1 Jury, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 19 
superior qualities led to inquiries about the possible progenitor of them, and 
the circumstances pointed to a very old horse of unknown history. Here was 
(according to Settegast) a case of true prepotency. Closer examination of this 
equine Nestor revealed the well-known brand of a famous stud. 
In such cases it has been invariably proved that these ‘ prepotentiated ” 
animals have sprung from bond fide blood ancestors. 
Tt is easily understood how any herd or flock, that has been inbred for 
some time, will eventually reach a point where further improvements are either 
very slow or impossible. The system of inbreeding within a certain limit of 
qualities, and under the influence of the same food, climatic and other conditions, 
must have the effect of eventually precluding further variations, let them be 
ever so slight. Every improvement is to some extent a variation. Animals may 
have reached that standard of perfection, beyond which it is, under existing 
circumstances, impossible to bring them. If we now introduce a new sire of 
almost the same blood, but bred in an entirely different locality and under 
difierent conditions, the tendency to variation (though within certain limits) is 
introduced anew; anda fresh impulse is thus given to the formation of new 
characters. Of this the history of breeding gives numerous instances. It is 
frequently after the introduction of fresh blood of similar or the same descent 
that these prepotentiated prodigies turn up. Amongst the Australian sheep 
the appearance of some of them may be attributed to the Vermont blood 
(President ?) ; others to Staiger, Gadegast rams, &e. 
Many breeders hold that the sire tends to transmit the average qualities of 
his ancestors. This is true up to a few generations backwards. The reappear- 
ance of less desirable qualities, as they existed in earlier generations, would be 
a case of throwing back. 
The closer the animals to be mated are related to each other, the stronger 
will be their influence in transmitting their qualities to their offspring. “Iffather 
and mother have an equal degree of transmitting power, they will have an equal 
influence on their offspring. The more equal both parents are, and the more 
similar their parents have been, the more perfect will their qualities be trans- 
ferred to their progeny. The more unlike the parents are, and neither of them 
sprung from a constant breed, the more reversions will appear in their offspring 
for many generations to come. Darwin says:—‘“ A breed intermediate between 
two very distinct breeds could not be got without extreme care and long- 
continued selection; nor can I find a single case on record of a permanent 
race having been thus established.” If animals, sprung from violent crosses, are 
coupled with each other, sure results can hardly be expected; a deterioration 
generally ensues. Parents of different size and carcass will seldom produce 
an offspring of good proportions, also the products of coarse and fine-woolled 
sheep show always great unevenness throughout the fleece. If there are in a 
breed animals which answer the purposes of the breeder pretty nearly,. 
favourable results of breeding, so far as the development and the increase of 
desirable qualities go, will better be accomplished by the inbreeding of such 
animals than by crossing them with others sprung from a different breed. The 
very existence of good animals proves that conditions favourable to the produc- 
tion of such animals are frequent, and exist @ prior? in the blood of this breed. The 
present qualities (good or bad) will, by inbreeding, be consolidated in course 
of time and be constantly transferred, while any admixture of other blood 
gives occasion to reversion on the part of the new blood. With reference 
to the French breed of Lacharmoise, the founder of it makes the following 
remark :—‘ Crosses have been tried for some time between French and English 
sheep, yet all our efforts and trials failed; nobody ever succeeded, as sometimes 
the English blood, sometimes the original French blood reappeared. I explained 
to myself this unsatisfactory result through my not paying sufficient attention to 
the law of inheritance, following which animals transfer their qualities accordin 
to the comparative length of time during which their ancestors have possesse 
these qualities. The English sheep, however, particularly those of the Leicester 
