198 NATURAL INHERITANCE. [CHAP. xii. 



them will betray itself in their offspring. The children 

 of the former will tend to regress ; those of the latter 

 will not. The value of a good stock to the well- 

 being of future generations is therefore obvious, and 

 it is well to recall attention to an early sign by 

 which we may be assured that a new and gifted 

 variety possesses the necessary stability to easily 

 originate a new stock. It is its refusal to blend 

 freely with other forms. Some among the members 

 of the same fraternity might possess the character- 

 istics in question with much completeness, and the 

 remainder hardly or not at all. If this alternative 

 tendency was also witnessed among cousins, there 

 could be little doubt that the new variety was of a 

 stable character, and therefore capable of being easily 

 developed by interbreeding into a pure and durable 

 race. 



