INHERITANCE OE EECUNDITY IN DOMESTIC EOWL. 299 



by the fact that according to it the pullet year is the least pro- 

 ductive of any of a hen's life, save only for the ninth year 

 when the last remnants of the original 600 eggs are being tar- 

 dily and, one must suppose, sorrowfully ejaculated!' As a 

 matter of fact repeated trap-nest and other tests in all parts of 

 the world have shown again and again that, on the average, the 

 pullet year is the most productive of a hen's life. 



From the figures given in table 4 it is furthermore apparent 

 that the absolute number of oocytes in the hen's ovary is very 

 much larger than the number of eggs whicii any hen ever lays. 

 A record of 200 eggs in the year is a high record of fecundity 

 ' for the domestic fowl, though in exceptional cases it may go 

 even a hundred eggs higher than this (cf. 29). But even a 200- 

 eggs record is only a little more than a tenth of the average 

 total number of visible oocytes in a bird's ovary, to say nothing 

 of the probably much larger number of oocytes invisible to 

 the unaided eye, but capable of growth and development. In 

 other words it is quite evident from these figures that the po- 

 tential 'anatomical' fecundity is very much higher than the 

 actually realized fecundity. This is true even if we suppose 

 the bird to be allowed to live until it dies a natural death. Ex- 

 perience shows that birds which make a high fecundity record 

 in the first year of their life, generally speaking, never do so 

 thereafter. In general an examination of what long period 

 records are available in the statistics of this Station, and also 

 in the literature, indicates that probably only relatively few 

 birds of the American or Asiatic breeds at least, would lay 

 many more than' 400 to 500 eggs in their natural life time, 

 if they were allowed to live it out. Records of 'looo-egg' birds 

 are in existence, but such birds are rare. 



One of the longest continuous egg records of an individual 

 bird, which may be considered accurate, with which I am 

 acquainted is that given by Handrik (15) (for a Leghorn). 

 This bird was hatched in 190T. Its egg record was as follows: 



' It is difficult to understand how so acute an investigator as F. H. A. 

 Marshall could have been so imposed upon by this wonderful table of 

 Geyelin's as to republish it in his valuable and interesting book on the 

 "Physiology of Reproduction." 



