FUR-FARMING IN CANADA 19 
Provisionally, I should doubt the statement until incontrovertible 
evidence is produced. 
“T am not perfectly clear what a silver is, but I take it that a 
silver fox is to a red fox what a silver tabby is to a common tabby, 
viz., the same thing devoid of the red or yellow element. It 
may be difficult to disentangle the relations of the colour when 
there is a series of gradational forms* and, in the first instance, I 
should try to get a family in which the distinction between the 
reds and the silvers was sharp. Then I should breed the silvers 
together—brother and sister if need be. 
“From what you say, I infer that two silvers of opposite sexes 
cannot be gotten to start from. That being so, you must mate 
together the silvers produced which you will raise from the reds 
produced by mating red and silver—if only reds come. But, if 
silverscome, then mate them together or back with the silver parent. 
“Apart from the great practical difficulties which there are in 
breeding foxes in domestication, J think you will easily fix a strain 
of silvers.’’ 
Professor Bateson outlined perfectly the fox-breeding experiences 
of ranchers. Those who have spent their time working with grada- 
tional forms like the cross or patched foxes do not know what they 
will get until mating tests are made. Those who have chosen two dis- 
tinct colour types are able to breed out to the pure recessive type in 
two generations. 
Dr. Eugene Davenport makes an explanation of the 
Characters That ; ) : : 
Do Not Blend action of Mendel’s Law of Hybrids that will prove 
instructive to many breeders. He says: 
“When diverse characters are thus brought together two very 
different results may follow. They may blend into a single new 
character, in which case our figures show the proportions within the 
blood, or they may remain distinct as two independent characters 
within the same individual. Stature and size as well as many 
colours blend freely, but not all characters behave in that simple 
way. For example, white and black blend freely in the human 
race, and the offspring of white and negro are mulattoes of various 
shades, according to the respective infusions; but colours do not 
blend in pigs, which are either black, white, or spotted, never roan 
or mulatto. Some colours blend in horses (roan); some do not. 
Some breeds of cattle have blended colours (Shorthorns); in others, 
the colours remain distinct (Holstein-Friesian). 
* Such as cross foxes, 
