FEATURES OF ANIMAL FORM 35 



both virility and prepotency in the male, on the other; 

 while a female which lacks femininity may not only fail 

 to breed regularly but an absolutely staggy appearance, 

 associated as it is, usually, with more or less continuous 

 oestrum and inability to conceive, has been due in some 

 cases to the existence of hermaphrodism, in which there 

 is a more or less imperfect development of the essential 

 organs of both sexes in the same individual. The impor- 

 tance of sex character is confined, of course, to breeding 

 males and females, although stallions are sometimes 

 favored for show purposes on account of the boldness 

 which characterizes their performance. 



63. Breed character or type. A breed is a group of 

 individuals possessing distinctive characters not common 

 to other members of the same species and so firmly fixed 

 as to be uniformly transmitted. Breed type is the sum 

 total of those distinctive characteristics by which the 

 breed group may be differentiated, as size, form, peculiari- 

 ties of conformation, color and markings, shape of the 

 head, and horns, if any, with the especial and distinctive 

 features of performance or production. It is with these 

 distinctive characters that the judge is concerned in the 

 judging of breeding classes or the selection of breeding 

 stock. Utility, however, should be the basis of distinc- 

 tion. In order to maintain breed identity, all distinguish- 

 ing features should receive consideration, but those of a 

 utility character, which relate to performance or produc- 

 tion, should be stressed more than such matters as color, 

 markings, or the shape of ear, horn or snout. It has been 

 stated that the best representatives of each of the draft 

 horse breeds, for instance, should approach very closely 

 to the same general type. It is most essential that they 

 all be primarily of draft type, but if the only difference 



