K. TOVAMA 



:v.)i 



TABLE X. 



Number 



of 

 tmUhtm 



1 

 2 

 3 

 4 

 5 



Xonnal eggs 



ToUl 



number Deed 



(tf eggs eggs DeaUi-rmte 



Crimeonegga 



Albino eggc 



194 

 209 

 195 

 213 

 213 



33 



64 

 23 

 23 

 79 



17°/o 

 30-5 % 

 13-8 % 

 10-7 °/o 



37% 



Total 

 95 

 66 

 99 

 75 

 94 



Dead 



77 

 49 

 76 

 61 

 62 



Deftth-nte 



81°/o 

 74-2 °/^ 



76-7 % 

 81-3 % 

 64-8 °/o 



ToUl 

 91 

 86 



88 



99 



87 



Deed 



12 



7 



80 



22 



5 



Death-rmU 



13-1 °/o 

 8-1 % 



34°/o 

 22-2 »/o 



5-7 °/o 



Totals 1024 222 21-6 % 429 325 757 % 451 76 16-8% 



In spite of their being laid by the same parents, the mortality in 

 those eggs whose colour was crimson was much greater than the others. 

 While in normal and white-coloured eggs, the percentage of deaths was 

 only 21'6 7o ^^^ 168 % respectively, that of the crimson eggs was 

 75*7 7o' Other ten similar batches gave the following figures: 



The facts above enumerated taught us that in every case in every 

 breed which we have studied, those eggs coloured crimson have a greater 

 death-rate than normal-coloured eggs, while divoltine eggs which are 

 crimson in colour did not shew so high a death-rate as univoltine 

 crimson-coloured eggs. These facts led us to conclude that the embryo 

 of crimson-coloured eggs is not so long-lived as that in the normal- 

 coloured eggs. 



As to the cause of the early death of the embryo of the crimson- 

 coloured eggs, we are quite ignorant at present, but we are inclined to 

 believe that it may be due to the lack of certain pigments in the 

 serosa which in some way help the respiration of the embryo during its 

 development. 



V. General Considerations. 



From the results of these series of experiments in both line and 

 cross breedings above quoted, it now becomes clear that (1) those egg- 

 characteristics above enumerated, except in the crimson breed, are 

 determined by the characteristics of the female parent, on account 

 of which the paternal characteristics even when dominant are almost 

 negligible in their influence upon the character of the egg, that is to 

 say, phenomena of inheritance are maternal ; (2) gametic segrega- 

 tion of parental characteristics takes place as in normal Meudelian 



