Abstract
DR. L. DONCASTER'S work on sex-limited colourinheritance in cats is well known to students of heredity, the typical “tortoiseshell” coat being almost always characteristic of a female. An account of the microscopic structure of a testis from a tortoiseshell male which after repeated matings failed to beget kittens is given by Dr. Doncaster and Mr. D., W. Cutler in the December number of the Journal of Genetics (vol. v., No. 2). The tubules were absolutely devoid of spermatocytes and spermatozoa, while the interstitial tissue which is supposed to be concerned with the secretion of the sexual hormones was exceptionally well developed. The belief that the rare tortoiseshell tom-cat is normally sterile is thus confirmed, though the records of breeders show that a fertile male of this colour has been known. The conclusion drawn, therefore, is the possibility that “the abnormal transmission of a sex-limited colour-factor to a male may sometimes cause the animal to be sterile, and in other cases not have this effect.”
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C., G. Recent Work on Genetics . Nature 97, 232–233 (1916). https://doi.org/10.1038/097232b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/097232b0