Yield Mark Transmitted. 73 



tion, some of which may be suspended, or withheld, while 

 the Yield Mark remains the same — a sign of maximum 

 yield ; and by which it may be known whether yield has 

 been reduced or not. 



It might be surmised that, to enable the sire to transmit 

 the rudiments of the entire organism, he must possess the 

 forms complete in his own body, as he cannot transmit 

 what he does not possess. So the primary forms of the 

 vital parts are probably transmitted by the male. But 

 growths, resulting from large milk-yield, originate in the 

 cow, and are not to be expected in male calves, except as 

 inherited secondary xn'i.xks, of slight extent and significance. 



If rudimentary teats— which imply rudimentary udder 

 growth also — be found in male calves, in such cases 

 they are originally transmitted by the cow. But it is a 

 question for naturalists to decide, whether rudimentary 

 growths, required for milk-yield only, are not transmitted 

 by cows to heifer calves, the cow probably marking male 

 calves by reason of her prepotency, as to milking organs 

 and marks. To us it appears that growths such as the 

 Yield Marks, that result from the artificial custom of 

 storing considerable weight oi milk in the udders of hand- 

 milked cows, must always be peculiar to cows originally, 

 and only formed on the bull by accidental and secondary 

 inheritance ; the transmissive power of the cow being 

 superior, as to marks arising from the acquired use of her 

 peculiar organ, the udder. 



If, in milking families of cows, their form is adapted to 

 supply large yield, the usual form of the bull cannot be so 

 adapted, as to large hind-quarter growth, except in very 

 rare instances. For this reason more importance is some- 

 times attached to procuring bulls from milking families 

 than to more important points of form in the growth of 

 the cows that are to digest the food and produce the blood 



6 



