32 



INHERITANCE IN RABBITS 



It is of interest to note that both the mothers employed in matings i 

 and 2 were employed also in cross 2, with the lop $ 179. In that case, 

 also, they gave a distinctly and fairly uniform blending result. 



Male 319 was mated also with his sister (9322), producing a litter of 

 only 2 young. These closely resembled their parents in ear-character. 

 (See table 22.) 



Table 22. 



The latest measurement recorded for one of them ( 9 780) was made 

 at 16 weeks of age, but aheady she had attained an ear-length of 190 

 mm. At maturity she would doubtless have equaled or exceeded the mid- 

 parental ear-length. The other one (9 779) did exceed the mid-parental 

 ear-length at 20 weeks of age by more than 10 mm., and she exceeded by 

 8 mm. the ear-length of the long-eared parent. Her size also at 20 weeks 

 of age was very large, viz, 2,680 grams. This unusually great plus vari- 

 ation was doubtless due in part to extremely favorable conditions during 

 the growth period, especially during the period of lactation. During 

 that period the mother's milk was divided among 3 young only, but i of 

 these died soon after the young were weaned. At the last measurement 

 recorded, its ear-length was a httle less than that of 9 780, while in size 

 it was inferior to both 9 779 and 9 780. 



Table 23. 



The same three-quarter-blood female (322) which was mated with 

 c?3i9 (table 22) was mated also with the lop s 179, producing a litter of 

 seven-eighth-blood lops. (See table 23.) Two of the 4 young reared had 



