144 NATURAL INHERITANCE. [CHAP. 



and the inner of a hazel. The proportion between the 

 grey and the hazel varies in different cases, and the 

 eye-colour is then described as dark grey or as hazel, 

 according to the colour that happens most to arrest 

 the attention of the observer. For brevity, I will 

 henceforth call all intermediate tints by the one name 

 of hazel. 



I will now investigate the history of those hazel eyes 

 that are variations from light or from dark respectively, 

 or that are blends between them. It is reasonable to 

 suppose that the residue which were inherited from 

 hazel-eyed parents, arose in them or in their prede- 

 cessors either as variations or as blends, and therefore 

 the result of the investigation will enable us to assort 

 the small but troublesome group of hazel eyes in an 

 equitable proportion between light and dark, and thus 

 to simplify our inquiry. 



The family records include 168 families of brothers 

 and sisters, counting only those who were above eight 

 years of age, in whom one member a,t least had hazel 

 eyes. For distinction I will describe these as " hazel- 

 eyed families ; " not meaning thereby that all the 

 children have that peculiarity, but only one or more of 

 them. The total number of the brothers and sisters 

 in the 168 hazel-eyed families is 948, of whom 302 or 

 about one-third have hazel eyes. The eye-colours of 

 all the 2x16 8, or 336 parents, are given in the records, 

 but only those of 449 of the grandparents, whose 

 number would be 672, were it not for a few cases of 

 cousin marriages. Thus I have information concerning 



