Influence of Parental Alcoholism in Albino Rats. 125 



uniformly colored red females were produced. From 1909 to 191 8 

 no evident improvement in the uniformity of the red coloring 

 has appeared. The reason for the marked improvement in 1909 

 was due to the fact that, unintentionally, blood from the Dark 

 Brahma (also an Asiatic breed) was introduced. This race has 

 no Buff Cochin blood but a type of pattern which is more diffuse 

 than that of the Jungle Fowl and hence permitted the buff pattern 

 to break the limited bounds proscribed by its position on the 

 Jungle Fowl. 



Owing to the great amount of inbreeding which the experi- 

 ment has necessitated and the increasing sterility and weakness 

 of the offspring it will be necessary soon to bring the experiment 

 to a close. The results obtained, however, speak strongly for the 

 impotence of selection in an inbred line, with few genetical factors, 

 unless new mutations afford new foundations upon which to 

 advance. It is quite clear that the original Buff Cochin was 

 not made by slow selection from a bird with the Jungle-fowl type 

 of coloration. The Buff Cochin probably originated as a xanthic 

 sport. 



71 (1446) 



The influence of parental alcoholism upon habit formation in 



albino rats. 



By E. C. MacDowell (by invitation). 



[From the Station for Experimental Evolution, 

 Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y.] 



This report presents the training records of the children and 

 grandchildren of a pair of rats heavily alcoholized daily for more 

 than two months before the birth of the young. These alco- 

 holized rats came from the same litter; another pair from this 

 same litter was chosen on the basis of equal weight as the parents 

 of the normal controls. All matings were between sibs in the 

 same litter. Habit formation was tested by training on a Watson 

 maze and the Yerkes multiple choice apparatus. The results of 

 the maze training have been calculated on the basis of the last 

 twelve trials of the training proper as well as twelve memory 



