EXTRACTS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS. 
207 
He states that a young terrier,* whose parents had been trained to destroy 
Fitchet Weasels (Polecats), and a young spaniel, whose ancestors had for genera¬ 
tions been bred to seek Woodcocks, were brought up together as companions, and 
that each, on seeing for the first time the prey towards which it was guided by 
its hereditary instinct, pursued it with avidity, without noticing that which 
attracted its companion. He further remarks, that young spaniels, wholly 
destitute of experience, were almost as expert at Snipe-hunting as their parents, 
trained with care to the sport. The Woodcocks themselves have, in the course 
of the last sixty years, altered considerably in their habits. Their fear of Man 
has become, during this period, much more powerful in transmission through 
several successive generations. 
The author believes that, by the effect of education long persevered in, these 
hereditary inclinations may be destroyed, and replaced by others. Thus spaniels 
would never have acquired the art of hunting had not Man followed the sports of 
fowling. A young Hog of the variety termed chien d’arret (setter), whose parents 
had been trained to seek and fetch wounded game, performed the same office as 
■well as the best-bred Hog, although it had received no instructions. It would 
seem that the influence of the father and of the mother, in the transmission of 
these hereditary inclinations, is the same, except in the case of hybrids, in which 
the author believes the influence of the male to be decidedly predominant.— 
Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve , Aout, 1837.—[It is a well-ascertained fact, 
that strongly-marked peculiarities—whether mental or corporeal—are transmitted 
from parent to offspring, both in Man and in the lower animals. Thus in the 
cases alluded to by Mr. Knight, it will not appear surprising that the faculties 
which had been so continually exercised in terriers and spaniels should be more 
than ordinarily developed in the descendents of those individual animals— 
Ed. Nat.~\ 
BOTANY. 
2. Comparative Estimate of the meteorological Circumsta .tces under 
which Corn, Maize, and Potatos grow at the Equator and under the Tempe¬ 
rate Zone. —In comparing the results which he has collected, M. Boussingault 
arrives at this conclusion :—The number of days which separate the commence¬ 
ment of the growth of an annual plant from its ripening, is, in every climate, in 
* We may here seize the opportunity of replying to the question proposed to us, why we com¬ 
mence the English names of only some animals with capital letters P Our rule is as follows:—1. 
The names of all species and genera commence with capitals; 2. those of varieties , as terrier, 
spaniel, &c., are not so distinguished, being of inferior value ; 3. The same applies to the indica¬ 
tion of sex , as bull, ewe, drake, gander, &c.; 4. Also to the indication of age , as calf, lamb, foal, 
&c. &c.-— Ed. 
