THE TKANSMISSION OF SECONDARY SEXUAL 

 CHAEACTERS IN PHEASANTS. 



By rose HAIG THOMAS, F.Z.S., F.L.S. 



Introduction. 



My experiments in pheasant breeding were commenced over eight 

 years ago after reading Mr Pimnett's '■' Mendelism " which opened up 

 a study so fascinating that various schemes were undertaken to 

 ascertain whether pheasant crosses w^ould follow Mendel's law. Some 

 of the inter se experiments not yet published furnish extremely 

 interesting evidence of segregation, but every experiment seemed so 

 involved with the problem of sex (producing unexpected pure recessives 

 among small numbers) that for several years schemes have been 

 arranged breeding back with the female parent or with the male 

 parent to try and throw some light on the subject. 



Cases of the female transmitting the male characters of her species 

 to her male offspring have been recorded by others previously : amongst 

 my pheasant breeding experiments many such instances have occurred. 



Examples are found in both fertile and sterile hybrids. 



Dealing with the first, we will take the Silver % x Swinhoe ^ 

 series, which form the subject of this paper. In this the ^i male 

 offspring have to some extent, and F.^ and F.^ male offspring have 

 the plumage, with the exception of some very interesting mutations 

 on the under parts\ bulk, call, and moral character (bold and tame) 

 of the Silver ^ transmitted to them by the Silver hen — the female 

 parent. In a cross made between P. /orwiosa/it^s % x P . versicolor ^ , 

 an F^ female, which was in appearance a P. versicolor % , yet proved 

 to have the male Formosan secondary sexual characters present, 



1 3id April, 1914. Recent investigations have shown these to originate from the Male 

 parent of Fi . 



