TOSA FOWL AND WHITE COCHIN. 43 



' ' 53 whites and 7 buffs. Of these 2 were apparently clear whites and 5 1 white 

 patched with buff and brown, chiefly on the head, neck, and breast (18 of 

 these were also oddly black-ticked); the 7 buffs were all more or less patched 

 white." Hurst concludes that the white plumage color of the Leghorn is 

 dominant over the Cochin buff, but that this dominance is incomplete in the 

 majority of cases. He adds : " In F t the dominance of both white and black 

 over buff is much less complete than that of white over black." 



2. EARLOBE COLOR. In all recorded cases the hybrids have a red earlobe, 

 sometimes with a lighter colored, even yellowish, center. 



3. VULTURE HOCK. This is always absent in the hybrids. However, two 

 cases show an elongation of the heel feathers. 



4. FOOT FEATHERING. In all cases the ' ' boot ' ' of the hybrid was reduced 

 as compared with the Cochin parent. In 3 cases out of 31 no trace of 

 feathers could be detected on the tarsus. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



Buff is recessive toward white, but the dominance of white is very im- 

 perfect, so that we may have various degrees of buffness in the hybrids. 

 Black, or the mosaic black-white, appears to dominate over buff, but here 

 again the dominance is frequently imperfect. Imperfect dominance is not 

 revealed by a blending, but by sprinkling of the red pigment. 



The earlobe color of the Cochins (Aseel type) dominates over that of the 

 Leghorn, but not perfectly. Vulture hock is recessive, but not always per- 

 fectly so. Foot feathering may be said to be imperfectly dominant. But 

 this case is of special interest because the result is practically a blend. 

 Hurst (1905, p. 134) similarly states that out of 60 chicks from his cross, all 

 had feathered ' ' shanks, " " but in every case the length or number of feathers 

 was reduced to about one-half." 



Series IX. Tosa Fowl (Yokohama) and White Cochin Bantam. 

 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM. 



This series of experiments was undertaken in the first instance to test the 

 inheritance of the long-tailed characteristic of the Japanese long- tailed fowl 

 (variously called Tosa fowl, Yokohama, Phrenix fowl, Japanese Game 

 Shinowara-to, etc.). 



THE RACES AS A WHOLE. 



The Tosa fowl* (figs. 29, 31) has long been bred in Japan and plays a 



* Professor Mitsukuri on the occasion of a recent visit to the Station for Experimental 

 Evolution informed me that in Japan these birds are known as Tosa fowl, since they were 

 originally bred in the province of that name, particularly at Shinowara. He further re- 

 marked that the feudal chief, or daimio, of that province had as his emblem or insignia 

 a spear with a long cock's feather on it, and he made the interesting suggestion that the 

 activity of the fanciers had been stimulated, not only by their satisfaction in long-tailed 

 birds, but also by the desire of meeting the ever-increasing ideals of their chief as to the 

 length of the feather of his insignia. 



