Polygene analysis II. Selection

Abstract

A modest theory of polygene selection is presented. Recently published data show that the curved model of gene action (presented in a previous paper) is insufficiently general. The curved model does, however, show that the scaling tests (used in the additive type of polygene analysis) do not guarantee additivity; they guarantee a state of indeterminacy, in which additivity is one of a range of reasonable possibilities. These different possibilities give entirely different predictions of selective advance. The failure (in practice) of polygene analysis does not reduce the value of polygene concepts.