FUR-FARMING IN CANADA 23 



University, England, a naturalist of high repute and an authority 

 on hair pigmentation. In the early stages of the investigation the 

 usual opinion of naturalists and breeders was accepted and it was 

 thus stated to Professor Bateson that silver parent foxes would produce 

 an occasional red pup. This popular opinion has since been found to 

 be usually incorrect. Professor Bateson's opinion has, therefore, 

 been proved correct in every detail by subsequent development. 



Professor Bateson says: 



"At first sight I should suppose silver to be a recessive to 

 red and that it would always breed true. This, however, you 

 say, is not the case. If silvers, really, when mated together, 

 throw reds, there must be some complication which we cannot 

 yet represent. Provisionally, I should doubt the statement until 

 incontrovertible evidence is produced. 



"I 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 silvers come, then mate them together or back with the 

 silver parent. 



"Apart from the great practical difficulties which there are 

 in breeding foxes in domestication, I 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 grad- 

 ational forms like the cross or patched foxes do not know what they 

 will get until mating tests are made. Those who have chosen two 

 distinct colour types are able to breed out to the pure recessive type 

 in two generations. 



* Such as cross foxes. 



