The Descent of Man

se; but this has occurred in Mr. Wright's stable,
so that the mare had to be cheated. Prosper
Lucas (48. 'Traite de l'Hered. Nat.' tom. ii. 1850,
p. 296.) quotes various statements from French
authorities, and remarks, "On voit des etalons
qui s'eprennent d'une jument, et negligent toutes
les autres." He gives, on the authority of
Baelen, similar facts in regard to bulls; and Mr.
H. Reeks assures me that a famous short-horn
bull belonging to his father "invariably refused
to be matched with a black cow." Hoffberg, in
describing the domesticated reindeer of Lapland
says, "Foeminae majores et fortiores mares
prae caeteris admittunt, ad eos confugiunt,
a junioribus agitatae, qui hos in fugam conjiciunt."
(49. 'Amoenitates Acad.' vol. iv. 1788, p.
160.) A clergyman, who has bred many pigs,
asserts that sows often reject one boar and immediately
accept another.
From these facts there can be no doubt that,
with most of our domesticated quadrupeds,