“A SERIES of breeding experiments with the common pomace-fly, Drosophila ampelophila Loew., conducted during the past five years principally by my pupils and still in progress, has yielded certain results which it is the purpose of this note to summarize” starts his 1906 Science paper, William Ernest Castle, who had already put to practice advice by Charles William Woodworth that Drosophila was an ideal organism to study genetics.  “Low productiveness is inherited after the manner of a Mendelian recessive character in certain of the crosses made, skipping a generation and then reappearing…” is one of the conclusions. Low productiveness referred to a low number of offspring produced by single parent matings. (more…)