On Dec 27. 1881 M^r Jenner Weir wrote to M^r Darwin

“After some hesitation, in lieu of a Christmas card, I venture to give you the result of some observations on mules made in Spain during the last two years— — — — —. It is a fact that the Sire has the prepotency in the offspring, as has been observed by most writers on that subject, including yourself. The mule is more ass-like, and the hinny more horselike, both in the respective lengths of the ears and the shape of the tail; but one point I have observed which I do not remember to have met with, and that is, that, the coat of the mule resembles that of its dam the mare, and that of the hinny its dam the ass, so that in this respect the prepotency of the sexes is reversed”¹

The hermaphroditism in lepidoptera, referred to below, is said by M^r Weier to occur notably in the case of the hybrids of Smerinthus populi-ocellatus²