62 



INHERITANCE. 



Chap. XIV. 



* 



or 



CHAPTEE XIV. 





INHERITANCE continued 



FIXEDNESS OF CHARACTER 



PREPO- 



TENCY 



SEXUAL LIMITATION 



CORRESPONDENCE OF AGE. 



FIXEDNESS OF CHAKACTER APPARENTLY NOT DUE TO ANTIQUITY OF INHERITANCE 

 PREPOTENCY OF TRANSMISSION IN INDIVIDUALS OF THE SAME FAMILY, IN CROSSED 

 BREEDS AND SPECIES; OFTEN STRONGER IN ONE SEX THAN THE OTHER; SOME- 

 TIMES DUE TO THE SAME CHARACTER BEING PRESENT AND VISIBLE IN ONE BREED 



AND LATENT IN THE OTHER 



INHERITANCE AS LIMITED BY SEX 



NEWLY- 



ACQUIRED CHARACTERS IN OUR DOMESTICATED ANIMALS OFTEN TRANSMITTED BY 

 ONE SEX ALONE, SOMETIMES LOST BY ONE SEX ALONE 

 RESPONDING PERIODS OF LIFE 



— INHERITANCE AT COR- 

 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PRINCIPLE WITH RESPECT 

 TO EMBRYOLOGY ; AS EXHIBITED IN DOMESTICATED ANIMALS ; AS EXHIBITED IN 

 THE APPEARANCE AND DISAPPEARANCE OF INHERITED DISEASES; SOMETIMES 

 SUPERVENING EARLIER IN THE CHILD THAN IN THE PARENT — 

 THREE PRECEDING CHAPTERS. 



SUMMARY OF THE 



In the two last chapters the nature and force of Inheritance, the 

 circumstances which interfere with its power, and the tendency 

 to Reversion, with its many remarkable contingencies, were dis- 

 cussed. In the present chapter some other related phenomena 

 will be treated of, as fully as my materials permit. 



Fixedness of Character. 



* 



It is a general belief amongst breeders that the longer any 

 character has been transmitted by a breed, the more firmly it 

 will continue to be transmitted. I do not wish to dispute the 

 truth of the proposition, that inheritance gains strength simply 

 through long continuance, but I doubt whether it can be proved. 

 In one sense the proposition is little better than a truism; if 



any character has remained 



during many g 



'» 



will obviously be little likely, the conditions of life remaining 



the 



same 



y during the next generation. 



So 



be taken for 



improving a breed, if care 



exclude all inferior individuals, the breed 



length of 



time to 

 obviously tend 

 become truer, as it will not have been crossed during many 



g 



by 



inferior animal. We have previously 



■> 



it 



tha 



of. 



av 



Pro 



<; 



