SEXUAL BEHAVIOR OF ALBINO RAT 147 



hereditary mechanism. No evidence was found supporting the 

 view expressed in a recent paper (Kuo ; 21), in which, if my 

 interpretation of the article is correct, the author denies the 

 hereditary organization of such mechanisms. He regards them 

 as products of experience. A careful consideration of the experi- 

 mental data on this subject indicates quite clearly, it seems, that 

 this latter view is not in harmony with the existing facts. 



8. Precision in the initial copulatory act 



The copulatory act differs quite strikingly from many of the 

 early post-natal responses with respect to the precision of func- 

 tioning of its elementary components. Greater precision is to 

 be expected, however, because of the more advanced stage of 

 physiological development reached by the animal prior to the 

 first copulatory act. The slight irregularities described in a 

 foregoing section of the paper may be variously explained. In 

 some instances they are probably the result of physiological 

 immaturity of some of the structures involved; in others, due to 

 incomplete integration of the elementary activities of the copu- 

 latory unit or to incomplete dissolution of these elements from 

 other distinctly foreign units with which they have functioned 

 previously; or, again, they may arise from the failure of neural 

 arcs of the copulatory act to gain priority over other arcs aroused 

 by stimuli acting simultaneously with the stimulus adequate to 

 evoke the copulatory act. 6 The vigor of the copulatory mechan- 

 ism in the young male, as measured by the number of complete 

 copulatory attempts made in a given time interval, closely approx- 

 imates that of the experienced adult. This, however, cannot 

 be taken as a measure of relative precision in the delivery of the 

 sperrnatazoa and their fluid media to their proper receptacle in 

 the reproductive tract of the female. Data which indicate the 

 rate and range of improvement in this function are not available. 

 4. Native and modified native elements comprise the copulatory act 



Inspection of the constituent activities of the copulatory pat- 

 tern reveals a point 7 that has of times been described in the lit- 



Sherrington, C. S., The Integrative Action of the Nervous System, p. 231. 

 7 See especially Morgan, C. Lloyd: Animal Behavior, 1901. 



