486 



The Journal of Heredity 



The writer found while tabulatinj^: 

 the Tnatinj):s for color in the Saddle 

 Horse Rej,nster that some foals were 

 rejjorted not chestnut from chestnut 

 matinj^'S. I was able to find the owners 

 or breeders of these foals. In every 

 case I found that a mistake had been 

 made in the record. I was able to 

 rejjort 410 chestnut x chestnut matinjijs 

 which all resulted in chestnut foals. 

 Later I secured Hurst's figures, 1905 

 chestnut x chestnut matings with a re- 

 jjorled nine not chestnut. Hurst used 

 the Thoroughbred Register of England 

 and must have gone back in the earliest 

 numbers. There is no doubt in my 

 mind, as Hurst himself intimates, that 

 the nine are mistakes in registration. 

 In all breeds there are 1618 chestnut x 

 chestnut matings ])roducing all chestnut 

 cxce]jt 16 according to the records. 



SUFFOLKS .\LL CHESTNUT. 



Recently, I have secured from Fred 

 Smith, Secretary of the England Suffolk- 

 Horse Society, a statement to the elTect 

 that this Society has registered 12497 

 horses, all chestnuts from chestnut 

 matings. The breed traces back to a 

 chestnut horse as the founder in 1769. 

 (Jne of the requirements is that a 

 Suffolk shall be chestnut. 



I ha\'e been contending for three 

 years that chestnut is a true recessive. 

 I have asked in the stock j^apers for an 

 examjjlc of a foal that is black, bay or 

 grav' from parents both of which are 

 chestnut. No breeder has volunteered 

 the information because he has not had 

 that ex]X'rience in his stud. The twelve 

 thousand matings and over from the 

 Suffolk Horse Society substantiate my 

 jjo.sition. 



Other evidence of its recessive nature 

 is necessary than that chestnut matings 

 produce only chestnut foals. Any 

 color can behave that way in reproduc- 

 ing itself if it be jjure bred. The 

 matings of the Suffolk Horse all come 

 from chestnut ancestry and alone would 

 not be conclusive ])roof that chestnut is 

 a reces,si\-e. The chestnut matings 

 which I have tabulated ])resent individ- 

 uals with all colors in their ancestry. 

 There would be a tcndancy to transmit 

 these various colors if it be not recessive. 



Another conclusive proof of its reces- 

 sive nature is its production from other 

 colors. The above tables show that in 

 black x black matings there are 3% 

 chestnut foals, black x brown give 3% 

 chestnut foals, black x bay give 10% 

 chestnut foals, brown x brown give 2% 

 chestnut foals, brown x bay give 7% 

 chestnut foals, bay x bay give 13% 

 chestnut foals. Here are six classes of 

 matings with no external evidence of 

 chestnut in the animals mated, yet 

 regularly there come from them chest- 

 nut foals. If chestnut is recessive this 

 is what we should expect and we should 

 expect the chestnuts to breed true to 

 their color when thus produced. The 

 chestnut horses do breed true for chest- 

 nut no matter what the color of their 

 ancestry has been. 



A striking exam])le of the recessive 

 nature of chestnut is to be found in 

 The Theorist, a trotting bred stallion. 

 The three generations before him are 

 of solid colors other than chestnut. 

 The fourth generation has one chestnut 

 individual, and the fifth two. He is 

 chestnut with flaxen mane and tail. 



SOME CHESTNUT iMATINGS. 



The other writers on the subject have 

 not given any figures showing the be- 

 havior of chestnut when mated to bay, 

 brown and black. I find that black x 

 chestnut matings give 33% chestnut, 

 24% black, 6% brown, and 37% bay. 

 Brown x chestnut matings give 24% 

 chestnut, 12% black, 12% brown, and 

 52%,, bay. Bay x chestnut matings give 

 41% chestnut, 4% black, 3% brown and 

 52% bay. The brown x chestnut matings 

 give 52% bay. This is not unexpected 

 when we remember that most of the 

 horses registered brown are geneticalh' 

 bays and should have been so registered. 



A real difficulty is encountered with 

 the black x chestnut matings, for here 

 we find 6% brown and 37% bay. Both 

 black and chestnut are recessive to bay 

 and there should l)e no bay foals from 

 this class of matings. There is evidently 

 some relationshi]) between the factors 

 which ])roduce chestnut and black and 

 the factors which ])roduce l)ay. Just 

 what this relationship is I am unable to 

 sav. 



