Microphthalmia and Maternal Effect in the White Rat.

ICROPHTHALMIA has been reported in a number of rat colonies M (JONES 1925; KING 1931; HAIN 1936; BROWMAN 1941, 1943; QUISSENBERRY and BROWN 1942 ; CAMPBELL 1944). Published reports indicate that not only the embryological development but also the final eye condition may be quite varied in the several colonies (see BROWMAN and RAMSEY 1943 and CAMPBELL 1944). The mode of inheritance of this character has not been satisfactorily worked out. Although the inheritance of certain kinds of microphthalmia ( GRUNEBERG 1953a) and anophthalmia (CHASE and CHASE 1941; CHASE 1944) in the mouse seem's to be fairly well understood, none of these explanations fits the data collected from the rat colony at Montana State University.