124 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLIX 



agouti and black. Morgan reached the same order of dominance 

 in 1911 and has recently (1914) recorded them, beginning with 

 black, as follows: 



b = black, 

 B G = gray gray-belly, 

 B w — gray white-belly, 

 B y = yellow. 



In 1908 Morgan published certain facts concerning the inher- 

 itance of the white-bellied gray pattern. Cuenot at once (1908) 

 publicly called Morgan's attention to the similarity of their 

 material and added facts which showed that he had already 

 investigated the inheritance of this same pattern in 1907. 

 Morgan later acknowledged its similarity. 



In 1911 Cuenot states plainly (p. 47) : "Les souris jaunes sont 

 characterises par un determinant J, allelomorphe a G, G' et N, 

 at qui les domine tous dans les croisements . . . il n'y a que les 

 zygotes renfermant J dominant un autre determinant allelo- 

 morphe (G, G' ou N) qui peuvent evolouer." 



Morgan 's 1914 paper adds several detailed matings and records 

 the testing of yellows of both sexes. However, in most respects, 

 his work corroborates the pioneer experiments of Cuenot and does 

 so in such detail that he falls into the same error as did Cuenot 

 in considering "black" as a necessary member of the allelo- 

 morphic series. This is obviously incorrect for the whole series 

 of allelomorphs exists equally well in forms utterly lacking the 

 ability to produce black pigment as some of Morgan's experi- 

 ments showed. The true series of allelomorphs is yellow, white 

 bellied *tgouti, gray-bellied agouti and non agouti (not black). 



C. C. Little 



Bussey Institution, 

 October 19, 1914 



LITERATUEE CITED 



Cuenot, L. 



1902. La loi de Mendel et l'h^redit« de la pigmentation chez les souris. 



Arch. Zool. Exp. et Gtn, (3), Vol. 10, Notes et revue, p. xxvii. 



1903. 2me note. Arch. Zool. Exp. et Gr&n. (4), Vol. 1, Notes et revue, 



p. xxxiii. 



1904. 3me note. Ibid., Notes et revue (4), Vol. 2, pp. xlx-lvi. 



1907. 5me note. Ibid.] Notes et revue (4), Vol. 5, p.T 



1908. 6me note. Sur quelque anomalies apparentes de proportions 



mendeliennes. Ibid. (4), Vol. 6, Notes et revue, pp. vii-xv. • 



