52 



Chap. XIH 



again ; 

 and tl 



true 



nib, wattle 



'} 



sume an 



of 



takes 



mor 



sant an 

 to watch 

 themselve 

 Reaumur 55 a 

 and darkness 



feather 



causm 



the fern a 



ggs, and 

 utterly si 



• 



i% r\n 



nits. But 



full size, 



between 

 recorded 



• 



m -<£ ,- 



i 



the same m 



quired ; the capon 



; and what 

 ds from the phea- 

 :heir delight bein 



ens leave their nests, and to take 



o 



on 



a sitter." 54 That admirable observer 

 cock, by being long confined in solitude 



& 



charge of y 



he then utters a peculiar cry, and retains during his whole life 



newly 



1 



The many 



tained cases of various male mammals 



the 



udimentary mam 



6 



milk, show that 



put 



lands retain this capacity 



latent condition. 



We thus see that in many, probably in all cases, the secondary 

 characters of each sex lie dormant or latent in the opposite sex, 

 ready to be evolved under peculiar circumstances. We can 

 thus understand how, for instance, it is possible for a good 

 milking cow to transmit her good qualities through her male 

 offspring to future generations ; for we may confidently believe 

 that these qualities are present, though latent, in the males 



of each generation. So it is with the game-cock, who can trans- 



mit his superiority in courage and vigour through his female to 

 his male offspring ; and with man it is known 56 that diseases, 

 such as hydrocele, necessarily confined to the male sex, can be 



transmitted through the female to the grandson. 



Such cases 



as these offer, as was remarked at the commencement of this 

 chapter, the simplest possible examples of reversion ; and they 



are intelligible on the belief that characters common to the 

 grandparent and grandchild of tlie same sex are present, though 

 latent, in the intermediate parent of the opposite sex. 



The subject of latent characters is so important, as we shall 

 see in a future chapter, that I will give another illustration. 



« ' Cottage Gardener,' 1860, p. 379. 



« * Art de faire Eclorre,' &c, 1749, torn. ii. p. 8. 



& 6 Sir H. Holland, ' Medical Notes and Keflections,' 3rd edit., 1855, p. 31. 





¥ 



Vi 



