A SEX-LINKED QUERY.
On the subject of scientific breeding a really important announcement is likely to be made by the Cambridge School of Mendelians during this October. Mr. Punnett (who has enabled poultry breeders to produce chickens that proclaim their sex on the day of birth) has been concentrating his energies on the study of egg-laying as, in the jargon of the science, a sex-linked characteristic. Professional poultrymen all round the world are awaiting with interest the result of the full and thorough experiments that have been proceeding on this marvellous "heredity farm" on the outskirts of Cambridge. The point of the inquiry is simple, though the experiments themselves are far from simple. Is the capacity to lay a great number of eggs inherited from cock or hen or both ? Apparently there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that this characteristic is only passed on to the progeny via the cock. If Mr. Punnett has proved this, he deserves the commendation rightly bestowed by Swift on the man who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before—and that eggs are worth a good deal more than grass blades even Lord Melchett would allow.
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