R C. PUNNKTT AND TIIK LATK P. ill BaILKY H 



littlo from une aiiuther in |N>int of ninv*. The* Htmin wiim chom^ii i»ii 

 account of iu peculiar p<it.torn. niucv it wuh h<»|KMl, hy croHHJn^ it with n 

 self-coloun'd nice, U» obtain data on \\w inhrritanre of whit<' marking 

 on the coat Those ex|K)rin)ent« an* ntill in pro)(n'w and the rrHiiltM will 

 be presentini in nonir futiin* |Mi|M'r. In WH't n furtln r set of rx|Hri- 

 tnents was Ht-art'od. UHtn^ lus pan*nt nwrs thr KlmiiMh and thr l*olihh^ 

 the latt«»r Kmu^ thf HUjallest bn'ed of nibbitw in donu'stiaition. 



The work, so far Jis it has ^one, is ncetvHsarily of a preliminary natun*. 

 We did not begin by ci*ossin^ strains of unifonn sizr.a |)oinl of thr first 

 imporUmce in work of this kind. Our reason for not doin^ so wjih of 

 course the impt>ssibility of finiling them. The " pun; " breeds of rabbit>j 

 of which we have had expi^ricnce shew Huetuati(His of size, oft m con- 

 siderable, which c^innt>tbc put down t<> ill health, alteration of conditions, 

 and si> forth : and we have little doubt that this is true for all reco^nnscd 

 bree<ls. The student of genetics, like the chemist, oftt'ii has to jiurify 

 his raw material as a preliminary to critical research. In the j)resent 

 case this is a matter of some years. But while the standardisiition of 

 our niJiterial was pnxieeding we carried on the crossing exi^'riments 

 referred to above with a view to obtaining useful experience for more 

 extensive and criticiil work in the future. That the results hitherto 

 obtained are indecisive is no disappointment, having reganl to the nature 

 of the material and to the resources at our command. But in spit<' of 

 the limitiitions of our data we believe that they will prove of service in 

 directing the attention of other workers along these lines to jK)ints 

 hitherto unconsidered in connection with the inheritance of weight. On 

 some of these it is ho[>ed that further light will be thrown when the 

 material now being worked up becomes available for crossing purpo.ses. 



A. Flemish-mixed cross. The original Flemish (/ {N 169) was mated 

 with two does of the Himalayan-Dutch-Havana strain, ^V17 and X \9, 

 which weighed respectively 6 lbs. 2 oz. and lbs. oz. These two does 

 were closely related to one another as is shewn by the accompanying 

 pedigree (Fig. 1). To what extent the members of this strain of mixed 

 origin varied in weight we are unable to say, since records bearing upon 



' Davies ('17) speaks of modern Polisb, Himalayan, Dutch, and Tan varieties approxi- 

 mating closely in size to their wild prototype, and he also mentions 3 lbs. as the wii^ht of 

 a Himalayan doe. This is very much less than the wei^'ht of such a doe 10— 1'j years 

 back. Apparently the trend of the fancy has been towards smaller si/.e for these breeds in 

 recent years. 



' For these animals aad for sundry information about them our thiinks arc due li» 

 Professor J. Stanley Gardiner. 



