352 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I912. 



Suiuiiiary of results of Cornish Indian Game matings 



Summarizing all pure Cornish mating's which involved 2 $ $ 

 and) 20 5 5 (C.T.G. $ X C.I.G. 9 ) We have the following 

 results : 



All 'i Progeny. 



Winter Production: Over 30 Under 30 Zero 



Observed 2 23 15 



Expected ="5 15 



Mean winter production 38.00 eggs 10.22 eggs eggs 



Counting the two 'Over 30' records as somatic fluctuations 

 belonging gametically to the 'Under 30' class the agreement be- 

 tween observation and theory is perfect. This it is seen that 

 the same hypothesis which has been shown to account for the 

 inheritance of fecundity in the Barred Ph'-mouth Rock breed 

 characterized in general by relatively high Qgg production, also 

 accounts perfectly for the inheritance of this character in the 

 entirely unrelated Cornish Indian Game breed, which is charac- 

 terized by relatively poor tgg production. 



Reciprocal crosses of Barred Plymouth Rocks and Cornish In- 

 dian Games. Pi generation 



In connection with studies of the inheritance of plumage 

 patterns' and colors extensive experiments in crossing these two 

 breeds have been carried out (cf. 40, 41 ). The results of these 

 experiments in respect to fecundity form a crucial test of the 

 validity of the Mendelian interpretation of the data from pure 

 races set forth in the preceding pages. If the interpretation 

 which has been given is correct it should account for the observ- 

 ed results in the P^, P2 and subsequent cross-bred generations. 

 Should it fail when subjected to this test, it would necessitate its 

 acceptance with great reservation, if at all, for the pure races. 

 On the other hand, agreement of the results from these cross- 

 bred matings with those obtained from the pure-bred would 

 afiford the strongest confirmation which it is possible experimen- 

 tally to obtain of the essential soundness of the general conclu- 

 sions reached. 



