The genetic and the operative evidence relating to secondary sexual charactersMorgan, Thomas Hunt
Science
The genetic and the operative evidence relating to secondary sexual characters
Morgan, Thomas Hunt
Genetics; Poultry; Sex (Biology)
The occurrence of this hen-feathered jungle-fowl is so unique and the
coloration of the bird so interesting that I have added to the plates
three feathers of such a bird, viz., a stippled saddle feather, a
feather from the back, a hackle feather, and a wing covert with stippled
center and a black border. The neck hackle departs somewhat from the
hackle of the jungle-fowl hen, but in the same direction as does the
neck hackle of the Sebright cock from his hen.
Looking over the F₂ group, the most noticeable thing is the large number
of blacks (E and G), all of which are stippled. Probably the factor came
from the game, because group E was present in the back-cross as well as
in F₂, and because these black birds are always stippled. The yellow
color (I and J) may have come from both, each breed having then a black
factor that, as a pattern, covers over most of the yellow. It is
difficult to distinguish penciling from stippling in the F₂ yellows.
Without figuring each of these types, their description in detail is not
of much value. The skins will be deposited for reference in the
Zoological Laboratory of Columbia University.
C. BACK-CROSS OF F₁ TO GAME.
As the back-cross of the F₁ to the game might appear more likely to
reveal the kinds of germ-cells present in the individual, the results
from such a cross may be given before discussing the genetic data. If it
were certain that the “game” contained all of the recessive factors that
are involved in the experiment, this method of testing the result would
be ideal, but there is no way of determining _a priori_ whether this is
the case. The question will be taken up later. The presence of two kinds
of males with corresponding but largely uncorrelated differences in
their plumage makes their classification as a group impossible. It is
simpler, therefore, to put the females into their classes first, after
which the hen-feathered males may be expected to fall into the same
groups (or nearly so), while the identity of the cock-feathered males,
_i. e._, their class relationship can only be determined for the classes
that resemble the F₁ and the P₁ birds. The F₂ hen-feathered males can in
part be further identified by means of the evidence that castration of
these types affords.
Two of the F₂ classes of hens can be identified in this back-cross, viz,
(_a_) 4 hens like the F₁ birds, (_b_) 3 hens like the game; (_c_) there
were 3 other hens with plain yellow, _i. e._, not stippled backs. The
upper surface was like that of the game female, but much lighter. The
first two classes (_a_), (_b_) might be again split into two types.
There were only two hen-feathered males, one nearly like the F₁ male,
the other blacker; they probably belong to different classes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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