 



That the first impregnation has a lasting influence has 

 apparently long been credited by breeders, and since 

 Lord Morton (in 1820) communicated his famous letter to 

 the Royal Society, many naturalists have admitted the 

 possibility of the previous sire influencing the after progeny, 

 i. e. leading to an extraordinary kind of reversion or 

 ^' throwing back." 



As Lord Morton's " experiment" is so often referred to, 

 it will be well to give in full the letter he addressed to the 

 President of the Royal Society. The letter is as follows : 



" My Deae Sir, — I yesterday had an opportunity of 

 observing a singular fact in natural history, which you may 

 perhaps deem not unworthy of being communicated to the 

 Royal Society. 



" Some years ago I was desii'ous of trying the experiment 

 of domesticating the quagga, and endeavoured to procure 

 some individuals of that species. I obtained a male; but 

 being disappointed of a female, I tried to breed from the 

 male quagga and a young chestnut mare of seven-eighths 

 Arabian blood, and which had never been bred from. The 

 * From TijXf, at a distance, and ySvog, offspring. 



