FRIZZLE AND SILKY. 59 



6. NUMBER OF TOES. This is constantly four in pure-bred Frizzles. In 

 Silkies a fifth toe is always present. The extra toe frequently has a double 

 nail, or the division may be complete, resulting in six toes. 



7. SKIN COLOR. In the case of the Frizzle the skin is white, sometimes 

 tinged with yellow pigment. The skin of the Silky is notoriously blue-black. 

 This is a clear case of melanism, and since early times has been associated 

 with the other peculiarities of the Silky. The melanic condition affects the 

 periosteum also. It is remarkable that despite this excess of pigment ren- 

 dering black the internal tissues, skin, leg scutes, comb, and wattles, the 

 plumage should be always white. 



MATERIAL. 



Mothers. Four Frizzles (Nos. I4A, iSA, igA, and 2OA), hatched May, 



1904, from eggs obtained from Dr. A. G. Phelps, of Glen Falls, N. Y. All 

 have rose combs and slightly booted feet. No. i8A is peculiar in that the 

 feathers on head and neck are sparse and small (fig. 42). In general color 

 the hens vary ; I4A is prevailingly dark brown ; i8A is yellowish ; igA is light 

 brown, and 20A is mixed black, yellow, and red. A male Frizzle from the 

 same lot of eggs was highly colored red and black. 



Father. A white Silky cock (No. 24A, fig. 43), likewise hatched from 

 eggs sent in May, 1904, by Dr. Phelps. 



The Silky cock and Frizzle hens were mated from January 16 to April 14, 



1905. Trap nests were not used, so that I could distinguish mothers only 

 by the form of the eggs. The egg of iSA was very peculiar and was early 

 identified. A certain proportion of the offspring can not be assigned to any 

 particular mother. 



RESULTS. 



Only the first hybrid generation has been obtained. 



1. PLUMAGE COLOR. Of 32 hybrids, 7 (22. 6 per cent) are white (showing 

 some buff in six cases) and 25 (77.4 per cent) are dark. No. i8A appar- 

 ently produced only dark birds, largely dead-black. The others produced 

 in part white hybrids (fig. 44), but mostly pigmented ones. The result is 

 not what we should have expected. If white were recessive, o to 50 per cent, 

 if dominant, 100 per cent, of the offspring should be white. Moreover, the 

 Silky is doubtless homozygous in respect to color, since (i) Silky fowls are 

 carefully bred for white color, and (2), bred to a hen of its own strain, it has 

 produced only white birds. I conclude, therefore, that the white plumage 

 color is not always dominant over the black, red, and yellow of the Frizzle. 

 The matter will be further investigated. 



2. COMB. In all cases the rose comb of the Frizzle dominated over the 

 single comb of the Silky (fig. 44). 



3-5. CURVING OF SHAFT, BARB LENGTH, AND BARB FORM. These are all 

 correlated in the first generation. Of 10 mature birds, 6 are typically frizzled 



