[147] 'The Pigeon Book,' p. 46.
[148] 'Physiology of Breeding,' p.22; Mr. Hewitt, in 'The Poultry Book,' by Tegetmeier, 1866, p. 224.
[149] Boitard and Corbié, 'Les Pigeons,' 1824, p. 226.
[150] 'Bastarderzeugung,' s. 256, 290, &c. Naudin ('Nouvelles Archives du Muséum,' tom. i. p. 149) gives a striking instance of prepotency in Datura stramonium when crossed with two other species.
[151] Flourens, 'Longévité Humaine,' p. 144, on crossed jackals. With respect to the difference between the mule and the hinny, I am aware that this has generally been attributed to the sire and dam transmitting their characters differently; but Colin, who has given in his 'Traité Phys. Comp.,' tom. ii. pp. 537-539, the fullest description which I have met with of these reciprocal hybrids, is strongly of opinion that the ass preponderates in both crosses, but in an unequal degree. This is likewise the conclusion of Flourens, and of Bechstein in his 'Naturgeschichte Deutschlands,' b. i. s. 294. The tail of the hinny is much more like that of the horse than is the tail of the mule, and this is generally accounted for by the males of both species transmitting with greater power this part of their structure; but a compound hybrid which I saw in the Zoological Gardens, from a mare by a hybrid ass-zebra, closely resembled its mother in its tail.
[152] Mr. Hewitt, who has had such great experience in raising these hybrids, says ('Poultry Book,' by Mr. Tegetmeier, 1866, pp. 165-167) that in all, the head was destitute of wattles, comb, and ear-lappets; and all closely resembled the pheasant in the shape of the tail and general contour of the body. These hybrids were raised from hens of several breeds by a cock-pheasant; but another hybrid, described by Mr. Hewitt, was raised from a hen-pheasant by a silver-laced Bantam cock, and this possessed a rudimental comb and wattles.
[153] 'L'Héréd. Nat.,' tom. ii. book ii. ch. i.
[154] 'Bastarderzeugung,' s. 264-266. Naudin ('Nouvelles Archives du Muséum,' tom. i. p. 148) has arrived at a similar conclusion.
[155] 'Cottage Gardener,' 1856, pp. 101, 137.
[156] See some remarks on this head with respect to sheep by Mr. Wilson, in 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1863, p. 15.