THE YOUNG LIKE BOTH ADULTS. 
211 
c«. 
■ Ap . XVI. 
the general rule throughout the animal king- 
^ 0t,1 > that is, on the males ; and that these have 
Emitted their gradually-acquired colours, either 
^ttally or almost equally, to their offspring of both 
-Another point is more doubtful, namely, whether the 
Recessive variations first appeared in the males after 
j e . v bad become nearly mature, or whilst quite young. 
^ either case sexual selection must have acted on 
e male when he had to compete with rivals for 
6 possession of the female ; and in both eases the 
hracters thus acquired have been transmitted to both 
| f Xes and a q a g eS- }3 u t these characters, if acquired 
J ) r the males when adult, may have been transmitted 
first, to the adults alone, and at some subsequent 
b^'iod transferred to the young. For it is known that 
,, ,' en the law of inheritance at corresponding ages 
the offspring often inherit characters at an 
d| lier age than that at which they first appeared 
^ dieir parents. 30 Cases apparently of this kind have 
observed with birds in a state of nature. For 
Stance Mr. Blyth lias seen specimens of Lanius 
u fu$ and of Colymhus glacial/s which had assumed 
' blst young, in a quite anomalous manner, the adult 
IFunage of their parents. 31 Again, the young of the 
swan (Ci/gnus olor ) do not cast off their dark 
athers and become white until eighteen months or 
years old; but Dr. F. Forel has described the case 
three vigorous young birds, out of a brood of four, 
11 e h were born pure white. These young birds were 
’ albinoes, as shewn by the colour of their beaks 
^0 (». _ ...... 
^ Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, vol. n. 
Charlesworth, 1 Mag. of Nat. Hist/ vol. i. 1837, p. 305, 306. 
p 2 
