176 MAINE AGRICUI.TURAI, e;xpe;rime;nt station. 1911. 



gree lines or strains which for four generations (the time cov- 

 ered by the experiment to date) have bred uniformly true to 

 definite degrees of egg production. In this work there have 

 been isolated and are now being propagated lines carrying high 

 egg productiveness, and lines carrying low productiveness, the 

 character apparently being definitely fixed in the pedigree line 

 or strain in each case. 



6. In order to determine the mechanism by which fecundity 

 is inherited more data are needed. From the evidence in hand,, 

 however, it appears to be the case that this character is in- 

 herited fundamentally according to Mendelian principles, 

 though it is not yet clear as to what may be the number and 

 nature of the factors involved. There is, however, . clear evi- 

 dence that high fecundity and low fecundity segregate definitely 

 following crosses between breeds of poultry bearing these char- 

 acters as definite breed characters. Further studies on this 

 phase of the problem are now in progress. 



