Families were reared from the two wild H females of whom nothing was known
either as to ancestry or husband. The first family contained 10 M and 7 H
females. Hence the original wild mother was probably iiXx and had mated
with a male of the constitution {88} Iixx. The family from the second wild
H female contained 26 H and 7 M females; _i.e._ the ratio in which these
two forms appeared was not far from 3:1. Hence the wild female was probably
iiXx and her husband IiXx. If this were so some of the 26 [M][M] should
receive the X factor from both parents and consequently be IiXX in
constitution. This was almost certainly so in the case of the single male
in this brood tested by mating with an M female from the other brood. All
of his 12 daughters were of the H form, as should have been the case had
his constitution been IiXX. Supposing this to be so, all his offspring, of
both sexes, must be heterozygous for X. Consequently any pair mated
together should give both H and M females in the ratio of three of the
former to one of the latter. In Mr Fryer's experiment two males and two
females chosen at random were mated together. In the one case six H and one
M female were produced, in the other ten H and two M females. As was
expected both classes of female appeared, and the looked-for ratio of three
H to one M was, in view of the smallness of the numbers, not departed from
widely in either instance.
In the experiments selected as an illustration, the mimetic females happen
to be all of the H form. In other experiments, however, both the H form and
the A form occurred. As the result of his experiments Mr Fryer came to the
conclusion that here again the difference is one of a single hereditary
factor. All mimetic females contain the X factor, but the H {89} females
contain in addition a factor which we may call Y. The function of the Y
factor is to carry the change made by the X factor a step further, and to
turn the A form of female into the H form. Y is a modifier of X, but unless
X is present Y can produce no effect. All the different individuals which
are to be found among _P. polytes_ in Ceylon may be represented as
follows:--
[M][M] | M[F][F] | A[F][F] | H[F][F] |
| | | |
IixxYY | iixxYY | -- | -- |
IixxYy | iixxYy | -- | -- |
Iixxyy | iixxyy | -- | -- |
IiXxYY | -- | -- | iiXxYY |
IiXxYy | -- | -- | iiXxYy |
IiXxyy | -- | iiXxyy | -- |
IiXXYY | -- | -- | iiXXYY |
IiXXYy | -- | -- | iiXXYy |
IiXXyy | -- | iiXXyy | -- |
In this way is offered a simple explanation in terms of three Mendelian
factors which serves at once to explain the various results of the breeding
experiments, and the fact that intermediates between the different forms of
female are not found.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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