304 



THE CEOSSING, 4C, OF CATTLE, ET AL. 



in his veins, and produced Clarissa: Clarissa was 

 matched with the bull Lancaster, having 68.75 P e r 

 cent, of the same blood, and she yielded valuable 

 offspring. Nevertheless, Collings, who- reared these 

 animals, and was a strong advocate for close-inter- 

 breeding, once crossed his stock with a Galloway, and 

 the cows from the cross realized the highest prices." 



These animals approached very close to the perfect 

 form of their species. They needed, perhaps, little 

 more than a greater development of their horns (which 

 were short), to enable them to withstand, forever, the 

 closest interbreeding. With respect to the Longhorns ; 

 the reason, that evil results began eventually to tell 

 upon them, was due, perhaps, to their horns being 

 pushed to a development, far out of proportion to the 

 size of their other characters (which is a defect as se- 

 rious, as where the error lies in the other direction, 

 viz.: of inordinate decrease in size of such a feature); 

 and, due to other defects in proportion. The absence, 

 in an animal, of the many slight, positive differences 

 which characterize others of the same breed, and of 

 other breeds, occasions defects which a long continued 

 course of in-and-in breeding will cause to tell palpably % 

 upon the organization. Even, when the true theory 

 of development is accepted, as a standard, an individual 

 may be esteemed the very ideal of proportionate de- 

 velopment, yet, when a minute comparison is made of 

 the animal, with others of its species, it will be dis- 

 covered, in how many little points, here and there, 

 improvement remains to be effected, 



For, as Darwin says (p. 10, Vol. 2, Animals 

 Plants, &c): 



