STUDY OF SELECTIONS FOR SIZE, SHAPE, AND COLOR OF HENS' EGGS 227 



bath are of the "brown" character, but this difference is not great. 

 Neither color and neither parent seem to have a predominance. 



These results are an accumulation of data from six different years, 

 with all the variations in conditions that must always occur. Hence 

 the facts shown can apparently be accepted as giving undoubted evidence 

 of the inheritance of the characters in question. 



Relation of egg incubated to mean egg type of bird hatched 



The correlations shown in tables 26 to 49, and summarized in tables 

 50 and 51, show a general relationship between the particular type of 

 egg incubated and the type of egg produced by the chick hatched, both for 



the separate years of the bird's production and for its life mean. 10 g- 



is much less significant for these studies than for the studies of the relation 

 existing between the mean productions of parents and progeny. Apparently 

 the particular type of egg incubated has some effect on the type of egg 

 which the offspring will produce, but not so much effect as the mean 

 production of the hen which laid that incubated egg. 



In this study the coefficient of correlation for the size character, as 

 shown in table 50, is of greater significance than that for the other char- 

 acters, as is the case in all of the work here reported. The shape character 

 shows a fair degree of correlation. 



The color character exhibits a peculiar condition. The correlations with 

 the pullets' eggs incubated, for the first and second years, are insignifi- 

 cant; the third-year correlation is based on too few individuals to be of 

 much value; and the life-mean correlation shows a distinct negative 

 coefficient. This condition is probably due to the great irregularity 

 that exists in the coloration of successive eggs laid by most individuals. 

 Sufficient proof is not at hand to warrant the conclusion that a negative 

 correlation actually exists for this character, but it is believed that such 

 a negative or insignificant correlation may be expected, due to the irregu- 

 larity of the material. 



10 The terms pullet and hen, as use! in this memoir, refer to female birds during their first season of 

 production and during their later seasons of production, respectively. 



