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The distributions of the combinations of the sexes in mammalian litters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

William H. James
William H. James
Affiliation:
The Galton Laboratory, University College London

Summary

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There is subnormal dispersion in the distributions of the combinations of the sexes in some samples of litters of pigs, rabbits and mice. For instance, consider litters of exactly size 8. As contrasted with binomial expectation, there are too many with exactly 4 males and 4 females, and too few unisexual litters. It is argued that this supports the hypothesis (independently proposed by the author and by Guerrero) that P, the probability that a zygote will be male, varies with the time at which it is formed within the cycle. It is noted that data of Kaufman seem to support the hypothesis.

Type
Research Article
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , August 1975 , pp. 45 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

References

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