28 



The Journal of Heredity 



A PHENOMENAL E(;<. PKODl CEH 



Queen Utana, a Single Comi) White I^'ghorn hen l)re.l ami owned by the Utah Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. In fiv'c years she laid 816 eggs, a record which her owner thinks has 

 never been equaled. She is one of a flock in which the Utah station is studying the inher- 

 itance of egg production. (Fig. 14.) 



dticcd ; it is ex'idcnt, then, that an tmsti.s- 

 pcctcfl factor for l)arrinL,' is carried 

 latent in the j^erminal constitution of 

 White Le,t(horns, the white ]xirent used 

 in the ex]K'riTnent. 



Inheritance of egg weight is also being 

 tested, the data a])i)earing to show that 

 any individual fowl lays eggs which 

 vary only slightly from a certain average 

 weight. Comparison with the record 

 of the mother indicates that the weight 

 of an egg is a character which is actually 

 transmitted from one generation to 

 another; the observers are now trying 

 to find cnit how. 



A i)arallel tf) the classic selection ex- 



periment of W. E. Castle on hooded rats 

 is under way at the Rhode Island 

 station with rabbits, in which material 

 an attempt is being made to infltience, 

 by selection, what is known as the 

 "English {pattern." Selection is made 

 of both plus and minus variations in 

 each generation, in order to discover 

 whether selection ])roduccs a cumulative 

 I'ffecl, and can modify a character, 

 which is recognized as a Mendelian 

 imit. Shotild the experiment ])roduce 

 that result, it will add confirmation to 

 the claim of Castle and others, that 

 so-called unit characters are not the 

 immutable things that they have some- 



