SPOLIA ZEYLANICA 19 
HYBRIDIZATION EXPERIMENTS WITH THE 
CEYLON JUNGLE FOWL. 
By J. LLEWELLYN Tuomas, F.R.C.S., Enc. 
HE Ceylon jungle fowl, Gallus Stanleyii, or perhaps more 
generally known as the Gallus Lafayettii, is one of the four 
varieties of jungle fowl found in Asia. From one or more of these 
four all domestic poultry have had their origin. The Ceylon bird 
was one of the competitors for the honour of being the (or one of 
the) parent stocks of domestic fowls. The origin of the domestic 
fowl is one of considerable interest, and has received the attention 
of some of our most distinguished naturalists, chief among them 
being Darwin, who gave his great mind to the investigation of the 
subject. His conclusions were largely drawn from the experiments of 
others, and in some quarters it has been felt that he had insufficient 
data placed before him for the perfect prosecution of his investi- 
gations, and some of his conclusions have been accepted with 
considerable reserve by men of some authority in the poultry world. 
_ The question of the origin of modern pigeons has been settled beyond 
all dispute by Darwin, but the origin of the domestic fowl was not 
quite so easy of solution. He himself says: ‘* We have not such 
good evidence with fowls as with pigeons of all breeds having 
descended from a single primitive stock.’’ 
The four varieties of jungle fowl are— 
(1) Gallus bankiva (or ferrugineus). 
(2) Gallus Stanley (or Lafayettic). 
(3) Gallus Sonneratv. 
(4) Gallus furcatus (or varius). 
In considering the claim of these various breeds to be the parent 
stock of domestic poultry, the points on which stress is laid are, the 
comb, the wattles, the hackle feathers, the colouring, the voice 
of the bird, and lastly the great question of its power to breed with 
the domestic fowl, the power of the progeny so produced to breed 
