SINGLE- COMB MINORCA AND DARK BRAHMA. 11 



aud got rose combs in all of the offspring. Here, too, rose comb is domi- 

 nant over single comb. 



Rose comb is a positive variation. It behaves in Meudelian fashion. 

 Although a neomorph, it is dominant. 



3. Foot Color.— Excluding from consideration all but the older hybrids, 

 40 showed foot coloring as follows : 



Black, bluish, willow, or greeu q 



• White '..'.'.'.'.'.. 7 



Yellow " ' 24 



Total ^ 



This result indicates that one of the parents (probably the male) is a 

 heteroz5^gote containing traces of some white-legged ancestor. Yellow 

 appears to be dominant over white and black, but to be imperfectly so. The 

 black X yellow gives greeu or willow; the whitened 5^ellow is "white." 

 Hurst (1905, p. 137) finds that when blue-footed and yellow footed individ- 

 uals are crossed, the offspring have light-blue feet. Yellow is in his case 

 recessive. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



In general, plumage color, foot color, and comb form are inherited in 

 Meudelian fashion. White plumage is dominant, although imperfectly so ; 

 wherefore we have spotted whites and even blues. Rose comb is dominant ; 

 whether perfectly so can not be determined until later. Yellow foot color 

 seems to be dominant, but is imperfectly so, even the yellow legs showing 

 traces of black. 



Series V. — Single-comb Black Minorca and Dark Brahmaf 



STATEMENT OF PROBI.EM, 



This cross was made to see the result of uniting two races as unlike as 

 possible in origin and general form. 



THE RACES AS A WHOLE. 



The Minorcas have been already described at page 6. The Dark Brahma 

 race was originally imported from India near the home of Galhis bankiva ; 

 yet it differs from it as much as does the Minorca. It is a blocky, short, 

 stout-legged bird, is fluffy in plumage, and has a small pea comb and small 

 wattles. It is, moreover, sexuall}^ dimorphic. The male (fig. 19, pi. v) 

 has much more black in its plumage and is very differently marked from 

 the penciled or barred female (fig. 18). The Dark Brahma has so many 

 characters unlike those of the Jungle fowl that it is now thought to be 

 chiefly derived from a different ancestor, namely, that of the Aseel and 

 Indian races. 



