October 20, 1923] 



NA TURE 



571 



The Genetics of the Fowl. 



Heredity in Voultry. By Reginald Crundall Punnett. 

 Pp. xi + 204 + 12 plates. (London : Macmillan and 

 Co., Ltd., 1923.) 105. net, 



MODERN genetics is founded in great measure 

 upon the results of experimental breeding 

 work with material which, in the opinion of the average 

 stock-breeder, cannot be regarded as a " real " animal. 

 To him, Drosophila melanogaster , and all that pertains 

 thereto, is far too remote to have any bearing upon the 

 peculiar problems of the man who raises stock for profit. 

 He does not understand why Drosophila is unique as 

 genetic material. The experimental biologist must 

 have an animal with few and heteromorphic chromo- 

 somes ; it must be easily and cheaply kept under 

 laboratory conditions ; it must exhibit a very varied 

 characterisation and it must breed rapidly, producing 

 large numbers of offspring in each generation. 



It has to be confessed that to the breeder of pedi- 

 greed stock, the geneticist has but little to offer that 

 can be applied with profit to the art of breeding speci- 

 mens of the established breeds — and this is the occupa- 

 tion of the most successful breeders. The breeder 

 has drawn up his own standards of excellence, usually 

 in absolute ignorance of the scientific principles which 

 undoubtedly underlie his art, often indeed in direct 

 defiance of these principles, and has set himself the 

 task of attaining them. In many cases he has suc- 

 ceeded, and it may be accepted that the success of the 

 makers of the modern breed of domesticated animals 

 must have been achieved by methods which were 

 not violently in discord with the principles of heredity 

 which have been disclosed comparatively recently by 

 the geneticist. But these principles were in operation 

 long before the geneticist discovered them, and it was 

 not to be expected that their discovery would result 

 in any profound modification of the breeder's practice. 

 Certainly, the science of genetics can offer to the breeder 

 of pedigreed stock the means of interpreting his suc- 

 cesses and his failures, but it is to the creator of new 

 breeds, to the improver of the old, that it can promise 

 most. It can ofler more to the breeder of highly fertile, 

 quickly-reproducing stock than to the breeder of cattle 

 or sheep. 



Moreover, since at the present time almost the 

 entire weight of the modem chromosome theory of 

 heredity is carried by the. dipteran Drosophila, the 

 British geneticist is seeking other suitable experimental 

 material. The organisation of the National Poultry 

 Institute has provided him with a unique opportunity 

 of employing the fowl : there can be no better material 

 for the geneticist working in a research institution, 

 NO. 2816, VOL. 112] 



the function of which is to aid the breeder in the solution 

 of his problems. Research is being more and more 

 concentrated in institutes, and above their doors the 

 slogan " Knowledge for its own sake " is not inscribed. 

 In such institutes it is necessary to use material 

 with which the community at large is acquainted, so 

 that its co-operation may be secured, and after all, the 

 study of the phenomena of inheritance in the fowl is 

 equally as thrilling as that which centres around 

 Drosophila. The geneticist cannot readily aid the 

 fancier who is dealing with characters so fine that from 

 the point of view of genetics they demand an outlay in 

 expenditure and meticulous attention by no means 

 commensurate with the theoretical value of the results 

 likely to be obtained ; but his interests coincide with 

 those of the utility poultry man who is eagerly demand- 

 ing knowledge of the mode of inheritance of such 

 characters as fecundity, broodiness, egg-colour, and 

 fertility. The geneticist can, in using the fowl as his 

 material, add considerably to our knowledge of the 

 principles of heredity, and at the same time can bring 

 much-needed assistance to a most worthy section of 

 the community. 



Indeed it was with the fowl that Bateson, more than 

 twenty years ago, first showed that the principles 

 enunciated by Mendel, then newly discovered, applied 

 to animals as well as plants. It is certain that had 

 the work of Bateson and Punnett, which immediately 

 followed this, been properly appreciated and adequately 

 financed, the present position of British genetics and 

 of the science of genetics applied to animal breeding 

 would have been very different to-day. It is true 

 that Prof. Punnett has been carrying out experimental 

 breeding work with poultry for twenty years, and that, 

 as his book indicates, he has made most valuable 

 contributions to our knowledge of the genetics of 

 the fowl ; but what he has done is but a fraction 

 of what he could have done, had he not been em- 

 barrassed by insufficient material and inadequate 

 accommodation. 



It seems that at last Prof. Punnett's difficulties are 

 to be removed, for under the auspices of the National 

 Poultry Institute he is to be given the opportunity 

 of carrying on his work under satisfactory conditions. 

 At one time it seemed as though the scheme would fall 

 through, for the response to the appeal for subscrip- 

 tions towards the funds of the Institute was somewhat 

 tardy. His book appeared most opportunely and 

 greatly strengthened the appeal of the leaders of the 

 poultry industry in England. It showed clearly what 

 had been done by the geneticist working under diffi- 

 culties, and provided a vision of what could be done 

 when these difficulties were removed. Its reception 

 by the poultry breeders of the country provided an 



