REVIEW. 
565 
tional outlay of twenty or thirty pounds for a brood mare.” — 
p. 44. 
Touching the election of stallions — 
“It is a remarkable fact, and somewhat worthy the attention 
of breeders, that the most successful stallions of late years are 
descended in a direct line from one mare, the Duke of Grafton’s 
Penelope ; the most celebrated of which are Defence (dead), 
Bay Middleton, Sir Hercules, and Touchstone. The first seven 
of her produce were all by one sire, Waxy. Including a filly, 
which was not named and put to the stud, she produced Whale- 
bone, Web, Woful, Wilful, Wire, and Whisker, all first-rate 
animals; Whalebone and Whisker not only being winners of 
the Derby in their respective years, but likewise the sires of 
many very superior horses. After having bred Whisker, Pene- 
lope was put to Walton, the produce being Waterloo, an animal 
of moderate pretensions. Wildfire and Windfall followed, and 
were the offspring of her first partner Waxy; she then gave 
birth to Whizzgig by Rubens, Waltz by Election, and Wamba 
by Merlin, the last three of which were very moderate indeed 
compared with the first seven of Waxy’s progeny. Can this 
manifest inferiority have arisen in consequence of changing the 
sire I If so, how much more desirable it would be to continue 
the same stallion on all practicable occasions, rather than seek a 
fresh one every succeeding year, a practice adopted by many 
breeders. There are many secrets in Nature which we cannot 
comprehend, and this may be one of them.” — pp* 53-4. 
An extensive breeder “ of keen observation, was wont to be 
very earnest in his declaration” to Cecil, “ that mares should 
never be sent but to one stallion during the whole course of their 
career :” an opinion he followed up by a narrative of an Arabian 
mare, “barren on several occasions,” who at last was put to a 
quagga. This proved of avail; and “ she brought forth a mule.’ 
Subsequently she had foals by the best bred horses, “ but they 
were all marked with a stripe down the back similar to (that of) 
quaggas and mules,” each foal having it (the stripe) more faintly 
delineated than its predecessor one more example of that 
curious fact developed of late years in the philosophy of breed- 
ing, — that hereditary impression is transmissible from the sire 
through the constitution of the female even after all connexion 
with that same sire has been long and completely broken. 
“There are some curious incidents connected with the history 
of other celebrated sires, which bear some analogy with that of 
Chesterfield. The Godolphin Arabian is said to have been pur- 
VOL. XXIV. 4 H 
