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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. LIV 



It is not clear, however, that he has made any systematic 

 matings in an endeavor to ascertain this point. 



While we do not mean to imply that in Stockard's ex- 

 periments the initiation of the various defects and abnor- 

 malities he describes may not have been due to the alcohol 

 treatment, it is nevertheless of interest to note that .these 

 same defects and abnormalities appear from time to time 

 in our normal stock. We can, in fact, match his condi- 

 tions — almost case for case for all that he has described — 

 with offspring of our stock that has had the best care we 

 could give it. That our stock is as a whole in no way 

 degenerate is indicated by its prolificacy (average size of 

 863 litters = 2.71), its low mortality rate, and the fact 

 that our animals are if anything above the general run 

 of guinea-pig stock, as attested by reports from the 

 various hygienic and other laboratories to which our sur- 

 plus has gone. The point of special interest is that these 

 various abnormalities are entirely independent of the 

 congenital palsy, for they appear no more frequently in 

 the "palsy" stock than elsewhere. 



Goaf.— Hooper (1916) has described a case in goats 

 which has some strong points of resemblance to the be- 

 havior in the guinea-pigs, although in the former the con- 

 ditions are not so severe as to cause the death of the ani- 

 mals. He says: 



There is a peculiar breed of goats raised in central and eastern 

 Tennessee. When suddenly frightened the hind legs become stiff and 

 the animal jumps along until it recovers and trots off normally or if 

 greatly frightened the front legs become stiff also and the goat falls to 

 the ground in a rigid condition. They have received the name of 

 " stiff-legged " or " sensitive " goats. 



Experiments were to be begun on the inheritance of the 

 character, but results have not to our knowledge been 

 reported. 



Sheep— A condition in sheep with symptoms somewhat 

 resembling those in "palsied" guinea-pigs and even more 

 the goats just mentioned is described by Jones and 

 Arnold (1917). Affected animals are able to walk, but 



