very early age, before the sexes differ in constitution, it is not
surprising that they should be unaffected by castration, even if they
were aboriginally acquired by the male. With sheep both sexes properly
bear horns; and I am informed that with Welch sheep the horns of the
males are considerably reduced by castration; but the degree depends
much on the age at which the operation is performed, as is likewise the
case with other animals. Merino rams have large horns, whilst the ewes
generally speaking are without horns ; and in this breed castration
seems to produce a somewhat greater effect, so that if performed at an
early age the horns remain almost undeveloped. (18. I am much obliged
to Prof. Victor Carus, for having made enquiries for me in Saxony on
this subject. H. von Nathusius ( Viehzucht, 1872, p. 64) says that the
horns of sheep castrated at an early period, either altogether
disappear or remain as mere rudiments; but I do not know whether he
refers to merinos or to ordinary breeds.) On the Guinea coast there is
a breed in which the females never bear horns, and, as Mr. Winwood
Reade informs me, the rams after castration are quite destitute of
them. With cattle, the horns of the males are much altered by
castration; for instead of being short and thick, they become longer
than those of the cow, but otherwise resemble them. The Antilope
bezoartica offers a somewhat analogous case: the males have long
straight spiral horns, nearly parallel to each other, and directed
backwards; the females occasionally bear horns, but these when present
are of a very different shape, for they are not spiral, and spreading
widely, bend round with the points forwards. Now it
is a remarkable fact that, in the castrated male, as Mr. Blyth informs
me, the horns are of the same peculiar shape as in the female, but
longer and thicker. If we may judge from analogy, the female probably
shews us, in these two cases of cattle and the antelope, the former
condition of the horns in some early progenitor of each species. But
why castration should lead to the reappearance of an early condition of
the horns cannot be explained with any certainty. Nevertheless, it
seems probable, that in nearly the same manner as the constitutional
disturbance in the offspring, caused by a cross between two distinct
species or races, often leads to the reappearance of long-lost
characters (19. I have given various experiments and other evidence
proving that this is the case, in my Variation of Animals and Plants
under Domestication, vol. ii. 1868, pp. 39-47.); so here, the
disturbance in the constitution of the individual, resulting from
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