STUDIES OF INHERITANCE IN LOP-EARED RABBITS

Abstract

I. A renewed study of the inheritance of ear length in crosses between lop-eared and ordinary short-eared rabbits supports the multiple factor interpretation first applied to the case by LANG.2. Ear length among ordinary breeds of rabbits is closely correlated with general body size. A similar influence of body size on ear length is found also among lop-eared rabbits, but special mutated genes in the case of purebred lop-eared rabbits nearly double the ear length as compared with that of ordinary rabbits of like body size.3 . The increased size of the ears in lop-eared rabbits has not been attended by any change in the shape of the ear. The ratio of ear length to ear width is nearly the same in all breeds of rabbits and at all ages between one month and maturity. It varies closely about a modal value of 0.56.4. There are indications that mutations decreasing the size of the ears in relation to that of the body have also occurred among rabbits, and that such mutations have been incorporated in such small-bodied and short-eared breeds as Polish.