SORREL COLOR IN HORSES Although It May Be Only a Light Chestnut, Evidence Indicates that It Is Inherited Separately and Is Therefore a Distinct Unit—Sorrel Color the Easiest One for the Breeder to Produce at Will L. P. MCCANN Assistant in Animal Husbandry, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio HE sorrel color in horses is not such matings was recorded for compar- officially recognized by most stud ison with the results compiled by W. S. T books. The following, however, Anderson.2 After 400 matings had are exceptions to this: The Na- been tabulated it was apparent that, tional Registry of Belgian Draft Horses, not considering sorrel, the findings were The National Registry of French Draft as nearly like Anderson's as would be Horses, and The American Shetland expected. From this point only such Pony Stud Book. All others consider matings were recorded as were consid- sorrel to be a light shade of chestnut. ered of value in determining the inherit- Since the inheritance of all other ance of sorrel. colors has been found to accord with The final number of matings tabulated Mendel's Law, it occurred to the writer is 427, which involves the color of over that there was a possibility of determin- 1,250 animals. This seems a sufficient ing whether sorrel is a true color. With number from which to draw conclusions this point in mind the matings in The as to the inheritance of sorrel color. National Registry of Belgian Draft In previous work done on the inherit- Horses were examined as a source of ance of coat colors all other colors were information.l found to be dominant to chestnut. More than half of the records in the However, the records from which those Belgian stud book were covered in data were compiled entirely disregarded order to obtain evidence for, or against, sorrel as an individual color. the question at hand. A large pro- In the table on p. 371 it is seen that portion of the animals recorded in these from the sixty-three sorrel by sorrel books have been imported, and not matings sixty-one sorrel, one bay, and bred in the United States, and it was one roan offspring resulted. Upon in- therefore impossible to learn the color quiry, the breeder of the bay animal made of the sire and dam of such animals. the following statement as to its color: Work was begun on the most recent "Both the sire and dam were sorrel in volume published, and the preceding color but of a very light shade, and the volume taken up as the information in colt was so light in color that after the the succeeding one was exhausted. coat had been shed once the animal Finally a point was reached in the was so light as to make it impossible to records where the number of animals distinguish whether it was bay or recorded, that had been bred in this sorrel." country, was so small that the informa- However, he failed to state whether tion gained by going over these records the mane and tail were light in color, was almost negligible. It was then which is characteristic of sorrel, or deemed advisable to stop the work and whether they were black, which is analyze the data compiled. characteristic of bay. At the outset the color of all matings The roan pattern being dominant, it together with the color of offspring of is readily seen that the one roan animal 1 Much valuable assistance was received from Prof. W. M. Barrows, Department of Zoology and Entomology, Ohio State University, under whose direction this work was carried on. 1 Anderson, W. S., "Coat Color in Horses," JOURNAL OF HEREDITY, V, 482-488, November, 1914; and in more detail in Kentucky Experiment Station Bulletin 180. 370 McCann: Sorrel Color in Horses 371

MATINGS OF VARIOUS COLORS AND COLOR OF OFFSPRING Sorrel x Sorrel Sorrel Bay Brown Chestnut Black Roan 61 1 0 0 0 1 Chestnut x Chestnut 5 0 0 13 0 0 Sorrel x Chestnut 23 3 0 • 11 0 1 Sorrel x Bay 78 95 3 5 10 6 Sorrel x Black 9 8 0 1 6 1 Chestnut x Black 1 2 1 1 1 1 Chestnut x Bay 22 48 0 8 1 0 recorded as an offspring in the sorrel equal numbers, there should be fewer by sorrel cross is due to a mistake in sorrels than chestnuts resulting from recording, or that one of the parents was this cross, but there are twenty-three a roan animal with a very few white sorrels to eleven chestnuts. The same hairs showing, which is a case of thing is brought out in the sorrel by bay incomplete dominance. Occasionally, matings. The sorrels and bays are animals are seen which from a distance present in about the proper proportion, appear to be sorrel, chestnut or bay in but theoretically, there should be a color, but upon close observation a few larger number of chestnuts. white hairs are apparent in the coat. The bay by chestnut matings also It has been found by other investigators substantiate the fact that sorrel is that there are a small number of mis- recessive to chestnut. If such were takes in the stud books as regards coat not the case the number of sorrels from colors, because color is considered a this cross would be very small as com- matter of minor importance by a great pared to the others, but the result is many breeders. twenty-two sorrels, forty-eight bays, eight chestnuts and one black. SORRELS ARE ABUNDANT The sorrel by black matings give a The chestnut by chestnut matings, result similar to the chestnut by black while few in number, serve to demon- matings. The former gives nine sorrels, strate that sorrel is recessive to chestnut. eight bays, one roan, one chestnut and In order to conform exactly to Mendel's six blacks, and the latter, one sorrel, Law the offspring should be in the two bays, one brown, one roan, one proportion of three chestnuts to one chestnut and one black, showing that sorrel, and they do approach this sorrel and chestnut are qualitatively proportion rather closely, being thirteen alike. The occurrence of bay offspring to five respectively. There is a pre- from these matings is explained by dominance of sorrels as compared to Prof. E. N. Wentworth' in the following chestnut, in the Belgian breed studied, way: and it would therefore be expected that "The bay coat results from the pres- a larger number of the chestnut animals ence of two pigments in the hair would be heterozygous for sorrel, than tubules, viz., red, and black. There is if these two colors were present in a factor associated with the red pigment equal numbers. This is more clearly which restricts the appearance of the shown in the chestnut by sorrel matings. black pigment to certain parts of the Again considering the matter theoreti- body, as the mane, tail, legs and around cally, if the two colors were present in the eyes. In the case of sorrels and

» "Why is a Horse Bay?" The Horseman, November 10, 1914. 372 The Journal of Heredity •chestnuts the coat color is due to the the chestnut by sorrel cross cannot be red pigment alone, but the restriction accounted for, except by mistakes in factor is also present. Since there is the records as previously mentioned. no black pigment present in these ani- The fact that the sorrel by sorrel mals this factor cannot exert itself until cross gives sorrel offspring in practically the black pigment is brought into the 100% of the cases is rather definite cross by the other parent, as in the case proof that sorrel is a unit character, of black by sorrel matings." and further, that it is recessive to all other colors. Therefore, the breeder INFORMATION WANTED who is desirous of producing sorrel One point which might prove of value animals has an easier task than the one in determining the difference, if there who desires to produce animals of a be any, in the pigment which produces color other than sorrel. The former sorrel and that which produces chestnut will be certain of getting sorrel colts as is this: Are the bay animals from sorrel long as he has a sire and dam of sorrel by black matings lighter in color than color, while the latter cannot be certain the bays from chestnut by black of the results from the cross of any other matings? Information pertaining to color. With sorrels becoming rather this point will be gratefully accepted. popular, especially among pleasure The appearance of roan offspring horses, this point will doubtless be of from most of the tabulated crosses, as some value to those who make a -well as the three bays resulting from business of producing such animals.

A Magnificent Flowering Vine Camcensia maxima, discovered by abundant water during our wet season Welwitsch in tropical Africa, has pro- and is occasionally watered during the bably the largest flowers of any of winter or dry season, but stands con- the Leguminosffi. Blossoms produced siderable drought without injury. It xuider glass by the Department in will grow in full sun, also full shade, Washington were illustrated in the but makes more luxuriant foliage where American Breeders' Magazine, IV, p. partly shaded. Flowers are produced 212, December, 1913. Robert M. Grey several times annually. I believe the of the Soledad Sugar Co., Cienfuegos, vine could be acclimatized in the ham- Cuba, who has been growing this vine mocks of southern Florida with little or in the open air, writes: "The clusters of flowers are beautiful, large and the no trouble and the. natural distribution gilt-edged petals appear hand painted. of its seeds would cause it to spread The change of this tracery from gold rapidly." to brown on the second day is equally Members of this association who are remarkable. The aromatic fragrance in a position to grow this vine, either which can be detected 20 or more feet under glass or out of doors, can pro- distant is very agreeable. bably secure seed by communicating "The Camcensia vine is growing in with the Office of Foreign Seed and rather clayey soil with a reddish rotten- Plant Introduction, U. S. Department stone subsoil, on a dry situation, but gets of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

Eugenics Research Association Dr. Adolf Meyer, director of the meeting in Cold Spring Harbor, Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, Baltimore, L. I. William F. Blades was contin- was elected president of the Eugenics ued as secretary-treasurer of the Research Association, at its annual Association.