166 H. H. NEWMAN 



4. That these aggregates of integral variates are inherited in 

 the alternative fashion is strongly indicated by an examination of 

 individual sets. There is little evidence of blending. 



5. A study of the correlations, polyembryonic and uniparental, 

 as determined for individual bands, taken in conjuction with a 

 consideration of the conditions revealed by individual sets, leads 

 to. an abandonment of the earlier conclusion "that the process of 

 scute alignment is largely mechanically determined and hence 

 beyond the limits of hereditary control." The apparent lack of 

 hereditary control is due to the fact that approximately half of 

 the offspring inherit the number of scutes in a given band from the 

 mother and the remainder presumably inherit the paternal num- 

 ber. The statistical method makes it appear that hereditary con- 

 trol is much weaker for the individual band than it is for the whole 

 banded region, while an examination of individual sets reveals the 

 opposite state of affairs. Thus does the statistical method, if 

 relied upon too trustingly, lead to error. 



INHERITANCE OF AGGREGATES OF SCUTES IN THE CAUDAL 



ARMOR 



In order to determine whether the conditions found in the 

 banded region are peculiar to that part of the armor or are of more 

 general application, a study of other well defined regions has been 

 made by way of comparison. In many ways the rings of the tail 

 shield are as favorable for our purposes as are the bands of the 

 mid-body region. In addition certain new features are introduced, 

 in that there is a steady decrease in the size of the rings from 

 anterior to posterior and that the rings completely surround the 

 tail instead of covering only the dorsal side of it as is the case with 

 the bands. 



One of the less favorable features of the tail region for the study 

 of heredity has to do with the fact that the region is much more 

 liable to injury than are other regions and that, in consequence, 

 a large percentage of the mothers brought in by the hunters have . 

 mutilated tails, some being chewed by dogs and others broken 

 off by hunters in their attempt to pull the animals out of their 

 burrows by the only handle that is within reach. Furthermore, a 



