304 MAINE AGRICUIvTURaL EXPERIMENT STATION. I0I2. 



B. Symbolic analysis. After some consideration it has 

 seemed advisable to undertake the presentation of what is at 

 best a compHcated matter in the following order. First a sym- 

 bolic analysis of the inheritance of winter egg production will be 

 given. Then the actual statistics of production covering a 

 period of four years will be given, and it will be shown that 

 these objective data are in substantial accord with the symbolic 

 account. The facts can be presented in this way much more 

 clearly and simply, than if the reverse order is follov-zed. With- 

 out the clue of the symbolic analysis to guide one through the 

 maze of figures, one would be hopelessly lost. It scarcely needs 

 to be said that while the order suggested seems undoubtedly the 

 best for the presentation of the results, it is precisely the oppo- 

 site of that by which the conclusions here set down were 

 reached. 



Let us turn to the symbolic analysis. As has been pointed 

 out already there are to be distinguished, on purely biological 

 grounds, three factors involved in fecundity in the female fowl. 

 These are : 



( 1 ) An anatomical factor. This is basic. It consists in the 

 presence of a normal ovary, the primary organ of the female 

 sex. In the following analysis a separate letter will not be used 

 for the designation of this factor but instead it will be under- 

 stood to be included in the letter denoting the presence of the 

 female sex. That is, F will denote the presence of the female 

 sex or its determiner, and the presence of the ovar}^ The letter 

 / will denote presence of the male sex (the absence of the 

 female sex determiner, from the symbolic standpoint) and the 

 absence of an ovary. Obviously a separate letter is not needed 

 for this 'anatomical factor' since the presence of an ovary is 

 the objective criterion of the existence of the female sex, and 

 its absence of the existence of the male sex. 



(2) The first production factor. This is the primary phy- 

 siological factor which in coexistence with F makes the bird lay 

 eggs during the winter period. Quantitatively it may be taken 

 as determining a winter production of more than zero eggs and 

 less than 30. The presence of this factor will be denoted by L^ 

 and its absence by h 



(3) The second production factor. This is a second phy- 

 siological factor, which in coexistence with F and Li leads to 



