12 INHERITANCE. Chap. XIY. 



and feathered feet were inherited (as is generally the case with 

 most breeds ), 1 have never seen a vestige of the tuft over the beak 

 or heard the peculiar coo. Boitard and Corbie 10 assert that this is 

 the invariable result of crossing trumpeters with other breeds : 

 Xeumeister. 11 however, states that in Germany mongrels have been 

 obtained, though very rarely, which were furnished with the tuft 

 and would trumpet : but a pair of these mongrels with a tuft, 

 which I imported, never trumpeted. Mr. Brent states B that the 

 crossed offspring of a trumpeter were crossed with trumpeters fcr 

 three generations, by which time the mongrels had 7-8ths of this 

 blood in their veins, yet the tuft over the beak did not appear. At 

 the fourth generation the tuft appeared, but the birds though now 

 having 15-16ths trumpeter's blood still did not trumpet. This 

 case well shows the wide difference between inheritance and pre- 

 potency ; for here we have a well-established old race which 

 transmits its characters faithfully, but which, when crossed with 

 any other race, has the feeblest power of transmittiug its two chief 

 characteristic qualities. 



I will give oue other instance with fowls and pigeons of weakness 

 and strength in the transmission of the same character to their 

 crossed offspring. The Silk-fowl breeds true, and there is reason 

 to believe is a very ancient race ; but when I reared a large number 

 of mongrels from a Silk-hen by a Spanish cock, not one exhibited 

 even a trace of the so-called silkiness. Mr. Hewitt also asserts that 

 in no instance are the silky feathers transmitted by this breed when 

 crossed with any other variety. But three birds out of many raised 

 by Mr. Orton from a cross between a silk-cock and a bantam-hen 

 had silky feathers. 13 So that it is certain that this breed very 

 seldom has the power of transmitting its peculiar plumage to its 

 ss d progeny. On the other hand, there is a silk sub-variety 

 of the fantail pigeon, which has its feathers in nearly the same 

 state as in the Silk-fowl : now we have already seen that fantails, 

 when crossed, possess singularly weak power in transmitting their 

 general qualities; but the silk sub- variety when crossed with 

 any other small-sized race invariably transmits its silky feathers ! M 



The well-known horticulturist, Mr. Paul, informs me that he 

 fertilised the Black Prince hollyhock with pollen of the White 

 Globe and the Lemonade and Black Prince hollyhocks reciprocally; 

 but not one seedling from these three crosses inherited the black 

 colour of the Black Prince. So, again, Mr. Laxton, who has had 

 such great experience in crossing peas, writes to me that " when- 

 '• ever a cross has been effected between a white-blossomed and a 

 "' purple-blossomed pea, or between a white-seeded and a purple- 

 '• spotted, brown or majue-seeded pea, the offspring seems to lose 



" 'Les Pigeons,' pp. 168, 198. Mr. Hewitt, in 'The Poultry Book, 



11 'Das Gauze,' &c, 1837, s. 39. by Tegetmeier, 1866. p. 224." 



n ' The Pigeon Book,' p. 46. 14 Boitard and Corbie, "Les Pigeons, 



18 ' Physiology of Breeding.' p. 22 ; 1824, p. 226. 



