BRACHYDACTYLY IN THE FOWL 99 
bution of characteristics. The association of characters in these 
chicks was such as to suggest that the brachydactyly might be 
correlated with booting but the numbers were not adequate to 
warrant definite conclusions. 
Through the courtesy of the officials in charge, it was possible 
to make a superficial examination of the feet in a considerable 
series of booted fowls exhibited at poultry shows in St. Louis. 
Such examinations sufficed to show that brachydactyly occurs in 
several races with booted tarsi. One highly valued buff Cochin 
fowl was found to present the characteristic in as pronounced a 
form as did the specimen which first attracted our attention to 
the peculiarity. Owners and judges are inclined to attribute 
such cases to accident, but the fact that the standard of require- 
ments for some of these breeds specifically calls for well formed 
toes suggests that the tendency to brachydactyly has been 
vaguely recognized by breeders. No instance was found in 
which a short lateral toe occurred on a smooth-shanked bird. 
These observations .were sufficient to indicate that brachy- 
dactyly is of rather common occurrence in the domestic fowl 
and seemed to justify a more careful investigation of the 
peculiarity. Consequently a further breeding experiment was 
undertaken in order to furnish material for study of the heredity 
and embryology of the condition. - 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
To obtain this material male no. 8 was mated to a flock of 13 
white Leghorn hens. All eggs laid between February 15 and 
April 18, 1917, were incubated, except when, as occasionally 
happened, the number of eggs remained for several days in 
excess of the capacity of the incubator. At such times the 
oldest eggs were discarded. It is not probable that this method 
could have resulted in any differential selection. A total of 300 
eggs were used. Of these, 108 yielded living embryos and 86 
were allowed to hatch. Two of the remaining eggs were infected 
with bacteria, 34 were non-fertile or developed only slightly, 
and 70 contained embryos that died before hatching. 
