HEREDITY 307 



but doubtless with mistakes in a few details. He was 

 a Master at Harrow when some scrape had occurred, 

 and a boy in whom he was interested was judged 

 guilty and sent up to be flogged. The boy protested 

 his innocence so vehemently, that although appear- 

 ances were sadly against him, Watson was ready to 

 believe what he said, and took unusual pains to 

 investigate the matter. The result was that the boy 

 was completely exculpated. A few years after, the 

 boy's father bought the property at Berkswell in 

 which the gift of the living was included. It 

 happened to be then vacant, and the new proprietor 

 found he must either nominate some one at once, or 

 the nomination would lapse, and fall (I think) to the 

 Bishop. He knew of no suitable clergyman. Then 

 the boy called out, ''Give it to Mr. Watson," which 

 the father, knowing the story, did. 



I thought that some data which were needed 



o 



might be obtained by breeding insects, without too 

 great expenditure of time and money, and it ended 

 in my selecting for the purpose, under the advice of 

 Mr. Merrifield, a particular kind of Moth, the 

 " Selenia illustraria," which breeds twice a year and 

 is hardy. Mr. Merrifield most kindly undertook to 

 conduct the experiments for me, and his methods 

 were beautifully simple and suitable. They are 

 described in the Transactions of the Entomological 

 Society, 1887 [99]. Another friend also undertook 

 a set. I will not describe any of the results at length, 

 because they failed owing to rapidly diminishing 

 fertility in successive generations, and through the 

 large disturbing effects of small differences in environ- 



