416 LECTURE XIV. 



tion, wliicli the Americans term ''half-blood buffaloes'' (tbey 

 call tbe bison buifalo)j bave the body of a cow^ but the curved 

 back (without the hunch), the colour, the head, and the mane 

 of the bison. The hybrids seem inter se but little fertile, but 

 if the half-blood is crossed with the parent stock a quai'ter 

 hybrid is obtained, which is very prolific, and produces a per- 

 manent hybrid species which, with all its characters, is indefi- 

 nitely fertile. This too is, at present, the only known instance 

 of a semi-fertile hybrid progeny, in which the bastards produce 

 inter se a sterile generation, but after being crossed with the 

 parent stock produce a species fertile between themselves and 

 the parent stock. 



The cases in which hybrids are fertile and produce a 

 constant mongrel race are abundant. As cases of this kind 

 are contested with the greatest obstinacy, I shall quote a few 

 from the description given by Broca. 



Experiments by Buflfon : — " A young she-wolf, scarcely three 

 days' old, was found in a forest by a peasant, who sold it to the 

 Marquis Sp on tin -Beaufort, by whom she was brought up. She 

 became so tame that she was taken out hunting. When a 

 year old she became so savage as to kill fowls and cats, attack- 

 ing dogs and sheep, so that she had to be chained. One day 

 she bit the coachman so dangerously that he was laid up for 

 six weeks. 



"First htter.— On the 28th of March, 1773, this she-wolf 

 was first covered by a pointer, of whom she was very fond. 

 The act of coition took place repeatedly during a fortnight. 

 Seventy days after the first coition, June 6, 1773, she cast four 

 whelps, three males and one female. 



" Second litter. — A single male remained, which was brought 

 up with his sister. On December 30, 1775, at. the age of two 

 and a half years coition took place between them, and sixty- 

 three days after, on the 3rd of March, 1776, the bitch cast 

 four whelps, two males and two females. 



" Third litter. — A couple of this second htter was sent 

 by Marquis de Spontin to Buffon, who kept them first at 

 Paris, and subsequently at his country seat. Both animals 

 were brought up together, and carefully watched to prevent 



