Systematic training experiments were carried on with
individuals of both the 200 and 400 lines of descent.
For each of these lines a male and a female were trained
at the age of four weeks to discriminate between the
white and the black electric-boxes and to choose the
former. After they had been thoroughly trained
these individuals were mated, and in course of time
a male and female, chosen at random from their first
litter, were similarly trained. All the individuals
were trained in the same way and under as nearly the
same conditions as could be maintained, and accurate
records were kept of the behavior of each animal and
of the number of errors of choice which it made in
series after series of tests. What do these records
indicate concerning the influence of individually acquired
forms of behavior upon the behavior of the race?
THE INHERITANCE OF THE HABIT OF WHITE-BLACK DISCRIMINATION
Number of Errors in Daily Series of Ten Tests
MALES
FEMALES
SERIES FIRST SECOND THIRD FOURTH FIRST SECOND
THIRD FOURTH
GENERA-
GENERA- GENERA- GENERA- GENERA- GENERA- GENERA- GENERA-
TION
TION TION TION TION TION TION
TION
No. 210
No. 220 No. 230 No. 240 No. 215 No. 225 No. 235 No.
245
A 6 5 6 7 8 4 4 7
B 6 8 8 8 8 7 6 5
1 6 7 6 5 7 6 5 4
2 4 3 1 5 5 6 4 5
3 3 1 4 5 3 4 4 3
4 5 0 3 4 2 1 3 1
5 3 0 4 2 1 3 3 0
6 2 1 4 2 2 1 1 1
7 1 0 3 1 1 1 2 0
8 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 3
9 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
10 0 0 1 0 2 1 1
11 0 0 0 3 0 0
12 0 0 0 0 0
13 0 0 0 0
14 0
I have records for four generations in the 200 line
and for three generations in the 400 line.[1] As the
results are practically the same for each, I shall
present the detailed records for the former group alone.
In Table 53 are to be found the number of errors made
in successive series of ten tests each by the various
individuals of the 200 line which were trained in
this experiment. The most careful examination
fails to reveal any indication of the inheritance
of a tendency to avoid the black box. No. 240,
