Observation on the lrregular Hair Color in the “Misima usi¨ -the unimproved Japanese Native Cattle

The ”Misima usi” is unimproved Japanese native cattle , which is bred purelyin the solitary island ‘‘Misima lsland”､ 25 miles off the coast of Hagi (Yamaguti prefecture). Thus this makes the cattle precious material for study of Japanese native cattle. The color of this cattle is black with light brown as the Japaneseimproved black breed is. But many irregular colored hairs, mainly white hairs,are observed. The cattle whose coat are white and black mixed as in roan are present in 22 of 251 cattle. The cattle with more or less white hair on head , neck,body and legs are 144cattle.The small spots of white hairs-Aza in Japanese一are found in head, neck,body and legs also. These cattle are 101 of 231 cattle. The ring of white hairs-Tukinowa in Japanese-are found in 29 cattle. Three cattle have two rings in each body. The white spots are found on mamma, chest and belly. The spots on mamma are found in 93 cattle or 37.05%. The percentage of the cattle which had these colors was higher than in the case of the black breed.　　　　　　　　　　　　

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