Deiembkk 11, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



761 



vian giiinea-pigs is dominant over the normal, 

 or smooth-coated, condition. 



To these two pairs of Mendelian eharaeters 

 we may now add a third : * Angora,' or long 

 coat, is recessive with respect to the normal 

 short coat. This fact was first discovered 

 accidentally when a number of long-haired 

 young were obtained by inbreeding a stock 

 of short-haired guinea-pigs supposedly pure. 

 A parallel result was obtained in the case of 

 rabbits. Two rabbits, brother and sister, 

 whose ancestors for at least two generations 

 ■were known to have been short-haired, pro- 

 duced, in a litter of six young, two long- 

 haired, or ' Angora,' individuals. 



As a result of experiments subsequently 

 made, it may now be said that, in the case of 

 guinea-pigs and rabbits (and probably in other 

 mammals also) : 



(1) Two long-haired animals of whatever 

 ancestry produce only long-haired young; (2) 

 a short-haired animal of pure stock, mated 

 to a long-haired animal, produces offspring all 

 short-haired; (3) a short-haired animal, one of 

 whose parents was long-haired, when mated 

 to a long-haired animal produces offspring, 

 some short-haired, others long-haired, the two 

 sorts occurring in approximately equal num- 

 bers; (4) two hybrid short-haired animals 

 (like the one described under 3) when mated 

 to each other produce long-haired and short- 

 haired offspring approximately in the ratio, 

 1:3. These various facts agree in showing 

 that short coat is ' dominant ' in heredity over 

 long or Angora coat. 



The writer recalls seeing in the daily press 

 some months ago a brief despatch (which un- 

 fortunately he did not preserve) recording the 

 exportation (to Ilagenbeck, he thinl<s) of the 

 'last of the Oregon Wonder horses,' which 

 had mane and tail fourteen feet long. A 

 short account, which was given, of the an- 

 cestry of this abnormally long-haired horse 

 suggested to the writer that the long-haired 

 character was in this case, as in rabbits and 

 guinea-pigs, inherited as a recessive, and that 

 the so-called ' last ' of the long-haired horses 

 need not have been such had the owner been 

 familiar with the scientific principles of 

 breeding. If any reader of Science can give 



further information about these long-haired 

 Oregon horses, the writer would be very grate- 

 ful to receive it. It seems to him extremely 

 probable that in mammals in general an abnor- 

 mally long coat behaves as a recessive char- 

 acter in heredity, when brought by cross- 

 breeding into competition with the normal 

 coat character. If so, this fact makes clear 

 some matters which have been hitherto ob- 

 scure and which have received a different but 

 hardly satisfactory explanation. Thus Dar- 

 win attributes to the direct influence of the 

 climate the long-haired coat character of the 

 goats, shepherd-dogs and cats of Angora, and 

 states on authority that the Karakool breed of 

 sheep lose their peculiar fine, curled fleece 

 when removed from their native canton near 

 Bokhara. It is clear that a long-haired breed 

 of animals would apparently lose that char- 

 acter completely and immediately, if allowed 

 to cross with other breeds, as would likely be 

 the case upon removal to a new locality. Yet 

 this loss would occur irrespective of any 

 climatic influence. 



It is hoped that the facts here communicated 

 may prove of some value to breeders of sheep 

 and goats, such as are kept primarily for the 

 fleece, as well as to breeders of pet stock. 

 May we not work more intelligently for the 

 improvement of our flocks, knowing the con- 

 ditions under which the long-haired coat is 

 transmitted? W. E. C.\stle. 



Zoological L.\boratory, 



Harvard University, 



November 23, 1903. 



CONCERNING MOSQUITO MIGB.\TIONS. 



In the pages of Science I have recorded 

 from time to time the results of my obsei-va- 

 tions upon the habits of the ring-legged salt 

 marsh mosquito, Culex sollicitans, and have 

 expressed my conviction that it was a migra- 

 tory form; limited in its breeding areas, but 

 widely distributed and dominant for long dis- 

 tances away from them. In my study of the 

 problem as it exists in New Jersey, this migra- 

 tion question is of the utmost importance, 

 since local work can never be entirely effective 

 if the mosquito supply comes from a place 

 beyond the range of local jurisdiction. It is 



