654 # TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION M. 
Butter. Milk. 
Jerseys. Ibs. Ibs. 
Hordern’s ‘ Ledas Snowdrop’ (imp.) for 7months.  . 518 8,079 
Gollan’s ‘ Winsome’ er i nation: 4 + 481 8,106 
a9 * Bessie’ a Cras 5 : 454 8,134 
Macdonald’s ‘ Coomassie’ tnt Wise . 2 497° 8,363 
a ‘Madeira 8th’ ef) a la et : : 482 6,685 
°e ea Ber 1 6a as é Z 616 8,348 
Miss Walker’s ‘ Lady Capture’ és) Sas : : 452 6,788 
of 75 RON 5 4 2 482 7,217 
Guernseys. 
*Perry’s ‘ Mignotte 7th’ (imp.) for 9 months 331 5,786 
* ,, ‘La Colombe’ (imp.) Pea ha 364 6,598 
Kinross’ ‘ Merton Margaret 2nd’ (imp.) ages ie: 455 7,109 
N.S.W. Government’s ‘ Calm 2nd’ », 41 weeks 503 7,548 
is » ‘Parsons Red Rose Ist’ (imp.),,51 _,, 452 6,999 
* Cows marked thus were only on their second calf. 
6. Preliminary Note on Wool Inheritance. By P. G. Battey, M.A. 
This paper dealt with the methods employed in the experiments made at 
Cambridge on the question of the ‘Inheritance of Wool Characters,’ and the 
results so far obtained from these experiments. 
A cross was made between two Merino rams sent us by the late Mr. Charles 
Harper, of Western Australia, and twenty Shropshire ewes. Thirty-one F, rams 
and forty-one F, ewes were obtained from this cross. An F, ram was mated to 
the F, ewes, and from these we have now got thirty-three F, rams and forty- 
seven F, ewes, but of these F, sheep only six rams and eight ewes have been 
shorn. 
The methods employed in this investigation were the following :— 
(1) Each sheep was given an earmark number in order that a complete pedi- 
gree should be kept. 
(2) At shearing, small samples were taken from the two shoulders, neck, belly, 
and britch. The fleeces were then given the number of the sheep from which 
they came, were weighed and sent to Professor Barker at the Technical College, 
Bradford. They were there sorted into the commercial qualities. 
(3) The commercial qualities apparently depend upon a large number of 
factors, each of which is possibly independent in its inheritance. These factors 
have been stated to be lustre, uniformity in length, waviness, and, most impor- 
tant of all, average diameter of fibre. | Consequently it became necessary to 
analyse these factors separately. With Mr. F. L. Engledow’s help, a micro- 
scopical investigation has therefore been made into these characters, especially 
as regards average diameter of fibre. 
Results so far obtained :— 
(1) Range of qualities shown by Bradford sorting :— 
Merinorams . . . . .  . Quality 64s 
Shropshire ewes . : 3 ; A F >  54s—50s 
F, rams : : 3 P é h : >  60s—44s 
F, ewes 3 A ; i ‘ 4 . s,  608—50s 
F, rams ‘ : : 5 5 P ‘ >  60s—54s 
F, ewes : : : : 3 5 >»  608-54s 
There is, in fact, a high range of variation in the F, generation, but the great 
bulk of the F, sheep are of a quality intermediate between those of its Merino 
and Shropshire parents. 
(2) No accurate investigation has yet been made into the amount of grease in 
fleeces, but it was seen that the F, generation were intermediate in this respect 
between the two parents. 
(3) The microscopical investigation of the average diameter of the fibres 
points to the fact that the great bulk of the F, sheep are intermediate as regards 
this character. 
