334 



Research in Animal Breeding. 



[July, 



referred to the original paper.* We have mentioned the case 

 because it affords another example of what, at first sight, appears 

 to be blended inheritance, though here again, as in the cases 

 previously described, analysis has shown that the apparent 

 blending is probably due to the cumulative effect of several 

 definite factors. 



Lastly, we may mention that in the course of our work we have 

 gathered much information that is likely to prove of value for 

 specific purposes. Our experiments with rabbits, for example, 

 though designed primarily to study the inheritance of weight 

 and certain patterns, have been used, as far as possible, to analyse 

 the factors upon which the colour of the coat depends. In con- 

 nection with the establishment of the natural rabbit fur industry, 

 which is beginning to make progress, the information has already 

 been of service to the utility breeder; nor can it be doubted 

 that, as our knowledge extends, it will prove of greater value 

 in the future. 



But after all the main object of the Cambridge work is the 

 elucidation of the principles that underlie the phenomena of 

 heredity. Once these have been revealed by research the appli- 

 cation can be left to those who will derive profit from it. Of one 

 thing, however, we feel sure, and that is that the breeder who 

 masters the conceptions implied in the factorial theory of heredity 

 will not only find in them a sure guide to practice, but will 

 derive greater pleasure in the exercise of his craft as he sees 

 fact after fact relating themselves to one another, and falling 

 into place in a definite and orderly scheme. 



(Concluded.) 



*^ Genetic Studies in Poultry. I. Inheritance of Leg-feathering, by R. C. 

 Punnett and the late P. G. Bailey. Journal of Genetics, VII, 1918. 



