108 Polecat, Ferret, and Polecat-Ferret Hybrids 



her liability to snap. Other persons have expressed the same opinion to 

 me. In connection with this it must be remembered that red-headed 

 people are notoriously sharp tempered, and chestnut horses are often very 

 " hot." Erythristic ferrets are not very common, but I have met with the 

 variation in four distinct strains. The individuals that belonged to me 

 originated from a mating between "a white female and a very large dark 

 male... they had some dark, some white, and some sandy young ones^" 

 As there were several sandy young ones we may be certain that one 

 parent, presumably the dark, was heterozygous for the red character, 

 and that for the origin of the mutation we must go further generations 

 back, because if the factor had fallen out at this particular mating only 



Pedigree of Light Brown Ferrets. 



1915 



9 X «^ 



1916 "Some dark" "Some sandy" "Some white" 



9 X Gf 



1917 



T~i ' 



• o 9x«r 9 >< ef 



20 J 21 



© 



1^ 

 © 



© © 



T" 

 © 



I 

 o 



1919 



9 



34 



9 



35 



9 



36 







o 



Dark colouring. 

 Light brown. 

 Albino. 



The numbers refer to animals bred by me, and serve to identify the same individuals 



in different pedigrees. 



one of the family could have borne the new character. When the 

 erythristic ferrets obtained in this litter were bred from, the owner tells 

 me, a litter of four " reds " and one dark resulted, which, provided no 

 error occurred, shows that the factor for full pigmentation may be borne 

 in a latent state by the red individuals. However the dark colouring is 



^ For this and other information I am indebted to Mr Wm. Milner, of Much Wenlock, 

 who most kindly gave me some of his erythristic ferrets. 



o 



