60 



case of telegony ; he said in his work on " Variation of 

 Animals and Plants under Domestication," Vol. I., p. 435 

 (1885 ed.), " There can be no doubt that the quagga affected 

 the character of the offspring subsequently begot by the black 

 Arabian horse." He quotes two other cases of supposed 

 telegony, one from information supplied by Mr. Jenner 

 Weir of a horse, belonging to Mr. Lethbridge of Blackheath, 

 bred from a mare which had previously borne a foal to a 

 quagga. This horse possessed several quagga characters, 

 being faintly striped and having hoofs proportionately longer 

 than in the horse. A farrier shoeing this animal said, " Had 

 I not seen I was shoeing a horse, I should have thought I 

 was shoeing a donkey." 



The other case was that of a sow of the black and white 

 Essex breed, which was first mated with a chestnut-coloured 

 wild boar, producing a litter partaking in appearance of 

 both boar and sow, some being chestnut-coloured. Subse- 

 quently the sow had a litter to a boar of her own black and 

 white breed, and some of these young pigs were chestnut- 

 coloured. 



It is said that chestnut-coloured pigs are not known to be 

 produced by the Essex breed. 



So common is the belief in the effect on subsequent off- 

 spring of a previous pairing, that breeders are careful to avoid 

 allowing pure-bred females to pair with inferior males, on 

 account of the injury expected to the later offspring. 



Herbert Spencer, who is a believer in telegony, suggests 

 that, during gestation, germ-plasm passes from the embryo 

 into the body of the parent, and becomes incorporated there- 

 with, ultimately reaching the germ-cells ; this may be called 

 indirect infection of the germs. 



Romanes believed that unused germ-plasm from the first 

 sire directly infects unripe ova ; but that the phenomenon is 

 of rare occurrence. 



Agassiz believed that the whole system of the dam, and 

 especially the sexual system, is so modified by the first 

 mating that subsequent offspring are affected by it. 



Weismann, on the contrary, considers telegony unproved ; 

 and, while accepting as true the evidence in Lord Morton's 

 experiment, he does not admit that this is sufficient to 

 prove that the later foals were in any way affected by the 

 dam having previously borne a foal to a quagga, and is of 

 opinion that the truth must be proved by new experiments. 



If the evidence in Lord Morton's experiment be trust- 

 worthy, and apparently no one questions it, then what 



