GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 77 



distinguishing mark that belonged to the feral 

 dun horses in general, and which to this day 

 occasionally crops out in all breeds of horses. 

 And if the influence were as potent as some 

 writers have claimed, especially when applied 

 to the breeding of horses, it is time some more 

 modern case might be cited. Hundreds upon 

 hundreds of excellent mares,, many of them 

 thoroughbreds, in Kentucky and Tennessee, 

 have produced their first foals to a jack and 

 have afterward produced beautiful offspring 

 from highly-bred sires. I can recall many illus- 

 trations upon this point that have come under 

 my own observation. In fact the whole theory 

 of gestation, the manner in which the foetus is 

 attached io and nourished by the womb of the 

 female, seems to make the commingling of the 

 blood of the latter with that of the former an 

 impossibility. In the case of the bitch there is 

 a marked difference from all other domestic 

 animals in the manner in which the placenta 

 is attached to the womb as is very clearly 

 shown by Prof. Law in the foregoing article 

 and here alone, among domestic animals, do we 

 find any considerable number of results which 

 tend to confirm the theory that a first impreg- 

 nation affects subsequent ones. It is noticed 

 so frequently, however, here, that dog-fanciers 

 almost universally recognize it as a rule, and 

 exercise the greatest possible care lest a bitch 



