ON INHEEITANCE OF COAT-COLOUE IN 
THE GEEYHOUND. 
By amy BARRINGTON, ALICE LEE, and KARL PEARSON. 
(1) Introductory. There is little doubt that if money and time were do 
consideration direct experiments on the breeding of dogs would lead to results 
of the highest importance not only for the theory of inheritance, but also for the 
practical guidance of dog-fanciers. To be of the most complete service such 
experiments would have to commence with two or three generations of in-breeding 
simply to insure the purity of the various stocks to be employed in the final 
experiments*. Further, in the description of the selected characters, a classi- 
fication would have to be adopted of a far more comprehensive character than 
appears to be usual in a number of recent experiments on hybridisation. Lastly, 
from the standpoint which we believe to be the correct one, that safe conclusions 
can only be drawn from the average of large numbers of crossings, at least 50 
and probably 100 individuals of both sexes would have to be the basis of an 
effective experimental studf. Now the difficulty both in time and money of 
dealing with such a stud may not in the future be insuperable, but at present to 
propose it as the only means of approaching the problem of inheritance in dogs 
is to adjourn sine die any consideration of that problem. In certain points also 
the extensive breeding records which are already available for dogs possess 
advantages which are not to be wholly disregarded when we compare them with 
the special merits of a biometric stud-farm. In the first place we have all the 
gain which arises from dealing with literally immense numbers. For example, 
in the present memoir we were able to classify over 10,000 cases of parent and 
* For example when this is wanting, we find as in the case of some recent experiments on rabbits, 
inconclusive results reached, because the judgment of purity is based on a posteriori examination of the 
experimental litter, judgment which might be, and actually was in certain cases, reversed on the 
appearance of a second litter from the same pair. 
t 10 offspring of each of 50 hybridisations give an incomparably more valuable result than the 100 
oSspring of one or two hybridisations to which we are frequently treated. 
