Correlation and Application of Statistics to Problems of Heredity 45 



father's father's mother's father's father's father's mother? The child's mother 

 is 3, her mother 2x3 + 1=7, her father 2x7 = 14, his father 28, 28's 

 mother = 2 x 28 + 1 = 57, 57's father is 114, 114's father is 228, 228's father 

 is 456 and lastly 456's mother is 913, which is the number signifying the 

 required ancestor. 



Fig. 10. 



(ii) What ancestor does 253 represent? 253 is odd and therefore the 

 mother of <j(253 — 1) = 126, who being even is the father of 63, who being odd 

 is the mother of 31 who is the mother of 15 who is the mother of 7, who is 

 mother of 3 the child's mother. Accordingly 253 is the child's mother's 

 mother's mother's mother's mother's father's mother. 



This numerical nomenclature is not due to Meston, but to Galton himself, 

 appearing in his paper of 15 years' earlier date on "Arithmetic Notation of 

 Kinship*." 



We may, to use Galton's notations, say that : 



mm f f m f f f m = %\Z, and 253 = mmmmmfm. 



The ancestral lines of 913 and 253 separate off at the parents of the 

 child's maternal grandmother. 



G. Experiments in Moth- Breeding. Before we turn to a number of 

 papers and projects directly arising from the " Law of Ancestral Heredity," 

 it is desirable to say a few words on the abortive moth-breeding experiments 

 (see our p. 49). At first sight the idea of breeding moths seems exceedingly 

 hopeful. They breed rapidly and apparently could be fairly successfully 

 reared and bred in captivity. Accordingly Galton in January, 1887, six 

 months after the reading of his paper on Human Eye Colour, issued for 



* Nature, September 6, 1883. 



