Íslenskar landbúnaðarrannsóknir - 01.03.1970, Blaðsíða 120

118 ÍSLENZKAR LANDBIJNABARRANNSÓKNIR
The results of the present study are com-
pared with results from earlier investiga-
tions and obvious discrepancies are discuss-
ed (Chapter VIII).
The action of the genes at the colour loci
in sheep ancl their homology with colour
loci in rodents is also discussed (Chapter
IX).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am greatly indebted to Dr. Halldór Páls-
son, former director of the Department of
Agriculture of the University Research
Institute for invaluable assistance and dis-
cussions during the whole period of ex-
perimentation and data collection and for
the permission to use all the records on
sheep colours from the Experimental Farm,
Hestur, collected during the period 1951—
1962. Thanks are also due to Mr. Pétur
Gunnarsson, the present director of the
Agricultural Research Institute (former
Department of Agriculture of the Uni-
versity Research Institute) and to the Ice-
landic Ministry of Agriculture for grant-
ing me leave of absence for the period
lst October, 1966, to 15th August, 1968,
during which I stayed with the University
of Edinburgh, analysing the data and
writing up the results. — I also wish
to express my gratitude to the Icelandic
Scientific Foundation (Vísindasjóður) for a
grant made available for a preliminary ana-
lysis of part of the data in 1962 and for
grants made available to me in 1967 and
1968 during my stay in Edinburgh.
During the period of experimentation
and data collection I had to rely on the
goodwill and help of a great number of
jieople. It would lead too far to mention
all tliose who assisted me in one way or
another during this jseriod. Particular
thanks are due to the farm managers of
the Experimental Farm, Hestur, Mr. Guð-
mundur Pétursson and Mr. Einar E. Gísla-
son for their excellent supervision of the
experiments and for the general recording
of the colours of the sheep in the experi-
mental flock; to the farmers Guðmundur
Jónsson, Kójrsvatni, Magnús Sigurðsson,
Gilsbakka, and Ólafur Jónsson, Skeiðhá-
holti for valuable assistance in connection
with experimentation and data collection;
to all the others farmers who made their
sheep available for experimentation and
their flock book records available for ana-
lysis; to Miss Svandís Guðmundsdótir, Mrs.
Virginia B. Steingrímsson, Mrs. Jóhanna
Gunnbjörnsdóttir and Mr. Sveinn Hall-
grímsson for preparation and punching of
the data; and finally to Mr. Jóhann Gunn-
arsson of the IBM-agency in Iceland for
assistance in planning the transfer of the
data to punched cards.
I also wish to express my sincere thanks
to Professor D. J. Finney of the Depart-
ment of Statistics of the University of Edin-
burgh for his many valuable suggestions
and keen interest in the project during my
stay with his Department. Sincere thanks
are also due to Professor Alan Robertson
of the Institute of Animal Genetics of the
University of Edinburgh for his advice and
comments during the many discussions I
had with him on the subject. I am also in-
delited to the Edinburgh Regional Com-
puting Center for assistance in connection
witli the comjmting facilities and to the
Library of the Commonwealth Bureau of
Animal Breeding and Genetics for facilities
made available to me there.
I arn further indebted to Miss M. Brown
and Miss M. Wilson for typing the first
draft of the manuscript and to Miss Inga
Lára Guðmundsdótitr for the final typing
of the manuscript.
Finally I wish to exjiress my sincere
thanks to my wife, Ellen, for all her pati-
ence and her direct and indirect help at
all stages of the project.