364 MAINS AGRICULTURAL EXPLRIME:NT STATION. I912. 



two kinds in equal numbers ; Phh and FLiU. Of these matings 

 three produced small families in which all of the individuals 

 were so far from being normal physiologically that they cannot 

 fairly be included in the tabulation. The details regarding 

 them are as follows. From one barred Ft. 2 was produced two 

 adult daughters, both of which were undersized and stunted in 

 development, and failed to lay. One of these daughters died 

 early in the year. From one of the matings with black Fi 

 2 2 only one adult daughter was obtained, Avhich again failed 

 to develop normally and was only put into the adult house be- 

 cause of its interest from the standpoint of color inheritance. 

 Another of the matings with a black Fi 2 produced four adult 

 daughters. Two of these were extracted whites and very small, 

 poor specimens. The whole family was saved because of these 

 birds. Neither of them laid. Of the other sisters one died early 

 in the laying year, never having laid. It, like the other mem- 

 bers of the family, was from the start a weakling. Finally the 

 fourth sister made a winter record of 8 eggs. It presented the 

 same evidence of abnormality as the other sisters, and its egg 

 record could" by no means be taken as a just indication of its 

 gametic constitution in respect to fecundity. No one of the 

 seven birds under discussion would ever by any chance what- 

 ever have been put in the laying house as normal individuals 

 for the study of fecundity. The only reason they ever were 

 put in was simply, as already explained, because the primary ob- 

 ject of the Fi birds as a whole was the study of color and pat- 

 tern inheritance. Even though a bird is an undeveloped weak- 

 ling physiologically one may make a record of its plumage color 

 and pattern, and see whether these change with advancing age. 

 However, since these birds really were in the adult house, and 

 in order to forestall the possibility of a suggestion that any rec- 

 ords were suppresed in this study of fecundity, it has seemed 

 advisable to take the space for the above detailed discussion of 

 the matter. 



The records for the other matings of Fi $ 577 are given in 

 table 28. 



Matings of Fi 576 zvith Barred Plymouih Rock females. This 

 7^1 $ was mated v/ith three pure Barred Rock 2 2 of class 2 

 (table 6). The results of these matings are shown in table 29. 



