132 R. B. Sanyal — A brief note on the Doctrine of Telegony. [No. 3, 



XI. — Notes on Animals observed at the Alipore Zoological Garden, No. 2. 



A brief note on the " Doctrine of Telegony " with reference to facts 



observed in the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta. — By Raj R. B. Santal, 



Bahadur, Superintendent. 



[Received April 29th. Read May 7th, 1902.] 



The doctrine of telegony as it is understood in Europe and 

 Australia is practically unknown in India. 



There is a vague notion among some of the cattle-breeders, espe- 

 cially in parts of Bengal and Behar, that when first covered, a heifer 

 ought to have a high-class bull for its mate. 



Be that as it may, no scientific experiments, as far as I am aware 

 have ever been undertaken in India to test the correctness or otherwise 

 of the doctrine to which I have alluded. 



I have ventured to bring the following facts to the notice of the 

 Society, not so much for the sake of throwing any light on the subject, 

 especially as Professor Cossar Ewart has already, after a series of careful 

 experiments, proved that there is no equine telegony, but as they 

 were the results of experiments in which a most interesting species of 

 wild cattle was concerned. 



In 1898 the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta, came in possession of a 

 small herd of Bantengs (Bos sondaicus Miiller and Schleg.) a species of 

 wild cattle which' mostly inhabit the plains of Burma and the Malay 

 Peninsula and the islands of Borneo, Java, and Bali. One of the heifers 

 was covered by an ordinary country male, which, though not a Brahmin 

 bull as it is ordinarily understood in India, was a sturdy young bull of 

 a very superior character. The offspring of this paiiing was a healthy 

 brindled male calf, which already promises to be a fine bull. The 

 opportunity which this occurrence presented of examining the theory of 

 telegony by futher experiments was duly taken advantage of, and the 

 dam of the brindled calf was mated, in proper time, with a healthy 

 bull of its own species. The offspring of this union was a pure bred 

 Banteng calf without any traces of the previous strain. The same cow 

 has had a second pure-bred calf lately. 



