Use the diagram above to answer this question. What of the following statements about the cross is correct?

The correct statement about the cross in the diagram is "The gene for the spotted coat is dominant over the gene for the black coat." This can be deduced from the fact that all the offspring in the F1 generation have the spotted coat, despite having one parent with a black coat (which is a recessive trait). If the gene for the black coat were dominant over the gene for the spotted coat, then all the offspring in the F1 generation would have black coats. Similarly, if the two genes were co-dominant, then the offspring in the F1 generation would have coats that show both black and spotted patterns, which is not the case in the diagram. Therefore, the correct answer is that the gene for the spotted coat is dominant over the gene for the black coat.