THE 



VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



UNDER DOMESTICATION. 



CHAPTER XII. 



INHERITANCE. 



WONDERFUL NATURE OF INHERITANCE — PEDIGREES OF OUR DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



— INHERITANCE NOT DUE TO CHANCE — TRIFLING CHARACTERS INHERITED — 

 DISEASES INHERITED — PECULIARITIES IN THE EYE INHERITED — DISEASES IN THE 

 HORSE — LONGEVITY AND VIGOUR — ASYMMETRICAL DEVIATIONS OF STRUCTURE 



— POLYDACTYLISM AND REGROWTH OF SUPERNUMERARY DIGITS AFTER AMPU- 

 TATION — CASES OF SEVERAL CHILDREN SIMILARLY AFFECTED FROM NON- AFFECTED 

 PARENTS — WEAK AND FLUCTUATING INHERITANCE : IN WEEPING TREES, IN 

 DWARFNESS, COLOUR OF FRUIT AND FLOWERS, COLOUR OF HORSES — NON- 

 INHERITANCE IN CERTAIN CASES — INHERITANCE OF STRUCTURE AND HABITS 

 OVERBORNE BY HOSTILE CONDITIONS OF LIFE, BY INCESSANTLY RECURRING 

 VARIABILITY, AND BY REVERSION — CONCLUSION. 



The subject of inheritance is an immense one, and has been 

 treated by many authors. One work alone, <De l'Heredite 

 Naturelle,' by Dr. Prosper Lucas, runs to the length of 1562 

 pages. We must confine ourselves to certain points which have 

 an important bearing on the general subject of variation, both 

 with domestic and natural productions. It is obvious that a 

 variation which is not inherited throws no light on the derivation 

 of species, nor is of any service to man, except in the case of 

 perennial plants, which can be propagated by buds. 



If animals and plants had never been domesticated, and wild 

 ones alone had been observed, we should probably never have 

 heard the saying, that "like begets like." The proposition 

 would have been as self-evident, as that all the buds on the same 

 tree are alike, though neither proposition is strictly true. For, 

 as has often been remarked, probably no two individuals are 



VOL. II. 



