ON THE HEREDITARY INSTINCTIVE PROPENSITIES OP ANIMALS. 363 



deep, comparatively with the length of their legs, which remains 

 unchanged, except that the joints being greatly larger, on account of the 

 greatly increased strength of the legs, and being of the same form, neces- 

 sarily occupy a little more space. The strength of these animals appears 

 to be very great; I believe that they will prove capable of drawing, 

 particularly up-hill, as heavy weights as the London dray-horses, provided 

 that they be made to draw from a proper level ; and I am quite confident 

 that they will prove capable of bearing much more long-continued labour 

 and living upon much less food. 



The hereditary propensities of the offspring of the Norwegian ponies, 

 whether full or half-bred, are very singular. Their ancestry have been in 

 the habit of obeying the voice of their riders, and not the bridle ; and the 

 horse-breakers complain, and certainly with very good reason, that it is 

 impossible to give them what is called a mouth : they are nevertheless 

 exceedingly docile, and more than ordinarily obedient where they under- 

 stand the commands of their master. They appear also to be as incapable 

 of understanding the use of hedges as they are of bridles, for they will 

 walk deliberately, and much at their ease, through a strong hedge ; and 

 I therefore conclude that the Norwegian horses are not in the habit of 

 being restrained by hedges similar to those of England. 



The male and female parent appear to possess similar powers of trans- 

 ferring to their offspring their hereditary feelings and propensities, except 

 in cases where mule offsprings are produced. In such cases, I think 

 that I have witnessed a decided prevalence of the power of the male 

 parent. The organisation of the mule which is obtained by cross-breeding 

 between the horse and the ass is well known to be regulated to a much 

 greater extent by the male than by the female parent ; and its disposition 

 is, I have some reason to believe, to a very great extent given by its 

 male parent. I have noticed this in the mule which is the offspring of a 

 female ass. I have seen a few only of these animals ; but those which I 

 have seen presented the expression of countenance of the horse, and were 

 perfect horses in temper, and perfectly without the sullenness and obsti- 

 nacy of the more common mule. The results of such violations of the 

 ordinary laws of nature appear to be very various in different species of 

 animals ; and I should not here have introduced the subject, but that 

 the characters of mules have in many instances misled the judgment of 

 physiologists in their estimates of the comparative influence in ordinary 

 cases of the male and the female upon the offspring. 



Whenever I have obtained cross-bred animals by propagating from 



