384 AMERICAN CATTLE. 



variations are very rare, not only in breeds of the same species, 

 but even in different species of the same genera. 



"On the other hand, where the transmission of properties is so 

 uncertain as to seem the result of caprice in nature, these prop- 

 erties are formed by superficial organs, by the skin, the horns, the 

 state of the hair, &c. 



"But it is in qualities which are in some sort artificial, quali- 

 ties produced under the influence of domestication, and often 

 more hurtful than useful to the health of the animals, that varia- 

 tions most commonly occur; these change, not only with the 

 breed of one species, but with the different individuals of one 

 same breed, of one same half breed, and often of one same 

 family. 



"Let us bear these elementary principles of natural history 

 and physiology in mind, and we shall comprehend how cows and 

 bulls, well marked in regard to scutcheons, have produced stock 

 which did not resemble them. The influence of the scutcheons 

 is very feeble in the act of reproduction.* 



"In this point of view, the scutcheon is almost nothing in 

 itself. It depends on the state of the hair, on one of the most 

 fleeting of peculiarities, on that which is least hereditary in ani- 

 mals. It has no value, as a mark of good getters of stock, unless 

 it is supported by marks superior to it from their stability — a 

 larger skeleton, double loins, a wide rump, highly-developed 

 blood-vessels; unless it is united with a spacious chest, rounded 

 ribs, large lungs, and a strong constitution. 



"The more manifest the correspondence between these marks; 

 in others words, the more the milking quality is connected with 

 the general condition of the animal, the greater the chances of 

 transmission; and when, with *a view to reproduction, we shall 

 make choice oiJy of animals possessing the two-fold character of 



* The allnsion to " scutcheons," will be better understood in the sabseqnent 

 remarks on that particalar point. — L. F. A. 



