1896.] MB. HILL ON INHERITANCE OF ACQUIBBD OHABACTBES. 785 



last-named animal he had never previously seen alive. It was 

 generally black, with a white line at the angle o£ the mouth and 

 slight white tips to the ears; nearly 3 feet in height at the 

 shoulders. The curious loug-haired, divaricated mane was slightly 

 mixed with whitish hairs. There were also an adult pair of 

 Cobus ellipsiprymnits, and two pairs of C. unctuosus, with a young 

 one born in the Gardens. The Giraffe-house was unfortunately 

 vacant. 



At The Hague Garden, Mr. Sclater had found little of interest 

 except an example of Canis adustus, Sund., from South Africa. 

 He doubted whether Dr. Mivart was correct in referring 

 C. lateralis, Scl., of the Gaboon district, to the same species. 



At Eotterdam (Heer Van Bemmelen, Director) Mr. Sclater 

 found a fine new Lion-house, a new set of Offices, and other 

 buildings erected since his last visit. The beautiful specimen of 

 Cephaloplms sylvicultrix which had been figured in the ' Book of 

 Antelopes' (plate xii.) was still alive and in excellent condition. 

 Mr. Sclater had also noticed a pair of Anoas {Bos dejvessicornis) 

 and a young male Canis juhatm. The lloronry of Wild Herons 

 in the Garden had this year contained 58 nests. 



Mr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.Z.S., made some remarks on a 

 supposed case of Telegony, as shown by a Fox-terrier puppy which 

 possessed Dachshund peculiarities, possibly due to a known earlier 

 fertilization of its mother by a Dachshund. The puppy, which had 

 been bred by Mr. 0. H. Latter, P.Z.S., was exhibited. 



A discussion followed in which Sir Everett Millais, Mr. B. 

 Tegetmeier, and others took part. The general opinion seemed to 

 be adverse to the theory of Telegony. 



Mr. Leonard Hill, M.B., Lecturer on Physiology, London 

 Hospital Medical College, and Grocers' Company Besearch Scholar, 

 gave the following account of some experiments on supposed cases 

 of the inheritance of acquired characters which he had been 

 can-ying on : — 



" It has been recorded by Brown-Sequard that after section of the 

 cervical sympathetic nerve in Guinea-pigs, a droop of the upper 

 eyelid is acquired, and that this droop is transmitted to the 

 young. 



" This statement, at the request of the late Dr. Romanes, I have 

 put to the test of thorough experimental observation. 



" In March 1895 I took six healthy normal Guinea-pigs, and in 

 all divided the cervical sympathetic nerve on the left side. A droop 

 of the upper eyelid was thus established, and this has persisted 

 undiminished up to the present date. 



" These Guinea-pigs were allowed to interbreed. In none of their 



51* 



