No. 627] 



GERM PLASM OF THE OSTRICH 



313 



most of the dicta that it is thought an arconiit may be wel- 

 comed by geneticists. At any rate it may \)v added to the 

 already volmiiinous ''Experieiu-c oi' l^ractical Breeders," 

 containing facts which will need to be reckoned with in 

 any explanation of the actual causes of germinal changes. 

 The ostrich affords an example of an animal only recently 

 domesticated and still in the making, and we have before 

 us the practical methods followed and the results ob- 

 tained, enabling us to deduce in some measure the genetic 

 principles involved. The endeavor will be to see what 

 contribution its germ plasm has to make to each of the 

 contrasting statements at the head of tlu' i)a])cr. not for- 

 getting that we know but little of the nature of the uerm 

 plasm and its changes except from their manifestation in 

 the soma. It may be there is truth in both attitudes. 



''Tlw fivrm plasm js fmulamruiaJ ami rmiarlahli/ ron- 



()>tricli fai'mino- on mctlio.liral liiu- ua^ tirM mider- 



nings were mad*' with diick- ohtaincd fi-om wihl iic-ts. as 

 unless "tamed" from an early auc conti-ol of the adnlt^ is 

 afterwards imi.o>sil)Io. S.. n-mnnerative <li.l the indn^try 

 ])rove to be that with 1lie exe.^ptioii of one two MMhacks 

 it advanced witli -reat i-ai.idity until at it^ zenith, tlie year 

 before the war. nearly I.IKHI.IHII) domett ieatiMl Inrds 



were reeorded. yieldin- an export of 1 .( >L>;:.;!n7 Ih^. of 

 feather^ at a valne of ^ir>.iK)(Ul(in. formin- with -old and 

 diamon.ls a triad eontrihut in- mneli to th." pros])(.rity of 

 South Afri<-a. With the adv.Mit and eoiitinnane.' of the 



ostrich fai-mei's. and the nnmhei- of hinN ha> hwu re- 

 duced by abont two third-. 



In the early days of the indnstry very little ae.-ount was 

 taken of the (|nality of plnma-e ].rodueed. an.l any hird 

 reaching .oxnal maturity (three to t^uir y<'ar>) wa- em- 

 ploved a> a l)reeder. AVithin the i-a^t two or three decades 



