108 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



on the part of the mother, during pregnancy, being fulfilled and 

 verified in the birth of a son or daughter. But liow often is 

 the opposite also the case ? 



Girou de Buzarcingues alleges that more females are born when 

 the mothers are well nourished and left in repose than when 

 worked and on spare diet. This question ought to be easily 

 settled by some of our Shorthorn breeders, accustomed to the 

 forcing system. 



Tlie supposed effect of the variable origin of the spermatic 

 arteries and the alleged male and female characters of the right 

 and left testicles are unwortiiy of serious remark. Even the 

 authority of the father of medicine, and his curious instruc- 

 tions for binding up the right or left testicle according to the sex 

 desired, will not overrule the fact that males and females with 

 single testicles and ovaries are capable of producing both sexes. 



Leroy, Girou and Colin agree that the more fully developed 

 and vigorous the male as compared with the female, tlie more 

 males will appear in the offspring, and conversely, that a strong 

 female served by a weak male will have more female offspring. 

 This they observed on dogs, but much more conclusively on 

 sheep. The full-grown, strong and vigorous ewes with a young 

 or weakly ram, brought forth a majority of females, and the 

 union of a full-grown, robust ram, and old, weak or diseased 

 ewes, yielded a preponderance of males. Hofacker snys he has 

 noticed the same thing in the human subject, and b'addler's 

 " English Peerage " appears confirmatory of the theory. Bur- 

 dach has observed a greater proportion of male progeny than 

 female, from the most prolific women, but whether from weak- 

 ness caused by child-bearing, may be open to question. Pre- 

 suming the theory to have some basis in truth, it may serve to 

 explain a predominance of female offspring among domesticated 

 gregarious animals, as the females are better fed and have less 

 exertion than their wild compeers, and the male may be pre- 

 sumed to be, in many cases, weakened during the breeding sea- 

 son, by excessive use. 



Lastly, Professor Thury, of Geneva, upholds the doctrine that 

 the ovum impregnated at an early and comparatively unde- 

 veloped stage becomes a female, whereas if more fully developed 

 before impregnation, the product is a male. Huber's observa- 

 tion, that the queen bee lays first female eggs, then males, and 



