Chapter 19

him) apply to all animals. Similar rules have been announced for plants, and have been proved by Gartner (14/19. 'Bastarderzeugung' s. 264-266. Naudin 'Nouvelles Archives du Museum' tome 1 page 148 has arrived at a similar conclusion.) to be all erroneous. If we confine our view to the domesticated races of a single species, or perhaps even to the species of the same genus, some such rules may hold good; for instance, it seems that in reciprocally crossing various breeds of fowls the male generally gives colour (14/20. 'Cottage Gardener' 1856 pages 101, 137.); but conspicuous exceptions have passed under my own eyes. It seems that the ram usually gives its peculiar horns and fleece to its crossed offspring, and the bull the presence or absence of horns.

In the following chapter on Crossing I shall have occasion to show that certain characters are rarely or never blended by crossing, but are transmitted in an unmodified state from either parent-form; I refer to this fact here because it is sometimes accompanied on the one side by prepotency, which thus acquires the false appearance of unusual strength. In the same