Rabbit Notebooks : Rabbit breeding notebook 'B', 1909-1911

Rabbit Notebooks

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Notebook recording rabbit breeding experiments conducted by Bateson and Punnett between 1909 and 1911 on rabbits born between circa February and October 1909. The notebook begins with a five-page index providing summary information for 251 rabbits: the sex, colour, and parentage of each, with a checkmark to indicate rabbits used for further breeding. More detailed records for each rabbit begin on [<a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(13);return false;'>page 1</a>]. The general format of the record is that each animal has a separate page. The page is headed with the cross, e.g. ex 12 x 28, which denotes the parents. The birth date is recorded, together with phenotypic characteristics like coat colour etc., descriptions of litters if the animal was allowed to breed, and notes on when each rabbit died or was killed. Some entries are marked ‘stuffed’ [<a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(40);return false;'>e.g. page 28</a>], ‘skin’ [<a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(149);return false;'>e.g. page 137</a>] or ‘spirit’ [<a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(127);return false;'>e.g. page 115</a>]. A ‘note on pigments by F.M.D.’ is inserted into the back of the notebook [<a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(263);return false;'>page 251</a>], with further notes recorded on [<a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(266);return false;'>pp.254-256</a>].</p>