R. H. Thomas 



277 



colour, plumage, habifc and temperament, of the female of his species, 

 to the F., female offspring, even the dimension of the egg. 



It is further worthy of notice that in this experiment, though the 

 Versicolor male transmitted every character of the female of his species 

 to his Fo female offspring, yet he did not transmit all his own plumage 

 to his F„ male offspring. 



Following on the above facts, the Gennaeus nycthemerus x G. stuinhoei 

 series here dealt with confirm the previous investigations into these 

 strangely sex-limited phenomena, eliminating that certain source of 

 error, small lUnnbers, and demonstrating that the first were no isolated 

 cases but evidence of very general application of some significance. In 

 this exjDeriment, as in all my pheasant crosses, many instances occur of 

 pattern and colour transference from male parent to female offspring, 

 or female parent to male offsjDring, or again from one plumage area to 

 another. Where these have been observed, they have been recorded 

 to obviate any erroneous classification of these characters as hybrid, 

 when they are really due, not to a mosaic of the two species crossed, 

 but to a shifting of colour and pattern fi-om one sex to the other within 

 one of those species ; but after eliminating these it will still be seen 

 that in certain of the plumage characters, in the moult habit and in 



PEDIGREE OF MATING, 1907. 



" 5 " $ Oettnaeus nycthemerus (Silver). 

 " ^ " (J Gennaetis sidtikoei (Swinhoe). 



"iJ" ? X "4" (J 

 I 



Fi ''BA- 



Fo 



8 birds reared to adult stage 



F, 



14 birds reared to adult .stage 



Fi "BBBA " inter se 



10 birds reared to adult stage 



I 

 ''BBA' 



"5" 9 X "BA" S 1908 

 I 



^ 1 



I 

 "iJ" ? X ''BBA" S 1909 



i 



I ^ 1 



I I 



"BBBA" 9 X ''BBBA" S 1911 inter 



I I I I I I I I I 



Note. Amongst the F^ "BBBA" two mutations, i.e. birds having new characters not 

 present in either parent species, were bred, a J and a ? which were mated infer se. 

 Their offspring f 4 inter se ? ? are included in this paper and show clear segregation. 

 Journ. of Gen. iii 19 



