R. H. Thomas 



277 



colour, plumage, habit and temperament, of the female of his species, 

 to the F.2, female offspring, even the dimension of the Qgg. 



It is further worthy of notice that in this experiment, though the 

 Versicolor male transmitted every character of the female of his species 

 to his F.^ female offspring, yet he did not transmit all his own plumage 

 to his Fo, male offspring. 



Following on the above facts, the Gennaeus nycthemerus x G. swinhoei 

 series here dealt with confirm the previous investigations into these 

 strangely sex-limited phenomena, eliminating that certain source of 

 error, small numbers, and demonstrating that the first were no isolated 

 cases but evidence of very general application of some significance. In 

 this experiment, as in all my pheasant crosses, many instances occur of 

 pattern and colour transference from male parent to female offspring, 

 or female parent to male offspring, or again from one plumage area to 

 another. Where these have been observed, they have been recorded 

 to obviate any erroneous classification of these characters as hybrid, 

 when they are really due, not to a mosaic of the two species crossed, 

 but to a shifting of colour and pattern from one sex to the other within 

 one of those species ; but after eliminating these it will still be seen 

 that in certain of the plumage characters, in the moult habit and in 



^1 



PEDIGREE OF MATING, 1907. 



"5" $ Gennaeus ni/cthemerus (Silver). 

 " J. " (J Gennaeus sioinhoei (Swinhoe). 



I 



l' i 



"5^" "5" ? X ''BA" ^ 1908 



I 

 . I . 



8 birds reared to adult stage 



14 birds reared to adult stage 



F^ ''BBBA " inter se 

 10 birds reared to adult stage 



''BBA 



"^"9 X ''BBA'' S 1909 



I I 



''BBBA'' $ X ''BBBA'' S 1911 inter se 



I ! I I I I I I I 



Note. Amongst the J^3 ^^ BBBA^^ two mutations, i.e. birds having new characters not 

 present in either parent species, were bred, a s and a ? which were mated inter se. 

 Their offspring F^ inter se ? ? are included in this paper aft4 show clear segregation, 

 Journ, of Gen. in 19 



