92 REPORTS ON INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. 



kid only had accessory auricles. The female goat again gave birth 

 on September 19, 1905, to two kids by the wattled male — one a male 

 and one a female. The male kid only has accessory auricles. Con- 

 sequently it is probable that both of the wattled parents are hetero- 

 zygous, and that the non-wattled condition is in them recessive. On 

 this hypothesis we should expect, with larger numbers, to get three 

 times as many wattled as non-wattled offspring. In regard to the 

 inheritance of coat color, I may say that both parents are of mixed 

 color — black, white, and buff. Of the first offspring (sire unknown) , 

 one was pure white and the other buff and white. Of the second 

 pair, one is black and the other buff and white. 



Sheep.— The valuable gift to the station by Dr. Alexander Graham 

 Bell of two 5-nippled ewes and one 6-nippled ram, born in the spring 

 of 1904 in his Nova Scotia flock, was mentioned in my first report. 

 One of the ewes is w^hite like the ram : the other is black ; all are 

 thriving. Two horned Dor.sets — a race that has the reputation of 

 bearing twins — were purchased in December, 1904, of W. R. Selleck, 

 Huntington. Both were in kid and each gave birth to one young in 

 the spring of 1905. I am consequently disappointed in my strain, 

 but as the Dorsets are still young there is a chance that they may 

 improve in fecundit3'. Meanwhile the examination of sheep at 

 county fairs has shown that 3 or 4 nippled individuals are not rare 

 on Long Island, and goats and cows wdth extra nipples can be pro- 

 cured ; and it is proposed to extend experiments in the very practical 

 direction of increasing the number of functional mammary glands. 



An examination of Dr. Bell's printed list of multinippled sheep has 

 brought out an interesting fact in regard to the inheritance of color. 

 In all cases (20) but one, when both parents are black the offspring- 

 are black. From correspondence with Dr. Bell it appears that the 

 one exception may be due to an error in the record. It may be con- 

 cluded, therefore, that two blacks always throw blacks onh*. This 

 indicates that black color is a Mendelian recessive in sheep. 



Cattle. — The two chief races of dairy cattle, Jersey and Holstein, 

 are characterized by a great difference in color, build, and quantity 

 and quality of milk. I have wished to see if the quality of the Hol- 

 stein milk, noted for its remarkable quantit}', could be improved by 

 breeding with the Jersey. Owing to the practical importance of the 

 proposed experiment, it should be carried out by some one with 

 greater resources than we have. It will probably be necessary to 

 proceed on a small scale, trusting to the chance of the single die 

 throw, instead of the certainty of the frequently repeated, to get a 

 favorable combination of characteristics (viz, quality and quantity) 

 in the second hj'brid generation. 



