82 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. -LI 



All these forms, according to Metcalf 's idea, have been 

 produced by selection from the jungle fowl. For a num- 

 ber of j^ears past the writer has been interested in col- 

 lecting evidence regarding the making of new races and 

 varieties of bantams, for the purpose of seeing what part 

 selection, in the Darwinian sense, probably plays in the 

 matter. The problem was given enhanced interest and 

 significance by the appearance of the important paper by 

 Punnett and Bailey,^® which showed that in respect of 

 body weight bantams are differentiated from large fowls 

 by at least three genetic factors, and that in a cross be- 

 tween a bantam breed (Seabright) and a larger breed 

 (Hamburg) the inheritance of body weight is typically 

 Mendelian. This latter result the writer had found to be 

 true, using different breeds from those employed by the 

 English workers, but had not worked out in detail the 

 exact mechanism of the inheritance. New varieties of 

 bantams are all the time being produced and exhibited at 

 poultry shows. Broadly speaking, it is nearly true that 

 for every different variety of large fowl a corresponding 

 bantam variety either has been produced or is sure to be 

 soon. In view of this great activity in the making of 

 new varieties it seemed that an excellent opportunity 

 was offered to find out how the expert bantam fancier 

 really turns the trick. So the writer has corresponded 

 with bantam fanciers in all parts of the world and in this 

 way has accumulated a large amount of interesting ma- 

 terial. 



One question was always asked, and always in the same 

 form. This was: 



Do you know of any ease in which a stable race, variety or breed of 

 baniams, which bred true indefinitely in respect to bantam size of body, 

 was originated or created solely by selection of small sized individuals 

 of a large race, variety, or breed of fowls, without any crossing: in of 

 bantam blood? If so, please give a detailed account of the circum- 



38 Punnett, K. C, and Bailey, P. G., Jour. Genetics, Vol. IV, pp. 23-39, 

 1914. 



