RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF THE PARENTS. 83 



great majority of cases go with the male parent, and 

 the latter with the female. A corroboration of this fact 

 is found in the common system of putting an ordinary 

 mare to a thorough-bred horse ; not only does the head 

 of the offspring resemble the dam but the forelegs like- 

 wise, and thus it is fortunately the case that the too- 

 frequently faulty and tottering legs of the sire are not 

 reproduced in the foal, whilst the full thighs and hind 

 quarters which belong to the blood-horse are generally 

 given to the offspring. There is however a minority 

 of cases in which the opposite result obtains. That 

 size is governed more by the male parent there is no 

 great difficulty in showing ; familiar examples may be 

 found in the pony-mare and the full sized horse, which 

 considerably exceed the dam in size. Again, in the 

 first cross between the small indigenous ewe and the 

 large ram of another improved breed — ^the offspring is 

 found to approach in size and shape very much to the 

 ram. The mule offspring of the mare also much resem- 

 bles both in size and appearance its donkey sire. These 

 are familiar examples of the preponderating influence 

 of the male parent, so far as the external form is con- 

 sidered. To show however that size and hight do not 

 invariably follow the male, we need go no further for 

 illustration than the human subject. How often do we 

 find that in the by no means unfrequent case of the 

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