58 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII. 
parent has a record. This list of 7 fast trotters whose parents have 
no record is headed by Alix (2:0334), and if extended would include 
Maud S., St. Julien, and Goldsmith Maid. 
With only the lines of descent that happen to be traceable to 
Hambletonian, we have not sufficient data for any very extensive 
generalizations. But what we have indicates that variations in speed 
and their inheritance follow the same laws that Galton’ has shown 
to apply to stature, color, and other fortuitous variations in man and 
other organisms. A horse in the 2:10 class is, as a rule, the single 
exceptional son or daughter of comparatively mediocre parents of 
good family. The largest number from any one parent is six, foals 
of Altamont, who has a wagon record of 2:2634. But Altamont is 
a grandson of Abdallah 15, who was the sire of Goldsmith Maid 
(2:14), and who counts among his descendants Alix (2:0334), Flying 
Jib (2:04), and John R. Gentry (2:0014). The importance of 
heredity in the production of speed is indicated very clearly by an 
examination of the pedigrees. Thus, Alix (2:0334) is descended 
not only from Abdallah 15, but also by two lines from Harold, a son 
of Hambletonian, who is the sire of Maud S. (2:0834). John R 
Gentry (2:00%) and Joe Patchen, who paced this season in 2:01 34, 
have a common ancestor by separate lines in George Wilkes; and 
Nancy Hanks is a granddaughter of Dictator, the sire of Jay-Eye-See, 
who has paced in 2:061% and trotted in 2:10. The author expresses 
very strongly the opinion, which seems to be borne out by the facts, 
that the capacities for pacing and for trotting are heritages which, 
like the light and dark colors of the eye,” are, as a rule, mutually exclu- 
sive, and that the development of either of these, as well as the 
capacity for speed, is dependent more upon selection of parents by 
the breeder than upon the education received by the foal from the 
trainer. 
ZOOLOGY. 
Weed’s Life Histories of American Insects.*— This little work is 
evidently intended to meet in part the need of popular handbooks 
of nature study, and it does it in an admirable manner. It consists 
1 Francis Galton, Natural Inheritance. 
2 Galton, Joc. cit. : 
$ Life Histories of American Insects, by Clarence Moores Weed. New York, 
The Macmillan Company. 8vo, 272 pp., with illustrations. $1.50. 
