106 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



seed, although the parent plants had been carefully 

 protected from the access of insects. This account 

 was published before I had discovered the meaning of 

 heterostylism, and the whole statement must have 

 been fraudulent, or there was neglect in excluding 

 insects so gross as to be scarcely credible. 



The third case was more curious : Mr. Huth pub- 

 lished in his book on 'Consanguineous Marriage' some 

 long extracts from a Belgian author, who stated that 

 he had interbred rabbits in the closest manner for very 

 many generations, without the least injurious effects. 

 The account was published in a most respectable 

 Journal, that of the Royal Society of Belgium ; but I 

 could not avoid feeling doubts I hardly know why, 

 except that there were no accidents of any kind, and 

 my experience in breeding animals made me think this 

 very improbable. 



So with much hesitation I wrote to Professor Van 

 Beneden, asking him whether the author was a trust- 

 worthy man. I soon heard in answer that the Society 

 had been greatly shocked by discovering that the 

 whole account was a fraud.* The writer had been 

 publicly challenged in the Journal to say where he had 

 resided and kept his large stock of rabbits while carry- 

 ing on his experiments, which must have consumed 

 several years, and no answer could be extracted from 

 him. 



My habits are methodical, and this has been of not 



* The falseness of the published self in a slip inserted in all the 

 statements on which Mr. Huth re- copies of his book which then re- 

 lied has been pointed out by him- mained unsold. 



