AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION OF THE 
RHODE ISLAND STATE COLLEGE, 
BULLETIN 161, DECEMBER, 1914. 
STUDIES ON INHERITANCE IN POULTRY: IL 
THE FACTOR FOR BLACK PIGMENTATION 
IN THE WHITE LEGHORN BREED,* 
PHILIP B. HADLEY. 
It has been shown by Goodalef and by the present writer, J and 
has sometimes been noticed by observant poultrymen, that crosses 
between the White Leghorn and the White Plymouth Rock breeds of 
fowl may give rise in F 2 to barred, or otherwise dark colored indi¬ 
viduals. This circumstance naturally brings up a question regarding 
the origin of the black pigmentation necessary for bringing out 
the barred pattern in F 2 . It has been assumed that the White 
Plymouth Rock fowl does not harbor the factor for black pigmenta¬ 
tion, since, whenever black is added to the White Plymouth Rock, 
as by crossing with a black breed, the barred pattern is manifested. 
Therefore it has appeared probable that the factor for black pigmenta¬ 
tion was present in the White Leghorn. Strong evidence in favor 
of this view was presented by the present writer in an earlier contribu¬ 
tion. t But Bateson and Punnett§ have described an instance in 
Contribution 211 from the Agricultural Experiment Station of the Rhode Island State College. 
tGoODALE, H. D , Experiments with poultry, Proc. Soe. Expt. Biol, and Med , 1910, (7), 178-9. 
^Studies on inheritance in poultry: I. The constitution of the White Leghorn breed, Rhode 
Island Agr. Expt. Sta., Bui. 155, pp. 151-216, 1913. 
§Bateson, Wm., and Punnett, R. C., Report to the Evolution Committee of the Royal Society 
IV, pp. 28, 29, Publ., Harrison and Sons, London, 1908. 
