EXAMPLKS OF OrT-CROSSING. 275 



mare lierself the lines are all distinct, and in her cross with 

 Touchstone they are so likewise for three removes. At that dis- 

 tance there is a great-grandsire of Touchstone, Alexander, who 

 is brotlier to Xantippe, great-great-grandmother of Beeswing ; 

 so that she and Touchstone were third cousins. Whether or not 

 this consanguinity, slight as it was, sufficed to produce this 

 happy result in Newminster and Kunnykirk, mnst be left an 

 open question ; but there can be no doubt that Touclistone suc- 

 ceeded with her, -s^hilst a failure resulted from Sir Hercules, 

 wlio was still more distantly related, tlie nearest connection with 

 him being a fourth cousinship, through Volunteer and Mercury, 

 own brothers. Queen of Trumps lias often been adduced as a 

 case of successful out-crossing, but though her great grandsires 

 and great granddams were certainly none of them identical, yet 

 beyoud that line tliere is an extraordinary influx of Herod blood, 

 through Highflyer, Woodpecker, Lavender, Florizel, and Ca- 

 lasli, all his sons or daughters. JN'ow, no one can maintain that 

 it is not very remarkable, when we find such a dash of blood 

 from one superior horse in such an extraordinary animal as 

 Queen of Trumps ; neither can it be said that she is composed 

 of materials not related to each other ; but at the same time 

 she is fairly to be considered under the ordinary acceptation of 

 the term as a mare bred from a distinct cross. Hers is, how- 

 ever, a very instructive example, as showing that success is 

 sometimes achieved by reuniting, after an interval of several 

 generations, a series of good strains ; whether or not her good- 

 ness is dependent upon this reunion, or whether it results from 

 the crossing, is only to be decided by comparing a number of 

 cases together, and considering on which side lies the balance 

 of evidence. 



Example 3. — West Australian is an exceedingly valuable 

 example of the benefit of a good out-cross after in-breeding, 

 and between his sire and dam there was less relationshij) even 

 than usual. 



Example 4. — Teddingtou, on the contrary, so often adduced 

 for a similar purpose, presents one line of relationship which 

 interferes with the assumption. I have adduced his sire, Or- 

 lando, as an instance of successful in-breeding twice through 

 Selim and Castrel, and certainly that strain is not perpetuated 



