PREFACE 



ARTHUR DUKINFIELD DARBISHIRE, son of Samuel 

 Dukinfield Darbishire, M.D. Oxon., was born in 

 1879, and educated at Magdalen College School and 

 at Balliol College, Oxford. He worked under Pro- 

 fessor Weldon for the Honour School of Zoology, 

 and was placed in the Second Class in 1901. In 

 October of the same year he was appointed Demon- 

 strator in Comparative Anatomy at the University. 

 His interest in the problems of heredity was already 

 beginning to absorb him. 



At the instigation of Professor Weldon, the leader 

 of the Biometric school at Oxford, he began a series 

 of breeding experiments with mice, the results of 

 which were published in BiometriJca. 1 He had a 

 profound admiration for Professor Weldon, and was, 

 not unnaturally, influenced at this time by his 

 hostile attitude towards the Mendelian School. But 

 when he moved to Manchester, where he filled 

 the post of Demonstrator in Zoology at the Uni- 

 versity from 1902 to 1905, he began to think 

 out on his own lines the problems raised by the 

 Mendel ian discovery. Continuing his experiments 

 with mice, he set himself to examine the truth of 



1 ** On the result of crossing Japanese Waltzing Mice with European 

 Albino Races." Biometrika. Vol. II., No. 1, Nov. 1902 ; Second Report, 

 Vol. II., No. 2, Feb. 1903 ; Third Report, Vol. II., Part III., June, 1903; 

 Final Summary, Vol. III., No. 1, Jan. 1904. 



