THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST 
VoL. XXXITI. December, 1899. No. 396. 
FACTS AND THEORIES OF TELEGONY. 
HERMON C. BUMPUS. 
Ir will be remembered that Professor Weismann, in a 
chapter of Zhe Germ-Plasm, entitled “ Doubtful Phenomena of 
Heredity,” referred to what is generally known as znfection 
of the germ, and gave to it the term “Telegony.” Although 
he expressed some doubts as to the existence of the phenome- 
non, believing that the recorded instances of “ infection ” were 
based upon an insufficiency of data or misinterpretation of 
facts, he felt justified in considering its occurrence possible, 
since supposed cases of infection had been often discussed, and 
even Darwin had considered the subject worthy of special 
mention. 
The belief that the male of the first coitus may influence the 
color, structure, and disposition of the young born to a female, 
of another sire, is almost universally held by stock-breeders, and 
so tenaciously that even the accidental contamination of a pure- 
bred female by a male of inferior blood renders her permanently 
undesirable for breeding purposes. 
The question, however, had received no special attention — 
from biologists previous to the Spencer-Weismann controversy 
917 . 
