226 



Coat-Colour in Rabbits 



In Table III are collected the results of crossing j/' 28 with a series 

 of black ^1 does. The does have been classified according as their 

 mother was a yellow or a tortoise, but the figures, as in Table II, make 

 it evident that there is no difference between the two lots. 



Totals 



36 



113 



34 



28 



30 



67 



The interpretation of these results was for some time obscure. At 

 first it was tempting to look upon the difference between agouti and 

 black as a difference of two factors. On such a view it must be 

 supposed that all the agoutis and blacks previously used were homo- 

 zygous for one of these factors, and that the simple Mendelian relation 

 hitherto found depended upon the presence or absence of the other 

 factor. The appearance of agoutis from blacks would then depend 

 upon the absence of one of the two factors on the one side and on 



^ The animals recorded in this column were blacks which died too early to determine 

 whether they were true blacks or agouti-blacks. They have been ultimately distributed 

 among the blacks and agouti-blacks according to the proportions in which these two 

 classes were definitely determined. 



