

30 



INHERITANCE. 



Chap. XIII. 



in Southdown sheep — " it is not unusual to find among the male 

 lambs some with small horns." The horns, which thus 



occa- 



sionally reappear in other polled breeds, either " grow to the 



2 



full size," or are curiously attached to the skin alone and 

 hang " loosely down, or drop off." x The Galloways and Suffolk 

 cattle have been hornless for the last 100 or 150 years, but a 

 horned calf, with the horn often loosely attached, is occasionally 

 born. 



There is reason to believe that sheep in their early domesti- 

 cated condition were "brown or dingy black;" but even in 

 the time of David certain flocks were spoken of as white as 

 snow. During the classical period the sheep of Spain are de- 

 scribed by several ancient authors as being black, red, or tawny. 3 

 At the present day, notwithstanding the great care which is 

 taken to prevent it, particoloured lambs and some entirely 



black are 6ccasionally dropped by our most highly improved 



and valued breeds, such as the Southdowns. Since the time of 

 the famous Bakewell, during the last century, the Leicester sheep 

 have been bred with the most scrupulous care ; yet occasionally 

 grey-faced, or black-spotted, or wholly black lambs appear. 4 This 

 occurs still more frequently with the less improved breeds, such 

 as the Norfolks. 5 As bearing on this tendency in sheep to revert 

 to dark colours, I may state (though in doing so I trench on 

 the reversion of crossed breeds, and likewise on the subject of 

 prepotency) that the Eev. VV. D. Fox was informed that seven 

 white Southdown ewes were put to a so-called Spanish ram, 

 which had two small black spots on his sides, and they produced 

 thirteen lambs, all perfectly black. Mr. Fox believes that this 

 ram belonged to a breed which he has himself kept, and 

 which is always spotted with black and white; and he finds 

 that Leicester sheep crossed by rams of this breed always pro- 

 duce black lambs: he has gone on recrossing these crossed 

 sheep with pure white Leicesters during three successive gene- 



1 Youatt on Sheep, pp. 20, 234. The 



4 I have been informed of this fact 



same fact of loose horns occasionally through the Eev. W. D. Fox, on the 

 appearing in hornless breeds has been excellent authority of Mr. Wilmot : «ee, 

 observed in Germany: Bechstein, also, remarks on this subject in an 



' Naturgesch. Deutschlands,' b. i. s. 362. original article 



2 Youatt on Cattle, pp. 155, 174. 



3 Youatt on Sheep, 1838, pp. 17, 145. 



&iii «x „ luW v in the 

 Keview,' 1849, p. 395. 

 5 Youatt, pp. 19, 234. 



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