ATx\.VISM AND REVERSION. 99 



Rev. Mr. Cox had a flock of spotted Spanish sheep which 

 bred true among themselves, but always got black lambs whea 

 crossed with Leicesters or Southdowns. 



Sidney saw, in a litter of Essex pigs, the exact counterpart 

 of the Berkshire boar used twenty-eight years before to give 

 size and constitution to the breed. 



McCombie's Durhams continue to get white calves, though 

 none such are ever retained on the farm. 



Every class of animals is liable thus at times to revert to its 

 original type, though as shown in tlie case of Mr. Cox's sheep, 

 they are more liable to do so when violently crossed than in the 

 ordinary course of breeding from one family or from several 

 nearly related. A second example of this was afforded in Mr. 

 Beasley's cross between the red Highland cows and a roan 

 Durham bull. The calves were white with red ears, a close ap- 

 proximation to the aboriginal cattle found in the Chillingham 

 and Hamilton parks. 



Every breeder who would retain the special features of a 

 particular breed must thus at times reject particular animals, 

 however pure their pedigree. And his mind must be ever open 

 to the liability of his stock to breed back on an extensive scale 

 when other breeds are resorted to for fresh blood. Unless some 

 very desirable qualities are to be gained by the cross, the im- 

 provement in constitution and stamina will be better and more 

 safely attained by breeding from members of the same family, 

 whose characters have been modified by the effects of a different 

 soil and climate. 



9/A. Prepotency of races and individuals. — And this caution 

 in resorting to foreign blood is the more necessary that certain 

 races and individuals have an inherent power of transmitting 

 their own characters and fixing them permanently in their prog- 

 eny to the exclusion of more desirable qualities in the breed 

 crossed. Orton raised many chickens from a silk cock and ban- 

 tam hens, but only three had silky feathers. Darwin bred from 

 a silk hen and Spanish cock, but failed to get any fowls with 

 silky feathers. In breeding Manx with domestic cats, seven- 

 teen out of twenty of the kittens had no tails. Among horses, 

 Eclipse, King Herod and others have transmitted their own 

 character to a very extraordinary degree. Among Durhams, 

 Hubback, Favorite, &c., have virtually created the breed. But 



