CHAPTER XXXVI 
SOME BELIEFS OF PRACTICAL BREEDERS. 
It is proposed in this chapter to discuss not only some matters which 
belong to the discarded remnants of scientific thought, but also some 
beliefs of animal breeders which have not yet been subjected to the 
rigid scrutiny of scientific investigation necessary for analyzing them 
completely. 
Telegony.—By telegony is designated the supposed influence which 
a sire exerts upon the females with which he is mated such that the 
products of subsequent matings with other sires show some influence of 
the previous ones. The same phenomenon is known in popular speech as 
infection of the germ, the influence of previous impregnation, etc. 
One does not need to go far to find support for the hold which the 
belief in telegony has upon the popular mind. In certain cases the belief 
has been so strong as to affect rules of registration of pure-bred animals. 
Riley has collected from flock book records a few typical rules of regis- 
tration which are founded upon a belief in telegony. They are given 
below: 
Vermont Merino Sheep Breeders’ Association. 
Rule 24.—The record of registered ewes will be forfeited if bred to rams other than 
pure descendants of importations direct from Spain, and it shall be the duty of 
members to report to the Secretary the label marks and numbers within the year in 
which they are so bred, who shall enter them on the records of the flocks in which they 
are recorded. Any member who shall fail to report according to this rule or offer 
lambs from such ewes for record shall be suspended or expelled. 
New York State American Merino Sheep Breeders’ Association. 
Rule 17.—That this association exclude from its records all breeding ewes that 
have been previously bred to coarse wooled rams. 
American Rambouillet Sheep Breeders’ Association. 
Rule 4.—No product of a Rambouillet ewe shall be eligible for registry after 
such ewe shall have been bred to any other ram but a registered Rambouillet. 
Dorset Horn Sheep Breeders’ Association. 
Rule 6.—No ewe or ewe lambs shall be eligible for entry that have been served 
with any ram other than a pure bred Dorset Horn from the date thereof. 
Michigan Merino Sheep Breeders’ Association. 
Rule 12.—The product of a registered ewe which shall at any time have been 
bred to a ram not a registered American Merino, or one eligible to register shall be 
excluded from registry, 
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