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The inheritance of black, yellow and tortoiseshell coat-colour in cats

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Summary

  1. (1)

    The normal facts of inheritance of black, yellow and tortoiseshell can be explained only by supposing either that both colours are sexlinked, or thatone only is sex-linked and completely dominant to the other in the male, incompletely dominant in the female.

  2. (2)

    Black hairs have been found in all yellow cats of either sex examined by us, and this practically disproves any sex-difference in the dominance of black and yellow. There remains, therefore, as the only alternative, the sex-linkage of both colours.

  3. (3)

    In the course of our investigations a yellow female appeared, showing and transmitting a very small amount of black-spotting which did not segregate from the yellow. We subsequently found thatall yellow cats have a few black hairs. These facts suggest that in the past and again during our experiments there has been fractionation of a factor.

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Bamber, R.C., Herdman, E.C. The inheritance of black, yellow and tortoiseshell coat-colour in cats. Journ. of Gen. 18, 87–97 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03052604

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