come under the law of reversion in the ordinary sense of
the word; nevertheless, as the change is effected through a succession of
bud-generations on the same plant, they may be thus included.

Analogous facts have been observed in the animal kingdom, and are more
remarkable, as they occur strictly in the same individual, and not as with
plants through a succession of bud-generations. With animals the act of
reversion, if it can be so designated, does not pass over a true
generation, but merely over the early stages of growth in the same
individual. For instance, I crossed several white hens with a black cock,
and many of the chickens were during the first year perfectly white, but
acquired during the second year black feathers; on the other hand, some of
the chickens which were at first black became during the second year
piebald with white. A great breeder[87] says, that a Pencilled Brahma hen
which has any of the blood of the Light Brahma in her, will "occasionally
produce a pullet well pencilled during the first year, but she will most
likely moult brown on the shoulders and become quite unlike her original
colours in the second year." The same thing occurs with Light Brahmas if of
impure blood. I have observed exactly similar cases with the crossed
offspring from differently coloured pigeons. But here is a more remarkable
fact: I crossed a turbit, which has a frill formed by the feathers being
reversed on its breast, with a trumpeter; and one of the young pigeons thus
raised showed at first not a trace of the frill, but, after moulting
thrice, a small yet unmistakably distinct frill appeared on its breast.
According to Girou,[88] calves produced from a red cow by a black bull, or
from a black cow by a red bull, are not rarely born red, and subsequently
become black.

In the foregoing cases, the characters which appear with advancing age are
the result of a cross in the previous or some {39} former generation; but
in the following cases, the characters which thus reappear formerly
appertained to the species, and were lost at a more or less remote epoch.
Thus, according to Azara,[89] the calves of a hornless race of cattle which
originated in Corrientes, though at first quite hornless, as they become
adult sometimes acquire small, crooked, and loose horns; and these in
succeeding years occasionally become attached to the skull. White and black
bantams, both of which generally breed true, sometimes assume as they grow