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THE . 


AMERICAN NATURALIST 


A MONTHLY JOURNAL 
DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 


WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE Factors OF EVOLUTION 


VOLUME LII 


NEW YORK 
THE SCIENCE PRESS 
1918 


THE | 
AMERICAN NATURALIST 


VOL: LIT. January, 1918 No. 613 


INHERITANCE OF NUMBER OF FEATHERS OF 
THE FANTAIL PIGEON 


PROFESSOR T. H. MORGAN 


CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


SEVERAL years ago I began to study the inheritance of 
the number of the tail feathers in fantail pigeons, partly 
because of a challenge that I would not recover the fantail 
in the F, generation, the implication being that the in- 
heritance was not Mendelian. The race of fantails is a 
very old one and the pigeons have been very intensively 
selected by fanciers for many years. It was therefore to 
be expected that several modifications had in time been 
accumulated in the direction of selection. Nevertheless, 
it was to be expected that if a sufficient number of indi- 
viduals were bred, the original type would reappear. If 
two factors in homozygous condition are essential for the 
reappearance in F, of the original fantail, then such an 
individual is expected once in sixteen cases; if three fac- 
tors, once in sixty-four cases; if four, once in two hundred 
and fifty-six; if five, only once in 1,048 cases, etc. This 
relation holds if the fantail factors are all recessive, but 
fewer factors are called for if one or more of them is 
dominant, and the question will be still more complicated 
if the highest reaches of the variation are due to modify- 
ing factors acting only in the presence of other factors. 

It seemed unlikely, however, that the situation would 
be found to be as simple as this; for, in the first place, 
there is no fixed number of tail feathers characteristic of 

5 ee 


6 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


the fantail; selection of these birds has not been made ex- 
clusively in regard to number of feathers, but in regard 
also to their size and shape, their regularity of distribu- 
tion, their method of spreading, ete. It was a priori un- 
likely that the race itself is homozygous for all of the fac- 
tors that influence the number of feathers. How far the 
results would depend on whether the maximum effects 
are produced by a homozygous condition in several of 
the factors, with heterozygous condition in others, would 
be a point not easy to ascertain in a race that produces as 
few offspring as does the pigeon. Nevertheless, the re- 
sults give, I believe, pretty clear indications that the effects 
are due to several factors, and they indicate, moreover, 
that the failure to recover the extreme type of the fantail 
in F, is probably only a question of insufficient numbers— 
in fact, the fantail type has probably reappeared in F, 
though not in its most extreme form, even with the rela- 
tively few F, pigeons that I have been able to get. 

The work has extended over several years, owing to 
lack of suitable quarters in which to keep the birds and of 
assistance to take care of them. They had to be removed 
to and from Woods Hole each year, with the consequent 
loss of young and disturbance of the regularity of habits 
essential to a bird as conventional as the pigeon. 

The original stock was obtained from Dr. F. D. Solley, 
of New York City, a well-known breeder of high-grade 
fantails. Dr. Solley has also supplied me with informa- 
tion as to the number of tail feathers in birds of his strain. 
Unfortunately these numbers were not obtained until a 
year after these particular birds had passed out of his 
hands. He assures me they are typical, and the birds of 
his stock that I saw when my parent birds were ob- 
tained were closely similar in tail number, ete., to those 
here recorded. 

The birds with which the original fantails were bred 
to get F, stock were ordinary birds. As they were not 
pedigreed stock there is a small chance that they might 
have contained factors of the fantail type, but this is 


No. 613] INHERITANCE IN FANTAIL PIGEON 7 


highly improbable, since they had the number of feathers 
characteristic of nearly all other strains of pigeons, and 
especially of the more common ones.! Three P, pairs 
were used (two male fantail and one female) but the F, in- 
dividuals were not kept apart (for want of space) and, as 
no marked difference appeared amongst the F, progeny 
when the fantail parent was female or male,.the F,’s from 
the reciprocal crosses were mixed together. This is un- 
fortunate, for fuller and more accurate observations 
might have revealed significant differences indicative of 
sex-linked factors. I can only state that if such are here 
involved their effect is slight, and was not observed at 
the time when the two kinds of F, offspring were reared. 


History oF THE FANTAIL Race 
In his book on ‘‘ Animals and Plants under Domestica- 
tion’’ Darwin has given a great deal of important infor- 
mation about the origin and characteristics of the fantail. 


“The normal number of tail feathers in the genus Columba is 12; but 
fantails have from only 12 (as has been asserted) up to, according to 
MM. Boitard and Corbie, 42. I have counted in one of my own birds 
33, and at Caleutta Mr. Blyth has counted in an imperfect tail 34 
Pee tliat: In Madras, as I am informed by Sir W. Elliot, 32 is the 
standard number; but in England number is much less valued than the 
position and expansion of the tail. The feathers are arran m an 
irregular double row; their permanent fan-like rings and their 
upward direction are more remarkable characters than their increased 
number. The tail is capable of the same movements as in fae pigeons 
and can be depressed so as to sweep the ground. It arises from a more 
expanded basis than in other pigeons; and in three skeletons there were 
one or two extra coccygeal vertebrae. I have examined many specimens 
of various colors from different countries, and there was no trace of 
the oil gland; this is a curious case of abortion.2 The neck is thin and 
bowed backwards. The breast is broad and protuberant. The feet are 

1 At least one other of the Gomantientod, races may have more than twelve 
feathers in the tail. 

2 ** This gland occurs in most birds; but Nitzsch (in his” Prerylógraphio, * 
1840, p. 55) states that it is absent in two species of Col: veral 
species of Psittacus, in some species of Otis, and in most or all birds of the 
Ostrich family. It can hardly be an accidental occurrence that the two 
species of Columba which are destitute of an oil gland have an unusual 
number of tail a namely 16, and in this respect resemble fantails.’’ 


8 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vor. LIT 


small. The carriage of the bird is very different from that of other 
pigeons; in good birds the head touches the tail feathers, which conse- 
quently often become crumpled. They habitually tremble much; and 
their necks have an extraordinarily, apparently convulsive, backward 
and forward movement. Good birds walk in a singular manner, as if 
page small feet were stiff. Owing to their large tails, they fly badly on 

windy day. The dark-colored varieties are generally larger than 
shies fantails.” 

“Mr. Swinhoe sent me from Amoy, in China, the skin of a fantail 
belonging to a breed known to have Tai imported from Java. It was 
colored in a peculiar manner, unlike any European fantail; and, for 
a fantail, had a remarkably short banca oie a good bird of the 
kind, it had only 14 tail feathers; but Mr. Swinhoe has counted in 
others of this breed from 18 to 24 tail feathers. From a rough sketch 
sent to me, it is evident that the tail is not so much expanded or so 
much upraised as in even second-rate European fantails. The bird 
shakes its neck like our fantails. It had a well-developed oil gland. 
Fantails were known in India, as we shall hereafter see, before the year 
1600; and we may suspect that in the Java fantail we see the breed in 
its earlier and less improved condition.” Vol. I, Chap. V, p. 153. 

“ The first notice of the existence of this breed is in India, before the 
year 1600, as given in the “ Ayeen Akabery”; at this date, judging 
from Aldrovandi, the breed was unknown in Europe. In 1677, Wil- 
lighby speaks of a fantail with 26 tail feathers; in 1735, Moore saw one 
with 36 tail feathers; and in 1824, MM. Boitard and Corbie assert that 
in France birds can easily be found with 42 tail feathers. In England, 
the number of the tail feathers is not at present so much regarded as 
their upward direction and expansion. The general carriage of the 
bird is likewise now much valued. The old descriptions do not suffice 
to show whether in these latter respects there has been much improve- 
ment; but if fantails with their heads and tails touching had formerly 
existed, as at the present time, the fact would almost certainly have 
been noticed. The fantails which are now found in India probably 
show the state of the race, as far as carriage is concerned, at the date of 
their introduetion into Europe; and some, said to have been brought 
from Caleutta, which I kept alive, were in a marked manner inferior to 
our exhibition birds. The Java fantail shows the same difference in 
carriage; and although Mr. Swinhoe has counted 18 and 24 tail feathers 
in his birds, a first-rate specimen sent to me had only 14 tail feathers.2 


A later statement in regard to fantails from Fulton’s 
Book of Pigeons gives some additional bras 
2 Darwin, ‘‘ Animals and Plants, ”” Chapter VII, p. 


4‘*The Illustrated Book of Pigeons with cad for Judging,’’ by 
Robert Fulton, edited by L. Wright. Cassell & Co., Ltd., New York. 


No. 613] INHERITANCE IN FANTAIL PIGEON 9 


The tail also is peculiar, and quite uncommon. It is long and com- 
posed of 14 to 22 feathers, 16 being about the average number in these 
birds; these are arranged equally on either side, one above another, and 
the two top ones, diverging a little outwards, show a slight division in 
the tail, but there is not the slightest affinity or resemblance to a “ fan’ 
tail, as some might suppose by the excessive number of feathers, but 
it is a distinet peculiarity of this breed (12 being the normal number 
of tail-quills in most pigeons). The greater the number of quills in 
“Oriental Rollers” the more the specimens are valued. A further 
singular feature noticeable in the tails of these birds is that occasionally 
two feathers may be found growing from one quill, separating at its 
pithy junction as a twin feather, each rather narrower than ordinarily, 

ut of the usual length, and not outgrown, or causing a disordered 
formation of the tail (p. 195). 

- The tail is the other chief point in the English breed. The 
fest should lie flat and evenly over one another (none of them 
being set edgeways), so as to form a neat double row. In number they 
should not be less than 28, but as many more as the bird can carry 
nicely. The Birmingham Columbarian Society, in an article published 
by them some years ago, laid down 40, arran in 3 rows, as the 
proper number; but though I have heard of such birds I have never 
seen one. I once had a hen with 38 tail-feathers. I purchased her - 
from Mr. Fulton, and I believe she had been imported from India; 
and I have often bred birds with tails of 36 or 37 feathers carried in 
most orthodox fashion. In an exhibition pen the number is of no conse- 
quence, provided that the tail is well spread and cireular, and well 
filled up all around; but in the breeding pen a thickly-feathered tail is 
of great value. In dee breeding of any animal for any faney point, if 
you can get that point in excess in either of the parents so much the 
easier is your task. You have then something to spare, instead of 
something to breed up to, whieh is a very different matter (p. 329). 


THe P, GENERATION 
The three original fantails had 29, 30 and 32 tail 
feathers, respectively (Fig. 1). From Dr. F. D. Solley I 
got the records of other fantails of the same stock given 
in Fig. 2. The other parents were ordinary homers pur- 
chased from a breeder of these birds. 
Tue F, OFFSPRING 
The numbers of tail feathers shown by the 41 pe ri 


uals of the F, generation are recorded in Fig. 3. The 
range of variation is from 12 to 20, with the highest fre- 


10 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


Fic, 1. One of fantail pigeons used in the experiments. 


quency in the 14-tail-feather class. Evidently one or 
more of the factors of the fantail act as partial domi- 
nants, producing tails that have for the most part more 
tail feathers than has the common pigeon but less than 
the fantail. In appearance these F, birds are more like 
the common pigeon, having lost the peculiar carriage 


4 
2 
| a Me sea T Je 
12 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 
Fig. 2. Frequency distribution of tail feathers in parent “ homers ” (left), 
and fantails (right). 

12 

8 

8 

4 

2 


12 15 14 15 16 17 18 1 
Fic. 3. Freqtency distribution of tail feathers in F;. 


No. 613] INHERITANCE IN FANTAIL PIGEON 11 


of the fantail and its peculiar shape. The tail is, how- 
ever, often wedge-shaped instead of flat as in ordinary 
birds. There were 28 birds with an even number of 


de 


12 15 14 15 16 17 19 19 2 21 22 23 2 25 26 


Fic. 4. Frequency distribution of tail feathers in Fo. 


Aiet and 13 with an odd TETEE considerable pre- 
ponderance of even number of feathers. Of the 41 in- 
dividuals, 30 are inodd i in the classes with 14, 15, 16 tail 
feathers. 


12 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LII 


Tue F, GENERATION? 

A glance at Fig. 4 shows that the range of variation of 
the F, group is greater than that of the F,; that the 12- 
feathered tail has reappeared in considerable numbers; 
that the ‘‘curve’’ is at least bimodal with one apex in the 
14, 15, 16 rows, and the other in the 12 row; that there 
are a few individuals that approach the lower range of 
variation of the fantail, viz., those with 24, 25 and 26 
tail feathers. 

There is a distinct return of one of the grandparental 
types, viz., the 12 class. The 13-16 groups clearly corre- 
spond to á large part of the heterozygous group seen in 
F,. Whether the range to the right of this middle group 
in the F,'s is significantly different from that in the F, 
can not be determined by inspection, as the number of in- 
dividuals is too small. If the F, and the F, groups are 
made into curves the results show that it is doubtful if 
the wider range in F, is significant, although the large 
12-feathered class in F, makes the F, variability much 
more marked than the variability in 


Back Cross 
Some of the F, birds, both males and females, were 
back-crossed to fantails. Twenty-three offspring were 
obtained which differed strikingly as a group from the 
F, and F, lots. The number of tail feathers (Fig. 5) was 
greater; no 12-feathered birds appeared (the lowest num- 


ey | + 
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 
Fie. 5. Frequency distribution of tail feathers in back-cross. 


ber was 14) ; while the highest number included birds with 
30 and 31 tail feathers. The latter would undoubtedly 
pass-for-fantail, so far as the number of tail feathers was 

5 There are some diserepancies between the F, and back-cross tables 
given here and the records of the groups given in ‘‘The Mechanism of 
M an Heredity.*? The present account is more accurate, as some of 
- the former data was obtained from the birds while still aliv 


No. 613] INHERITANCE IN FANTAIL PIGEON 13 


concerned. . The carriage of most of the birds was notice- 
ably much more like the fantail than that of the F, and F, 
birds. 

NUMBER or Factors [NVOLVED 

The recovery of a certain number of the normal 12- 
feathered tail in the F, might seem to furnish a basis on 
which to calculate the number of factors involved; but 
the fact that a few 12-feathered birds appear in F, shows 
that some, at least, of the heterozygous combination are 
included in the F, troie feather group. ‘It is also pos- 
sible, even probable, that other F, combinations may also 
fall within this group. It is impossible, therefore, to ar- 
rive at anything more than a possible conclusion from 
the F, data because the relative value of the DAÑE 
classes can only be guessed at. 

Two factors will obviously not fit the results, pa 
there would be expected more of the higher numbers of 
tail feathers both in the back eross and in the F, count. 
Three factors fit fairly well. Let.A, B, C represent par- 
tially dominant factors for fantails, and a, b, e their nor- 
mal allelomorphs (aabbee being the normal 12-feathered 
tail). In the F, there will be expected only one pure 
fantail out of 64 (viz., AABBCC) and one pure 12-feath- 
ered type (viz., aabbec). There will be six F, classes with 
only one dominant factor heterozygous for A or B or C. 
These, theoretically at least, if all the factors have equal 
efficiency, would be the most likely ones to fall within the 
12-feathered group. If these include all of the expected 
12-feathered tails in F, there should be seven 12-feath- 
ered in 64. There were 278 F, individuals. On the same 
calculation this would give. an expectation of only 10.5 
twelve-feathered tails. But the F, records actually gave 
46 normal tails. Obviously still other combinations 
realized in F, must come under this class. It would be 
mere guesswork to try to state wiih are the more prob- 
able combinations. 

: The back cross furnishes dais that permit a better means | 
of calculation. Here eight kinds of germ cells and eight 


14 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von. LIT 


zygotes are expected on the assumption of a three-factor 
cross, Viz., 

ABC ABc Abe aBC abC aBe abe 

abe abe abe abe abe abe abe 


Of these eight kinds of individuals, some of only one class, 
might be expected to be wild type (viz., of class abe ABC) 
in the sense that individuals of this class correspond in 
formula to the F, offspring, and, of these F, offspring, 2 
out of 41 have tails with 12 feathers, or 1 in 20. Amongst 
the 24 back crossed individuals, there were none with 12 
feathers only and at most one is expected. If we assign 
to the group of abeABC also the four individuals of the 
back cross in the 14 and 16 groups, and assign the 3 indi- 
viduals of the 30 and 31 groups to the pure fantails, there 
remain 17 individuals in the middle range that belong to 
the six intermediate groups that are homozygous in one 
or in two fantail modifiers. There are six intermediate 
classes between the end classes just spoken of. If we 
are right in the limits assigned to the end classes, the ex- 
pectation would be 18 individuals for the intermediate 
classes, where 17 are so classified, which is also not a bad 
fit. 


Four factors fit the data about as well as three,* but if 
three will suffice the smaller number is perhaps preferable. 
It is evident that the data do not allow close analysis, but 
only because they are not sufficiently large, especially in 
the back cross. Nevertheless, it is important to find out 
that, so far as the results go, they are not unconformable 
with the Mendelian es of segregation of a few 
pairs of factors. 

LINKAGE 


When all F, tails that are blue are classified they fall 
into the groups shown in Fig. 6; similarly, the white tails 


6 On this assumption TE S fewer fantails are expected in F., which 
is a better fit, but fewer also in the back cross, which apparently is not so 
good a fit. The proportion would also depend, however, on the relative _ 
efficiency and the completeness of the dominance of each factor. The 
above evidence proves that there must be at least three factors. o 


No. 613] INHERITANCE IN FANTAIL PIGEON 15 


give the groups shown in Fig. 7. A comparison of these 
groups shows that there is a relatively large number of 
high-feathered tails amongst the whites, while among the 


18,195 T4- 15 16" 17. 10 19 20 21. 28 25- 94 85 y 


Fig. 6. Frequency distribution of blue tail feathers in Fə. 


12 153 M4 15 16-17: 18 29 2 D21 98 95 2 25 
Fic. 7. Frequency distribution of white tail feathers in Fo. 


blues, the 12-feathered tails are relatively more frequent. 
A not improbable interpretation of this relation is that 
the principal factor for white is linked to one or more of 
the factors for increased number of feathers, 


16 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST { Von. LII 


Since these results occur in the F, count, it is unfortu- 
nately not possible to deduce from them whether crossing 
over takes place in one or both or neither sex. 

Amongst the tails were some that had both blue feathers 
and white feathers. These give the group shown in Fig. 
8, which closely corresponds to the blue-tail group (Fig. 
6). There were other tails with white feathers having 


Í 
dd Bee 7. 18 19020 21 22 (Os... 24. 96 
Fig. 8. Frequency distribution of blue-and-white tail feathers in Fe. 


pigment along the margins as in Fig. 15. These, when 
classified, gave the group shown in Fig. 9, which ap- 
parently is the same as the group of white tails (Fig. 7). . 

The number of birds in the F, and in the back cross 
are too few to give significant results when broken up 
into the two groups of white or blue. ` 


12 "13.14 15 EA ee ee. 
Fro. 9. Frequency distribution of “edged white” tail feathers in Fs. 
The tails are not a complete index of the bird from 
which they came, for a bird with a pure white tail might 
have color patches elsewhere on its body; but as no rec- 


No. 613] INHERITANCE IN FANTAIL PIGEON 17 


ords were kept of the entire color of each bird, it is not 
now possible to find out how closely the complete pattern 
would correspond with the tail color. In general, how- 
ever, in these birds the tail is a partial index, at least—a 
fair sample, perhaps—of the entire color. 


‘í CORRELATION ?? BETWEEN THE OIL GLAND AND THE NUMBER 
or Tar. FEATHERS 


Darwin suggests a ‘‘correlation’’ between the absence 
of the oil gland and the increased number of tail feathers. 
Such a relation might be a direct correlation in the sense 
that the overdevelopment of the tail feathers suppresses 
or tends to suppress the development of the oil gland that 
is situated on the uropygium just above the base of the 
tail feathers. If this were the true interpretation of the 
condition in the fantail, one would expect to find in F, 
and F, all degrees of development of the oil gland. If, 
on the other hand, the absence of the oil gland is an in- 
herited peculiarity having nothing directly to do with the 
number of feathers, then in the F, series we might expect 
to find a numerical relation indicating its mode of inherit- 
ance. Unfortunately the pedigrees of the normal tailed 
pigeons that had been mated to the fantails were un- 

own. While the oil glands may be occasionally absent 
in domesticated pigeons, it is highly improbable that any 
of the homers used in the experiment carried such a fac- 
tor. In classifying the F, and F, birds according to the 
condition of the oil gland three dassos were recognized. 
First, ‘‘double’’ glands, those with the right and left sides 
almost separate, each with a separate opening; second, 
““single”” glands, those with the halves united more closely 
and with but one external outlet;” third, those with no oil 
glands. The results are given in graphs of Figs. 10-11. 

_ The few F, birds available when the oil gland was 
studied show a wide range of variability; all but one were 
double, Fig. 10 (above). This doubling might be due to 


7 An intermediate stage was also tad viz., one with two closely fused 


we. fo mae lost a single. sland, 


[VoL. LIT 


THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 


18 


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No. 613] INHERITANCE IN FANTAIL PIGEON 19 


partial dominance of a gene for doubling, or to a ‘‘corre- 
lation”” such as Darwin spoke of, for the number of tail 


b w bw ew Pe ew 
38 Double Single None 


1 


Fic. 12 (above). o 13 (below). Frequency distribution of double, single 
o oil glands in differently colored tails. 


feathers in this particular lot was high. That the latter 
is probably not the explanation is shown in the F, birds. 


20 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


The three groups of F, tails (Fig. 11) show 126 doubles, 
36 singles, 46 none. The expectation for two factors 
(9:3:4), on the assumption that the doubles differ from 
the singles by one factor, and both from none by an- 
other factor, is 117 doubles, 39 singles, 52 none. This is 
not a very bad fit. 

There is one striking result brought out by these curves, 
There are no 12- or 13-feathered birds without an oil gland. 
This is an expression of the relation that Darwin sug- 
gested as due to ““correlation”” in the sense that more tail 
feathers suppressed the development of the oil gland. 
But there is no such obvious solution as is shown by the 
F, group, for there may be a large number of tail feathers 
present and the oil glands be well developed, single or 
double. The curves suggest, rather, linkage between 
a gene for extra feathers, and a gene for absence of oil 
glands. 

The tails with double, single and no oil glands were also 
classified according to the four color groups already re- 
ferred to, viz., blue, white, blue and white, edged white 
(Figs. 12 and 13). The double and single curves appear 
to be the same, the no oil gland curve seems significantly 
different. If so, it means that there is some linkage be- 
tween white color and absence of oil glands. 

The foregoing evidence makes probable the view that a 
gene for more than 12 feathers, and the gene for no oil 
gland, and a gene for white color are linked, 1. e., are 
carried by the same chromosome. The genes for the oil 
gland and for the number of tail feathers are closer to 
each other than either is to the gene for white. More 
data, especially from back-crosses, will be necessary to 
establish this conclusion. 


Spurr FEATHERS | 
Dr. Solley tells me that the split and double feather 
that occurs at times in the fantails is selected against. 
It is of not infrequent occurrence in the F, and back- 
crossed birds that I have obtained. In the records these 


No. 613] INHERITANCE IN FANTAIL PIGEON 21 


split feathers have been counted as one feather, without, 
however, intending to prejudice the question of the single 
or double nature of these feathers. 

The most striking cases are like those represented in 
Fig. 14 (top row) and Fig. 15, where what appears to be 


Fic. 14. Some types of split feathers. 


a single feather is split in two throughout its length. 
While there may be a complete shaft in each half, yet the 
two vanes that lie on the ““inner”” side are not so broad as 
the outer half vanes, and their edges are generally frayed 
out and imperfectly formed. Often the vanes run across 
and unite the two halves. 


22 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von LIL 


In some of the split feathers, the division is obviously 
into right and left halves (Figs, 14, 15, 16) ; in other cases 
the halves make an angle with each other (Fig. 14, Nos. 37 
and 80), while in still others one larger part may lie above 
a smaller part (Fig. 14, lowest row). Whether in the 
last cases the division has been in a horizontal plane, and 
in the first cases in a vertical one, is not certain, although 
the shape of the feathers even in the last case, with the 
imperfect edge and a narrower margin, would seem to 
make most probable the view that in all cases the division 


Fie. 15. An F, tail (“edged white”) with one split feather. 


has been into morphological right and left halves. The 
final position of the feather halves may be due to a later 
twisting in the sheath, or to crowding of the feathers at 
the base. This interpretation is further substantiated by 
cases in which the center of all the feathers has a white 
area (Fig. 14, No. 55, and Fig. 15); this is found on the 
imperfect side of the split feathers even when they lie one 
above the other. In all there were 24 F, tails with split 
feathers. Five of these had each two split feathers. 
These cases grade into those in which only the distal 
end of the feather is split, as shown in Fig. 14, middle 
figure, and Fig. 16. The impression produced by feathers 


No. 613] INHERITANCE IN FANTAIL PIGEON 23 


of this kind is strikingly in favor of a single feather split 
into right and left parts at the distal end. In all, three 
eases of this sort were found. 

To the same group are to be referred two cases, one of 
which is shown in Fig. 14, No. 5, b. Here there is a single 
feather, but the midrib is split near the end. The vane 


wan 


Fic. 16, Split feathers with normal feathers that lie next to them. 


lying between the two midribs is continuous, yet the bend- 
ing inwards of this part is indicative of its dual nature. 

More extreme are the eight cases of which three are 
shown in Fig. 16, lowest row. In all such cases there is 
a large, almost fully formed feather with a smaller, less 
perfect piece underneath the larger part. The first im- 
pression is that a piece has been split off the ventral side 
of the feather by a division in the horizontal plane. A 


24 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


closer scrutiny shows, however, that the large feather is 
_ ragged along one edge only (or on a part of one edge), 
while the smaller piece has also on the same side (as can 
be seen in some cases at least) a ragged edge with the 
other vane more nearly complete and with a not-rough 
edge. It seems, therefore, more reasonable to interpret 
even these cases as extremes of the split-feather type in 
which one piece has fared worse than the other (or in 
which the original division was into unequal pieces). 


THE Size or THE DOUBLE FEATHERS 


There is a graded difference between the outer and 
inner vanes of the feather from the edge to the middle 
of the tail Fig. 15. The outer half of the vane is rela- 
tively smaller in the outermost feather, right or left, and 
equality of the two sides is more and more reached, the 
two middle feathers of the 12-feathered tails are about 
symmetrical. In the multiple feather tail these relations 
still hold, but are more difficult to trace than when the 
tail is simpler. It would not be profitable to attempt to 
analyze in detail these relations as applied to the double 
feathers further than to compare their surface relations 
with that of the feathers nearest to them or with their 
symmetrical mates, In all cases of split feathers the 
outer halves of the vanes are not so wide as is expected 
from the nearest feathers (or their symmetrical mates as 
seen in Figs. 14-16). The middle part is, as a rule, very 
much less than a right or left vane. The total width of 
the split feather is, as nearly as I can judge, about the 
same as the expected feathers for that position. The im- 
pression indicates that the sum of the four vanes is a little 
greater than the sum of the two normal vanes, but there 
can not be much difference as measurements show. The 
looseness of the frayed inner edge makes it difficult to get 
a very close estimate of the actual relations. 

The general conclusion is that we are dealing with a 
single rudiment that has split at a very early stage into 
two parts that have completed themselves as whole 


No. 613] INHERITANCE IN FANTAIL PIGEON 25 


feathers, so far as this intimate union in the middle line of 
the bud permitted. There are no indications that the 
split feather is due to the union of two separate rudiments 
that have been pressed together so closely as to interfere 
with the full development of each when they came in 
contact. 


THE Location or THE SPLIT FEATHERS 


The location of the split feathers (and modified types) is 
given in the next table. 


Feather ‘‘split’’ ... 9 near middle, 1 one quarter from side 
End only split ..... 2 near middle, 1 one third from side 
Double vein at tip. . 2 near middle 

1 two thirds from side, 


Very unequal parts. 7 near middle, Piiterniost Heather 


In the great majority of cases the doubling occurs near 
the middle of the tail. The meaning of this is not at all 
apparent. We know so little about the cause of duplica- 
tion in general and about the embryological mechanism 
that is involved in laying down the feathers in the tail, 
that it is useless to speculate about the result. The evi- 
dence from experimental embryology shows unmistakably 
that doubling may result from a mechanical interference 
with the relation of the blastomeres after they have as- 
sumed a definite position in regard to each other, but there 
are also many other cases known where, in normal devel- 
opment, a part is repeated several or many times. In 
these cases we can as yet only surmise that the rudiments 
of the structure—simple cells or groups of cells—become 
mechanically drawn apart by the more rapid growth of 
surrounding parts and separated so that each gives rise 
to a separate organ. Split feathers, from this point of 
view, would be looked upon as an incomplete separation 
of certain of the rudiments. However this may be, one 
can imagine other ways by which a specialized group of 
cells could become broken up into islands. 


26 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE Cross 


Three other characters are conspicuously present in 
the fantails besides the tail, viz., the white plumage, the 
carriage of the bird, and the shaking of the head and 
neck. The dominance—incomplete—of the white of the 
fantail was noted,’ but the mixtures that appeared both 


in F, and F, make it probable that the results are not 


due to a single factor. The extraordinary position of the 
fantail pigeon with its head thrown back until it touches 
the tail feathers appears also to be due to at least as 
many factors as is the number of feathers in the tail; 
for it was not recovered in any of the F, birds, although 
in the back cross there were birds that showed some ap- 
proach to the fantail posture. The shaking of the head 
disappeared in F, and indications of it were seen occa- 
sionally in F, and especially in back crosses. The char- 
acter is of such a kind that its study is difficult, and it may 
well be an expression of some structural modification of 
the body rather than any direct psychological factor. 


CASTRATION OF MALE 


The absence of marked. secondary sexual characters in 
the male, characters that are so conspicuous in many 
other birds, suggested the possibility that here, as in the 
Sebright male fowl, the suppression of the male plum- 
age might be due to substances developing in the testes. 
Unlikely as this seemed (because pigeons with diseased 
testes would probably have occurred and any change re- 
corded), nevertheless I tried the effect of castration on 
one young F, male that was just weaned. Some feathers 
were removed at the same time. The bird was kept 
for about five months and did not show any change in 
its plumage. It appears probable, then, that there are 
no genetic factors in pigeons, like those js the Sebright, 
which, acting through the testes, suppress the develop- 
ment of the plumage in the male. 

8 See Cole et al. 


TEI ESS ES CIN mes 
=f Rg pac E OF re, CESS PL e a a a Rep ny ore rg i 


No. 613] INHERITANCE IN FANTAIL PIGEON 


REFERENCES 
Browne, R. Staples.—On the rias: of verga in Domesticated Pigeons 
with Special aparine ce to Reversion. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1908. 
PR os dde mes o Taertance = the DAS Character in Pigans 


p. 36. 

Morgan, T. HL Notei on Two Crosses Betwesk Ditea Races of Pigeons. 

Biol. Bull, XXI. 1911. 

Morgan, T. H., Sturtevant, A. H., Muller, H. J., and aan: C. B. The 
cabana of Mendelian Par New You. 1915, p. 

Cole, J. A Case of Sex-linked Inheritance in the ds Pigeon. Science, 


1912 
, + 3 
Darwin, Chas. Animals and Plants under Domestication. 


A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON SOME GENETIC 
EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING EVOLUTION 


RICHARD GOLDSCHMIDT 


Tue nature of the gene, the variability of factors and 
the effects of selection are favorite topics of recent dis- 
cussion, which is well known to geneticists. The latest 
publications of Jennings and Castle will stir up anew the 
uncompromising parties and lead to new discussions. We 
think it advisable, therefore, to give a brief account of 
certain parts of a very large body of work on fundamental 
questions of evolution which we have carried on during 
- the past nine years, with the collaboration of Dr. Seiler 
and Dr. Poppelbaum. Although some parts of the work 
have been finished for some years, we do not intend to 
publish a full account until all the details are worked out. 
But as certain results have already allowed us to form 
definite views in regard to some fundamental questions 
of evolution, we may present them, together with ex- 
amples of the experiments in question. 

The majority of the experimental work in regard to 
the fundamental problems of evolution has been done 
with domesticated animals and their mutations (rats, 
Drosophila) or with Protozoa, which present the compli- 
cation of asexual reproduction. We have directed our 
attention to experimental analysis of such phenomena in 
nature, which must give basic information about evolu- 
tion, and we have studied the following phenomena: 

1. The Geographic Variation of the Gypsy-moth.—This 
well-defined species is spread over a great part of the 
globe. In different habitats, however, different races are 
found. How many of these exist can not be stated, but 
the number must be extraordinarily large, as we know 
but two localities where the same race is found. We 
have found all the races to be perfectly fertile with each 
other, with the exception of one combination which has 
never been successful. We have studied and are still 
studying the genetics of a large number of these races. 

28 


No. 613] EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING EVOLUTION 29 


2. The Melanism of the Nun-moth, Lymantria mo- 
nacha.—The nun is one of the moths which have devel- 
oped melanic varieties within recent times; and these 
melanic varieties, which were extreme rarities not many 
decades ago, have almost supplanted the original white 

orm. We have worked out the genetics of this case and 

shall publish the details when conditions permit. Some 
of the results were read before the German Zoological 
Society in 1911 but no abstract was published. 

3. The Genetics of Alpine Varieties, especially of 
Parasemia plantaginis and the Italian Races of Calli- 
morpha dominula.—This work has been broken off by the 
war, but some of the first results are available. 

We shall begin with a few facts concerning the geo- 
graphic variation of the gypsy-moth. We have here a 
form that is spread all over Europe, through Siberia into 
China, and all over Japan, infesting; furthermore, part 


Fic. 1. Types of Caterpillars from different races after the first moult. 
Drawin, by Mr. Yokoyama, Tokyo, 1914. 


of the Atlantic coast of the United States. We have 
studied races from different parts of Europe and Japan 
and the Massachusetts form and we have found different 
forms in comparatively near-lying regions. Thus the 
races from the Rhineland, Silesia and Hungary are dif- 


30 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIT 


ferent from each other and from the Massachusetts race 
(probably imported from France). All of them are dif- 
ferent from the Japanese races and these again differ 
in the different parts of Japan. The characters of dif- 
ference are manifold; we shall confine ourselves here to 
a single character, more interesting and more character- 
istic than the others—the markings of the caterpillars. 
Fig. 1 shows caterpillars of a few races after the first 
moult. We see here some of the transitional stages from 
a very light to an almost black caterpillar. The genetic 
study of this character of marking shows that we are 
dealing here with a primary type of marking which be- 
longs to the entire group of moths in a similar form, that 
is, the light pattern. All the darker forms have the same 
genetic basis of marking, on which, however, dark pig- 
ment encroaches increasingly until the markings prac- 
tically disappear. We may now divide this increasing 
melanism into ten classes and place the lightest individ- 
uals in Class X and the ones without marking in Class I. 
It must be added that the dark series extends beyond Class 
I, but the difficulty of classifying them is such that no 
darker classes have been adopted. 
The young caterpillars of the different races show 
markings which fluctuate around a mean at a certain point 
of the series and this behavior is remarkably constant 
for the different races. The following Table I gives a 
few polygons for different European and Japanese races. 


TABLE. I 
CLASS FREQUENCIES IN PER CENT. 


Breed | Race I Ir Tit Iv T VI VUI | YDI; X x 
WAR as H .. | 38.6| 54.5| 6.9 
UAM: y K 15 | 64.7 | 20.3 
WAIT 2... F 1 38.5] .. 
Aeros... O 8:2| 48.8 | 31.4| 11.6 
w Eo po ey ars AS 1 1.2 
Mia ua A EAn OR a e i 
WAla...... S+ |.. 154! 19.1| 44 | 30.2] 13] .. 

WA56...... M, S 100 


No. 613] EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING EVOLUTION 31 


In crosses of these different types F, is about inter- 
mediate, as some curves in Table II show.’ 


TABLE. II 
F,. CLASS FREQUENCIES IN PER CENT. 

Breed | Cross EL | ar} rere Yo Pe VER we e | x 
AO BRE TI 17.3 | 29.6| 39.9 | 13.2 
¿AAN Moa oes 9.2| 33.3| 14.4} 42.2 9 
MAGE Gs. vis SXxA | ES nee ae 45.4| 28.7 | 25.9 
MAST Li. AXS | 9 120}29/121 115 | 13 3 i 
VAL. ORKO FE E 4.7! 67.4 | 27 de we 
Vie catas Md ox Ss” | 9 9| 22.4 0. 35 
WASTE ce bre cw ko chk ES ba 49.6; 49 | 0.7 
WAB... | GXM a) ae | ae loa 8 4 
WAS8...... [EMX AR] 10 | 70 | 20 Ei 


And F, gives a 1:2:1 ratio, or 3 light + medium: 1 dark, 
whatever races are involved. (This statement should be 
taken only on its face value. As a matter of fact, we find 
here, within the invariably present ratio of 3:1, very 
strange details of the kind described as ‘‘gametic con- 
tamination,’’ and, furthermore, an obscuring of the ratio 
in earlier stages followed later by the right ratio, ap- 
parent lack of segregation, etc. From a purely genetic 
point of view, the analysis of these phenomena consti- 
tutes the most interesting part of this work, but it has no 
special relation to the problems here under discussion.) 
Back crosses, however, give a 1:1 ratio. The following 
table gives a few data of this kind. 


TABLE IT 
Breed Fa From Dark, Per Cent. mar ee 

12. at SXK 23.8 76.2 
WAISE SR ees KXS 25.5 74.5 
b.. SXKy 25.9 74.1 
D EEA E a S 25.8 74.7 
Bot LAA OXS 26.2 73.8 
WAI... cores SsxH 30.2 69.8 
A OXM 22.1 77.9 
DAD oa MXH 25.8 74.2 

TATA. eee. GXM 25 75 


ene give here a few random examples. The amount of actual material 

is very large, as more than 100,000 caterpillars have been bred and studied. 
We Pee 
crosses, ote. 


32 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vor. LIT 


The actual curves look like the example in Table IV of 
an F, cross. 
TABLE IV 
ZA9 F, From M X H 


1 | II | mr | rv | v | ve | var | vom | xx | x 
| 8 Jo, | ao [i5 [3 |. 
| Mie Ceca O) INEA lo. 

The sum of all the hundreds of curves shows that we 
are dealing here with a case of multiple allelomorphism : 
The pigment factor, producing the gradual covering of 
the markings, is present in the different races in different 
degrees, all being allelomorphic to each other. : 

Thus far we have dealt only with the very young cater- 
pillars. Their further history in regard to the effect of 
these factors leads us one important step further. We 
find mainly the following types of behavior within the 
pure races: (1) Light marked caterpillars, which remain 
practically the same throughout the entire larval life. 
(2) Light-marked caterpillars which grow darker with 
every moult and finally are about medium or more than 
medium dark. (3) Light-marked caterpillars which 
change during the larval stage, so that they finally are all 
dark. (4) Medium light caterpillars of different degrees 
changing to dark during larval life. In the following 
tables we give a few examples of these races, showing the 
shifting of the type of marking during the stages of larval 
life. The large range of variation after the third and 
fourth moult visible in these tables is due more to a dif- 
ferent speed of shifting in different individuals than to 
the initial variability. This is shown in Table VI, which 
gives an example of the shifting of types of pigmentation 
during the larval stages for a series of isolated individ- 
uals of some of the pure races. 

The genetic analysis of this phenomenon seems to re- 
veal the real nature of the multiple allelomorphs, which 
cause these different types of pigmentation and their 

behavior during development of the caterpillars. With- 


No. 613] EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING EVOLUTION 33 


TABLE V 
EXAMPLES OF SHIFTING RACES 
Race H 
Class Frequencies in Per Cent. 
Stage of Caterpillars I Il TI IV Vv VI | VII VIII Ix ed 
3 ae Sap A ol ae ae eae 38.6} 54.5) 6.9 
4 oe NA E. a. 11.8 55.31 31.7] 1:2 
5 29.31 2441 O71 12.2} 98 1 12.2 $ Lai i Ak 
6 64 16 16 4 a a 
Race A 
Stage of Caterpillars I | 11 | tto rv v vI | vit | vit] rx | x 
3 Da ae ok La 19 43 38 
4 lo e 2d ae 35.51 58.1 6.4 
5 14.8) 42:01 471 95] 386I is 
6 100 
Race G 
Stage of Caterpillars ý | nu | m | Iv | v Vid yn) Vee ie x 
| 
3 By REE 11.8 31.2 
4 as iy Ye OFLAF A 338i 28.2 1.4 
5 201.73 148) 18.125 = 9 
6 100 | 


TABLE VI 
EXAMPLES OF SHIFTING AS OBSERVED IN INDIVIDUALS WITH DIFFERENT 
UMBER OF MOULTS 


Class of the Individual after Moult 
Race Individual 

2 | 3 4 5 6 Sex 
Hon ZA3.6 Ix VII II ref 
Ho oe, ZA3.7 VIII I g' 
aa ZA3.4 1 Ill I Q 
coda ZA3.1 VIII VII I Q 
A ZA4.1 VI Ill g 
"OA ZA4.3 Vv Ill g 
a e ZA4.4 VI V IV I Q 
et ZA4.8 VII V III II ọ 
T ZA4.13 VI y y I Q 
Go ZA6.11 VIII VIII VI II Ore 
ae eon ZA6.7 VIII VI VI IV g 
ware ey: ZA6.5 VIII VIII VI II 1% 
ee ZA6.6 yu A VILE IV IH iope 
To nl LE | VI VE eee ur A OG A 


out $ going into details, which would, necessitate a multi- 
tude of en) | following points 


f on Eo lO al 


34 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


are of importance: (1) F, between a non-shifting light 
race and an always dark race is intermediate, or some- 
what lighter in the beginning. But by progressive stages 
the hybrid caterpillars shift over into the dark classes. 


First row: hybrid between the two par races after se 
moult. Beca row: Hybrid (left) and = Rte ap race > al after pe 
moult. Drawings by Dr. Poppelbaum, 1912 


Fig. 2 represents caterpillars from a cross of this type. 
(The exact curves that belong with these pictures are re- 
produced in our ‘‘ Einführung in die Vererbungswissen- 
schaft,’’ 2d edition, 1913, p. 170, Fig. 66, as an example 


No. 613] EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING EVOLUTION 35 


of change in dominance during development.) (2) The 
same thing happens in certain F, crosses, reversing com- 
pletely during larval life the original ratio of lights and 
darks. (3) The different races involved are characterized 
by a difference in the speed of differentiation, as shown in 
the actual curves. This velocity is also caused by genetic 
factors. Where these recombine with the pigmentation 
factors, the entire situation of the F, curve is shifted 
(without changing the 3:1 ratio), showing that the visible 
effect of the pigmentation factors is bound to a certain 
velocity of differentiation. (4) The shifting of the type 
of pigmentation from light to dark during larval life of 
certain races or hybrids is a process which progresses 
constantly with time. This is seen when isolated indi- 
viduals are studied which belong to races that differ in 
regard to the number of moults and exhibit the shifting 
simultaneously. There are races where all the male cater- 
pillars have four moults and the females either four or 
five; other races where the males have four, the females 
five; others where both sexes have five moults; and in the 
last case even a sixth moult occasionally occurs. In these 
cases we see that every new moult produces a further 
shift to the dark side of the curve, showing that the class 
of pigmentation to which a full-grown caterpillar belongs 
is in this case a function of the time of differentiation. 
The same fact can be demonstrated in a shifting race by 
prolonging the time between two moults by starvation 
(which succeeds only to a certain extent). In experi- 
ments of this sort it has been possible to get the shifted 
type of pigmentation, characteristic of the fourth stage, 
in some individuals in the third stage. Table VI also 
contains a few random data on the first point. (6) In 
shifting hybrid cultures there appear comparatively 
often mosaic-caterpillars, showing different classes of 
marking on right and left sides. The distance between 
these two different classes is approximately kept up when 
shifting occurs during development. The following ex- 
ample demonstrates this fact: 


36 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


TABLE VII 


Class After Second to Fifth Moult 


2 | 3 | 4 | 5 
| i 
| Right | Left | Right | Left 


Right | Left | Right | Left 


Witty bli winn ll ee ad eee 


These caterpillars always give normal moths and nor- 
mal offspring. 

A careful consideration of these poni: shows clearly 
what these multiple allelomorphs for pigmentation really 
are: They are different quantities of the substance which 
we call a gene which act according to the mass-law of 
chemical reactions, i. e., produce a reaction or accelerate 
it to a velocity in proportion to their quantity. In our 
special case it means that the factor stands for a metabolic 


QUANTITY OF PIGMENT 


Fre. 3. 


activity proceeding with a definite velocity dependent 
upon the quantity of the factorial substance present. 
This activity finds its visible expression in the deposition 
in the skin of increasing quantities of certain products of 
protein decomposition which as chromogens are oxidized 
into melanin pigments. The effect of the different quan- 
tities of active substance (enzyme?) which we call the 
multiple allelomorphs upon the progressive pigmentation 


No. 613] EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING EVOLUTION 37 


of the caterpillars is then represented by the graph on 
p. 36 (Fig. 3). 

Given a definite quantity of the factorial substance and 
identical conditions, the velocity of the reaction is con- 
stant. Thus the final result depends upon the amount of 
the factorial substance present and the independently in- 
herited rapidity of differentiation, which determines the 
situation of the growth-stages on the abscissa (the dotted 
lines). Thus the above quoted facts as well as the multi- 
tude of details not mentioned can be easily derived from 
this graph. The last named mosaics are of course the ex- 
pression of small differences in the velocity of differen- 
tiation in symmetric halves of the body, which are well 
known to embryologists. 

These conclusions in regard to the real character of 
multiple allelomorphs are the same as those derived from 
other characters in the same objects. In our work on 
intersexuality we were able to prove, to as great an extent 
as a genetic proof can possibly be carried, that the dif- 
ferent geographic races of the same moth differ in re- 
gard to the absolute and relative quantities of the sub- 
stances, which we call the sex-factors. In the genetic 
language of the present day we should call them, there- 
fore, multiple sex-allelomorphs, a conception which indeed 
we have always used (without this recent term) since our 
first report about this work in 1911. In the case of inter- 
sexuality we can furnish facts very similar to those about 
the caterpillars, if we consider certain features of the 
wing colors. In normal males a certain amount of pig- 
ment covers the entire wing, whereas the female wing is 
unpigmented. This pigment is formed by the oxidation 
of a chromogen deposited within the scales. There it 
flows from the wing veins with the blood. By a detailed 
analysis we are able to show that an intersexual male is a 
genetic male which developed as such up to a certain 
point when the development suddenly began to continue 
under the aspects of femaleness. One of the results of 
male metabolism is the phoma es of these chromogens 


38 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIL 


in late larval stages. This production is therefore 
stopped when female metabolism sets in; when then the 
time arrives in development, when the chromogen spreads 
over the wing scales, its available amount is proportional 
to the relative lateness of the reversal of sex. Therefore, 
with increasing intersexuality, the pigment flowing from 
the veins covers a smaller and smaller area of the wing, 
finally being confined to the neighborhood of the veins. 
As? the analysis of the other intersexual organs allows 
an accurate determination of the time factor involved, we 
have here a very close physiological parallel to the facts 
about the caterpillars. 

In most other cases of multiple allelomorphism only 
the results can be seen, and it will be difficult to work out 
the time factor, which proves that the multiple allelo- 
morphs are different quantities of an active substance. 
(Some botanical subjects ought, however, to be favor- 
able.) But in comparing the other facts about multiple 
allelomorphs with our cases, we feel confident that, where- 
ever a similar analysis can be applied, the results will be 
the same. For example, all the cases of quantitatively 
different pigmentation, which are of multiple allelo- 
morphic nature, like Castle’s hooded rats or our different 
cases of melanism in moths, show*that the effect of the 
different factors is that different quantities of pigment 
spread from different ‘‘points of outlet,’ which of course 
are hereditary traits of the species or group; the similar 
effect, therefore, leads to suspect a similar cause. 

If our conclusions regarding the nature of multiple 
allelomorphs are accepted, it must lead to a different intel- 
lectual attitude toward the problem of variability of 
genes, which is so important for evolution. The opposi- 
tion to the view has been, we believe, primarily on aprio- 
ristic grounds. In the long controversies of recent years 
regarding the interpretation of Castle’s work the logical 
side of the case seems to have always been in the fore- 
ground. The same is the case when E. Baur calls our 


2See pictures in Jour. Exp. Zool., 22, 1917, pp. 614-15. 


No. 613] EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING EVOLUTION 39 


views in regard to the variability of the sex-factors 
a priori inadmissible. We believe that this intellectual at- 
titude toward the problem is the result of Johannsen’s 
doctrine of agnosticism in regard to the nature of the 
gene, which resulted in a kind of mystic reverence, ab- 
horring the idea of earthly attributes for a gene. (Our 
distinguished opponents will excuse this somewhat ex- 
treme statement.) If, however, it can be proven that 
genes are substances with the attribute of definite mass, 
it would be illogical to deny their variability. Nobody 
will claim that a gene is a substance that passes unaltered 
from generation to generation. The elementary facts of 
development and regeneration show that this substance 
grows, at least, and increases in quantity. If, now, the — 
substantial basis of heredity in the sex-cells is established | 
by the assembling of all the factor-substances in their 
characteristic quality and their correct quantity, the sit- 
uation is the same for the gene as for any/other organic 
process: the varying conditions of the surroundings of 
the gene cause a certain amount of fluctuation in its quan- 
tity. This conclusion entirely changes /the logical aspect 
of the question, whether or not a change of the gene by 
selection of variants is possible. 

The strongest point.of the anti- selectionists was that it 
is absurd to assume that a selection of somatic fluctuation 
has anything to do with the characters of the germ-plasm. 
With the quantitative view, however, which we believe to 
have proven in two elaborate cases, this situation changes. 
The somatic character in question, say amount of pig- 
mentation, can only change toward a plus or minus side. 
This change is caused directly by a difference in the 
velocity of the reaction of some metabolic process which — 
results in the deposition of pigment. Such a change of 
velocity of reaction, however, can be produced either by 
the action of the medium, and then it is a modification, or 
by fluctuation in the quantity of the gene, causing increase 
or decrease in the velocity. The resulting variation is of 
course, phenotypically, the same. Selection, therefore, 


40 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIL 


may be ineffective, if a modification only is selected; it 
will be partly successful if a combination of plus-quantity 
with plus-modification is selected; and fully successful 
if the exclusive result of plus-quantity of the gene is se- 
lected. The deus ex machina modifying factor, which, 
moreover, does not fit the decisive genetic facts in the 
most discussed case of Castle’s rats nor our cases, thus 
becomes superfluous. 

It is, moreover, perfectly logical to assume that selec- 
tion of either plus or minus quantities of the genes 
changes the mode of the fluctuation of this quantity corre- 
spondingly in the succeeding generation. If the different 
quantities of the substances, which constitute the systems 
of multiple allelomorphs, are inherited, then every other 
quantity is also inherited. If the presence of the quan- 
tity p in the germ cells of the parents causes the reap- 
pearance of the quantity p in the germ cells of the chil- 
dren, the same fact applies to the quantities q, r, s—to 
every quantity which is present or has been selected. Se- 
lection can, therefore, change the quantity of the gene, 
and also, therefore, the somatic characters caused by 
quantitative differences in the gene, until the physiolog- 
ical limit is reached. This limit may be the limit for the 
character in question—for example, no pigment, self- 
color—or it may be the limit set by the necessary coor- 
dination of developmental processes. For example, in 
the development of a moth a certain gene causes, at a cer- 
tain moment—during pupation—the evagination of the 
imaginal disks of the antenna. The correct quantity of 
the gene causes this process to take place at the correct 
time. A quantitative variation of the gene would cause 
the evagination to take place at the wrong time. We 
have, indeed, had strains of caterpillars where in many 
individuals this process took place in the last stage of the 
caterpillar, giving caterpillars with pupal antenne, The 
quantity of the gene in question was in these cases not co- 
ordinated with the other genes and the action was pro- 
duced too early. It is evident that quantitative changes 


abe a Z : 
la EE TA ON pS 
O ee a ee E AEE 


di ices ell 


No. 613] EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING EVOLUTION 41 


of this kind will lead to physiological impossibilities, 
monsters, etc. Here, then, is again the limit for selection 
of factorial quantities. It need hardly be added that such 
selection is necessarily orthogenetic. 

Our own experiments in this line are, as far as they go 
at present, in perfect accord with Castle’s work. We have, 
moreover, applied another type of experimental test, 
namely, selection in F,. If a given pair of multiple al- 
lelomorphs differs in regard to the quantity of the fac- 
torial substance and this quantity is subject to fluctuation 
around a mean, the variability of the character in F, is 
caused by the usual agencies producing fluctuations as 
well as by the different combinations of the parental 
quantitative values. Selection in F, ought, therefore, to 
influence the curve in F, in a certain number of cases, 
namely, when the plus or minus individuals are genetically 
plus or minus. Within the normal segregation of light 
and dark individuals in the 3:1 ratio a shifting of the 
mean for lightness and darkness must take place. In a 
series of such experiments we had a number of positive 
results. The following Table VIII may serve as an ex- 
ample: 

TABLE VIIT 


F, WITH SELECTION IN F, From Cross K X S 


In Third Stage, 


vi vu ¡var Ix | x 


I elmin 


5 


s AS | 131127 9.1 30 154 = | g 
Minus selection.. ........... 25 15.7|26.9115.51 17.2 3.216.651.. 1. 1. 


We believe that these facts and interpretations have a 
definite bearing on the problem of evolution. The first 
step in the differentiation of species which occurs in na- 
ture seems to be the formation of geographic races. The 
entire bulk of modern evidence in ecology tends to show 
the existence of clearly defined local forms for very re-- 
stricted areas. For example, the ichthyologists differ- 
entiate forms of Salmonids and Coregonids for prac- 
tically every river and lake; in the same way in the lower 


42 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von LI 


organisms, like Daphnids and Rotatoria, different forms 
appear in different regions. The ornithologists describe 
different races for every river basin of the affluents of the 
Amazonas; the mammalogists do exactly the same thing 

for every area which was thoroughly covered. Where 
- breeding experiments have been carried on it has been 
shown that the geographic races may be perfectly fertile 
with each other and may produce fertile offspring. In 
some cases, however, the transitional stages toward steril- 
ity are found. Thus the production of intersexual moths 
in crossing geographic races can be regarded as a step 
toward increasing incompatibility, which in one of the 
crosses attempted by us was an absolute one. In other 
cases only a small percentage of the offspring of the hy- 
brids could be reared, as in the crosses of the North and 
South European Callimorpha dominula. We, therefore, 
with many evolutionists, feel convinced that the geo- 
graphic races are the most important visible steps in 
species-formation in nature. 

If we now look into the characters distinguishing geo- 
graphic races, we very often find certain qualitative dif- 
ferences most conspicuous, for example, exchange of red 
and yellow color in the moths. A close study of definite 
examples, however, reveals that these differences are 
often more conspicuous than important. This is shown 
by the only group of information in the animal kingdom 
which we have both by ecological and genetic work—the 
geographic variation of land snails. The facts about the 
extreme variability of Helix, Achatinella, Partula, ete., 
are well known, as well as the irregularities in the con- 
finement of definite types to definite localities. We have 
been so fortunate as to gain some insight into these facts 
through a very interesting collection which Dr. Haniel 
made in Timor and studied under our direction (not yet 
published). It was evident here, as in the other cases, 
that a series of unit factors for number, color, form of 
bands and ground color, which recombined freely, was 
involved. And practically all the combinations could be 


No. 613] EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING EVOLUTION 43 


reduced to the genetic factors which Lang worked out for 
Helix. But, exactly as in the classic cases, there was no 
possibility of stating a definite relation of these factors 
to the grouping according to localities. In some locali- 
ties certain factors or combinations did not occur, but the 
attempt to classify the material along this line proved a 
failure. However, every group from each locality ex- 
hibited beside these factorial recombinations certain 
quantitative characteristics of size, proportions, etc., of 
the shell which were characteristic for definite localities. 
These, however, are the characters which probably fall in 
line with those caused by the quantity of the genes. 

The difficulties which the facts of geographic variation 
create for the conception of species-formation by selec- 
tion have often been discussed. Bateson in particular 
(“Problems of Genetics’’) serutinizes them from the 
modern genetic point of view. They are indeed insu- 
perable if all characters which show variations and recom- 
binations are considered from this point of view. The 
extreme irregularity, for example, of the local combina- 
tions of types of shells in Helix, Partula and Achatinella 
makes it impossible to regard them as local adaptations. 
This is certainly true, but may be without any bearing on 
the species question at all. The factors and recombina- 
tions occurring in Helix, Achatinella and Prodromus are 
more or less the same, just as are the recombinations of 
coat colors in different rodents. They constitute a set of 
mutations and their recombinations which are proper to 
the type of germ-plasm of the group. They occur, re- 
combine or fail to appear as chance wills, and seem to have 
no special selective value. We do not think that these 
are the characters which play a part in the evolution of 
species; they are, in most cases, independent of adapta- 
tion. 

There are, however, reasons for supposing that such 
differences of characters as are based on the quantitative 
differences of the gene are those which are influenced by 
selection and are important for the formation of the first 


Hiei 


44 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST ~- [Vou.LII 


steps toward diversification of species. We base this 
opinion on the following facts: 

One of the few cases where selection in nature has ap- 
parently been seen at work under our eyes is the much- 
quoted case of melanic moths. ‘We started in 1908 to 
work out the case of the nun, Lymantria monacha. The 
dark varieties of this moth have been known as rare oe- 
currences for over a century. But only during the last 
decades have they spread and almost replaced the white 
forms. The analysis of the genetics of this case shows 
that the dark form is a dominant mutation to the white 
and that the many different stages of darkness, which 
form a complete series from white to black, are produced 
by sex-linked multiple allelomorphs. (Unfortunately, 
the interesting details can not be given at present.) How 
is it, now, that these combinations have come to replace 
the original form? Many hypotheses, some of them very 
strange, have been put forward; but it seems to us that 
the case is comparatively simple. The dark forms are 
stronger, more lively, better fliers, as far as we can tell 
from our experience with the animals in captivity. They 
are also larger (see Fig. 102, p. 267, in our “Einfúhrung 
in die Vererbungswissenschaft,’? 2d ed., 1913). The 
melanism is in this case, therefore, only the most con- 
spicuous superficial feature of a quantitative and pro- 
gressive change in a gene which causes a definite meta- 
bolic condition, resulting in hardiness as well as in the 
deposition of more pigment in the wings. The quantita- 
tive change has here a superficial expression and is there- 
fore easily recognizable. But this visible pigmentation 
is not the really important character. How is it, then, 
that these melanic forms, and other forms in similar man- 
ner, have established themselves so suddenly? We may 
venture to point to the facts that the selection, as has 
often been stated, has occurred especially near the larger 
cities, and that the period during which this selection has 
taken place is the period of industrial development, i. e., 

of restriction of forested areas near the cities. It is, 


IO a e a AS Aee sh 
eS ER ARA R AEN PELE E E a A A E 


So ee 


No. 613] EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING EVOLUTION | 45 


furthermore, the period of scientific and intense forestry 
and of economic entomology. Here we have the probable 
agencies that made life difficult for the moth and gave a 
great selective value to that advance in hardiness which 
lies behind the melanie appearance. 

We should point out here the difficulties which arise in 
the criticism of definite views of evolution on the basis of 
facts not analyzed genetically. The selective value of a 
climatic character may often be doubted on the ground 
that the'same type occurs in a very different area ad- 
mixed with the local form. But genetic analysis may 
often show that what appears to be the same type is in 
reality a different thing. The north European Aretiid, 
Callimorpha dominula, has wings marked with red; the 
Italian form has wings marked with yellow. In certain 
localities (one of them near Berlin) a yellow sport of the 
red form regularly appears, apparently the same form as 
the Italian one. We, as well as others, have crossed these 
forms. The yellow sport is a simple recessive to red and 
segregation occurs in the 3:1 ratio. The Italian yellow 
form, however—at least the ones from the Abruzzi, which 
we used—crossed with the red northern form, produces 
intermediate orange in F, and in F, every shade from red 
to yellow. The two yellows, which look alike and prob- 
ably are chemically alike, are nevertheless products of a 
different metabolic process. In the sport the same met- — 
abolie process which usually leads to red pigment is 
changed by mutation only to the extent of the color change 
in the end-product. Inthe southern form a different type 
of metabolism results in the formation of yellow pigment, | 
and the cross is therefore an entirely different cross, with 

different results? As a matter of fact, the latter cross 
` shows very much diminished fertility, as Standfuss has 
already pointed out. This shows how unsafe the ground 
is on which criticism of evolutionary questions without 
genetic test is based. - That our example is not an excep- 
tion is proved by the fact that Standfuss long ago formu- 
3 We may point out that herefrom a rational interpretation of dominance 

and blending can be derived. — | : 


46 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


lated the rule, that when two forms coexist in the same 
locality and are able to interbreed, they do not produce 
intermediates; but when the forms are geographically 
separated as local races, crosses between them result in 
a series of intermediates. Bateson says: ‘‘In this apho- 
rism there is a good deal of truth.” We think that the 
rule expresses the difference between a non-adaptational 
chance mutation and the adaptational change in the fac- 
torial quantities which may lead to a similar-looking, but 
physiologically different character. This character, al- 
though, like the non-adaptational one, is itself of no 
selective value, is the result of a general physiological 
change which does have.a selective value. 

This will become still more evident if we return once 
more to the study of the gypsy-moth. In studying the 
relations of the different geographic races as character- 
ized by the multiple-allelomorphic characters in question, 
we find that these characters are paralleled closely by dif- 
ferences in the life-cycles. Without going into details, 
we may state as a fairly general rule that the races with 
high degrees of pigmentation in the later stages are the 
ones which show a fast development, comparatively short. 
larval life and a long period of hibernation. The light 
races have a comparatively long larval period and a cor- 
respondingly short period of hibernation. The former 
races, furthermore, inhabit the areas where a long and 
cold winter occurs, while the latter are endemic in places 
which have a hot summer, early spring and mild winter. 
One might think that these different characteristics were 
simply the direct effect of temperature conditions. But 
that this is not the case is shown by the constancy of the 
differences when the races are bred in a different climate 
and also by experiments on the physiology of hibernation, 
which have convinced us that the time relations of the 
life-cycle are—of course, within the limits of fluctuation— 
a heritable trait of rhythmic character. These facts show 
where the adaptational character of the differences of the 

geographic races lies: the adaptation which fits the differ- 


No. 613] EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING EVOLUTION 47 


ent milieus is the life-cycle (in a broad sense). The visi- 
ble distinctive characters of the races—aside from addi- 
tional mutations of a non-selective nature—are nothing 
but the products of reaction of different types of metabo- 
lism, allied with the different time relations of the cycle. 
The method of the formation of geographic races in this 
case must, therefore, be the following. The first con- 
quest of a new territory is of course only possible when 
the animal is preadapted, along general lines, to the new 
medium. But that it can maintain itself depends upon its 
power of special adaptation. The gypsy-moth, for exam- 
ple, has repeatedly been brought into England, but it has 
never established itself there. In the case of this form 
the special adaptation means the coincidence, in the first 
place, of the life-cycle with the seasonal cycle in nature. 
And it is here that all the discriminating effect of selec- 
tion comes in. The quantitative changes of the genes 
which cause the time relations of the cycle are then the 
material for selection, and selection acts according to Dar- 
winian principles until the equilibrium is established. 
Thus the genetic study of the quantitative changes of the 
gene reveals anew the truth of Darwin’s conception. 
Furthermore, we see here how sterility of hybrids or com- 
plete incompatibility of new forms may arise. We have 
proved that the quantitative differences of the sex-factors, 
which are themselves nothing but adaptations to the time- 
relations of the cycle, are among the characteristic differ- 
ences of these races.* There are, moreover, responsible 
for the incompatibility in regard to sex which results in 
intersexuality after crossing. Changes of exactly the 
same type may easily make any cross-breeding impossi- 
ble, since no organism can develop unless all the processes 
of differentiation are coordinated in respect to their ve- 
locity. Here we see, seen why goog ipe races are 
so often uniform and ar d by certain traits of 


rere also Pfliiger’s and R. Hertwig’s work with frogs and Cuénot’s 
th starfish, ae similar facts in regard to geographic varia- 
dics of sexuality. : 


48 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vor. LIT 


a quantitative character even when additional mutations 
and their recombinations make them at first sight appear 
diversified. This uniformity indicates the adaptational 
type produced by selection of the quantitative variations 
of some vital gene; the differences are only a difference 
in apparel. 

In conclusion, we may point out three groups of facts 
which, of the greatest importance for evolution, have 
always been a hard nut for the mutationists to crack. 
The first is the series of temperature-experiments in Lepi- 
doptera—and similar experiments in Amphibia, Crus- 
tacea, etc.—that lead to the production of aberrant forms 
which resemble closely certain geographic varieties. But, 
with the exception of certain often-quoted cases, these 
aberrations are not hereditary. Inthe light of our experi- 
ments these facts are not surprising. The effect of the 
temperature experiments is to change the normal time- 
curve of certain metabolic processes. The effect is, there- 
fore, due to this change of one of the variables of the reac- 
tions in question. The quantitative change of the sub- 
stance of a gene, however, which we found to be at the 
basis of the geographical variations, also produces a dif- 
ference in respect to the time-curve and therefore the 
same effect, this time a heritable effect. If we now select 
the plus individuals in this type of experiment—and this 
applies to all analogous experiments—we may simply se- 
lect a modification. But we also may select the combina- 
tion of a plus-modification with a plus quantity of the 
gene in question. If the experiment is repeated, the next 
generation will then show a still stronger reaction, or, if 
the experimental influence is not repeated, there will be 
an after effect of the experiment on the parents. It 1s 
remarkable that such results, which were to have proved 
the inheritance of acquired characters, always turned out, 
when characters relating generally to the life-cycle were 
in question, characters which also appear in the geo- 
graphic races of the form. Extreme mutationists used to 
deny or disregard these facts. Here we have a simple 


No. 613] EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING EVOLUTION 49 


explanation for them which both does justice to the facts 
themselves and falls in line with modern genetic views. 

Furthermore, we now see the exact meaning of Dar- 
win’s view, which he had to express in a somewhat am- 
biguous way on account of the lack of experimental data 
which would have permitted clearer expression. His 
essay of 1842, the forerunner of the ‘‘Origin of Species,” 
begins with the words: ‘‘An individual organism placed 
under new conditions sometimes varies in a small degree 
and in very trifling respects, such as stature, fatness, 
sometimes color, health, habits in animals and probably 
disposition. . . . Most of these slight variations tend to 
become hereditary.” This statement shows clearly what 
Darwin had in mind. If he assumes that some variations, 
which are produced by change of conditions, are some- 
times non-heritable, but tend to be inherited, we can now 
explain what this means. The variations which, as geo- 
graphic races, form the first steps in the formation of new 
species are indeed exactly the same whether or not they 
are inherited. Their direct physiological cause is also 
identical, being a change in the rate of a definite process 
during differentiation. Only the ultimate cause is differ- 
ent; in the one case the original quantity of the gene de- 
termines the rate of differentiation—which then is heredi- 
tary—from the beginning; in the other case an outside 
factor is active, retards or accelerates the same reaction to 
the same degree. With this additional bit of interpreta- 
tion, Darwin is right, after all. 

The other group of facts includes certain details of 
mimicry (mimetism). We believe that the general prin- 
ciple of mimetism has been fully explained genetically by 
Punnett. But there are certain details which his selec- 
tionist opponents point out which constitute strong evi- 
dence against Punnett’s view. We think that the most 
valid argument against the Mendelian view of mimetism 
has been derived from the facts about the parallel geo- 
graphic variation of model and mimic. If our genetic 
conception of geographic variation is correct, this point 


50 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


is not difficult to understand. If the resemblance of 
model and mimic is based on the presence of similar 
chance- or non-chance combinations of genetic factors, 
and if geographic variation consists in the specific adapta- 
tion of the quantity of certain genes to a required veloc- 
ity of some vital reaction, it is very natural that similar 
genes in model and mimic should be in exactly the same 
situation and should undergo parallel changes. 

The third important set of facts to be considered is the 
problem of domestication. Darwin’s view is well known, 
as well as the solution of a great part of the problem 
through Mendelism. The latter shows that selection of 
the recombinations after cross-breeding (besides picking 
of mutations) is the chief source of success in domestica- 
tion. (See our demonstration of this fact regarding the 
improvement of pigs in “Einfihrung in die Vererbungs- 
wissenschaft,’’ 2d ed., 1913, pp. 276-80.) That this fact 
was well known to Darwin is shown, for example, in his 
report about Lord Orford’s greyhounds (‘‘ Variation of 
Animals,”” etc., Ch. 1). But he believed, in addition, in a 
positive effect of selection of small variations. Wher- 
ever he tabulates such characters, most or all of them are 
quantitative characters of a kind which we can assume 
to be dependent upon the presence of definite quantities 
of a gene. Here we may have the solution of the diffi- 
culties which the problem of domestication affords in 
spite of mutation and recombination. No doubt the high 
capacity for fattening was crossed into our hogs with 
Asiatic forms. But selection of plus-quantities of the 
responsible gene enabled us to obtain the character as 
it stands to-day. 

OSBORN ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 

YALE UNIVERSITY 
New Haven, CONN. 


MATERNAL INHERITANCE IN THE SOY BEAN 


H. TERAO 


THE ImPERIAL AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, TOKYO, JAPAN 


THe soy bean, Glycine hispida Maxim., shows as differ- 
ent types two cotyledon colors, yellow and green. The 
beans with yellow cotyledons have two types of seed-coat 
colors, namely, green and yellow, while the beans with 
green cotyledons have always green seed-coats.t The in- 
heritance of these types of cotyledons and of seed-coats 
has been ‘proved by the author’s experiments to be ma- 
ternal. A brief notice of the experiments will be given 
in the following. 

The green and yellow colors of cotyledons and seed- 
coats are obviously attributed to chlorophyll, which, 
on the ripening of the beans, is either changed from green 
into yellow or remains green. Further, according to the 
author’s observations, the chlorophyll in the vegetative — 
parts of the plant shows the same behavior as the chloro- 
phyll of the cotyledons; in other words, the leaves and 
stems of the varieties with yellow cotyledons turn to a 
yellow color when they are gradually dying coincident 
with the ripening of the beans, while those of the varieties 
with green cotyledons remain green sometime after the 
dying of the whole plant. These facts suggest that the 
two types of cotyledon colors may represent two kinds of 
chlorophyll, one which changes into yellow under certain 
physiological conditions and one which is not so affected. 
The chlorophyll of the seed-coats, however, seems to be- 
have somewhat differently from the chlorophyll in all 

1Black and brown pigments also appear in the seed-coats of certain 
varieties. These pigments are entirely independent of the green and yellow 
colors here referred to in their inheritance, but they make the latter colors 
invisible or at least indistinct. By proper crosses, however, one can test 
whether a seed-coat covered by the black or brown pigment belongs to the 
green or the yellow category. — 

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No. 613] INHERITANCE IN SOY BEAN 53 


other parts of the plant, since, as was already noted, yel- 
low cotyledons are accompanied by green seed-coats in 
certain varieties. 

The crossing experiments which have been made by the 
author since 1910 with these different types of beans have 
produced the results shown in Table I, the main facts 
being summarized as follows. 

I. The F, cotyledons of the crosses reciprocal to each 
other are of the same character as the female parents. 
In respect to the cotyledon colors, the F, and following 
generations show the characters of the F', generation ex- 
clusively, instead of a Mendelian segregation between the 
yellow and green colors. Hence we are probably dealing 
with characters which can be inherited only through the 
female parents. 

TI. The inheritance of the seed-coat colors is a more 
complicated phenomenon. In the cross ‘‘green cotyle- 
dons, green seed-coat’’ (2) X “yellow cotyledons, yellow 
seed-coat’’ (g), the green seed-coat is inherited through 
the female parent exclusively, just as in the case of the 
cotyledon colors; but in the reciprocal cross the green 
and yellow seed-coats show Mendelian segregation, the 
former being dominant. 

The maternal inheritance observed above was not due 
to self-fertilization succeeding failures in artificial cross- 
ing, because several other characters showed inheritance 
through the male parents. 

An interpretation of the inheritance phenomena under 
consideration is suggested as follows. In the first place, 
let us refer again to the two different kinds of chlorophyll 
assumed to be concerned in producing the green and yel- 
low cotyledons; namely, the chlorophyll which can be 
changed into yellow and the chlorophyll which remains 
green. (These will be denoted respectively as “(Y)” 
and ‘‘(G)’’ in the later descriptions.) These character- 
isties of chlorophyll may be due to heritable traits of the 
chromatophores or of the cytoplasm, and not to hered- 
itary elements in the nucleus. As, on the fertilization of 


54 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vor. LII 


the egg-cell, the chromatophores and the eytoplasm of the 
female gamete will probably remain as such without 
being supplemented by those from the male gamete, their 
characteristics would naturally be inherited only through 
the female parent. In the second place we may assume 
that a pair of Mendelian factors is concerned in the inher- 
itance of the colors of the seed-coats. The factor “H” 
inhibits the chlorophyll ‘‘(Y)’’ in the seed-coat of the 
beans with yellow cotyledons from changing to yellow, 
producing beans with yellow cotyledons and green seed- 
coat; the absence of the factor ‘‘H,’’ expressed by ‘‘h,”’ 
allows the seed-coat of the bean with yellow cotyledons to 
remain yellow. The seed-coat of the bean with green 
cotyledons remains green no matter whether the factor 
“H?” is present or absent, because the beans of this kind 
have the chlorophyll ‘‘(G)’’ which is incapable of chang- 
ing the color. 

The justice of the contention regarding the bean with 
green cotyledons, moreover, is supported by the following 
observations. The F, families of the crosses ‘‘green 
cotyledons, green seed-coat’’ (2) X “yellow cotyledons, 
yellow seed-coat’’ (4) were actually composed of two 
kinds of individuals which were distinguishable from each 
other by a slight difference of the intensity of green color 
in the seed-coats, and the numerical relation between these 
two kinds of individuals was approximately the Mendelian 
mono-hybridal segregation ratio, the darker seed-coat 
being dominant to the lighter one. Again, in the F, gen- 
eration of these crosses, there were obtained three types 
of families, two which were uniformly of the darker and 
of the lighter seed-coats respectively and one which was 
a mixture of both. By comparing the green seed-coats of 
the female parents in these crosses with those of the prog- 
eny, the former was found to belong to the darker class 
mentioned above. These variations in the green color of 
the seed-coats may be regarded as being due to the in- 
fluence of the Mendelian factors ‘‘H’’ and ‘‘h’’ respec- 
tively on the chlorophyll ‘‘(G)’’; from which it follows 


No. 613] INHERITANCE IN SOY BEAN 55 


that the method of inheritance in the beans with yellow 
cotyledons obtains also in the beans with green cotyle- 
ons. 
Keeping these statements in mind the cases in Table I 
may be illustrated as follows: 


Crossing No. II 


Parents (G)HH (9)X(Y)hh (9) (G)HH (9)X(Y)HH (2) 
Cotyledons green yellow green yellow 
Seed-coat green yellow green green 

o d de. 

1 (G)Hh (G)HH 
Cotyledons green green 
Seed-coat green green 
Fs (G)HH (G)Hh (G)hh (G)HH 
25% 50% 25% . 100% 

Cotyledons green green 
Seed-coat green _ green 

ossing No. I 

Parents Y(bh) (9)X(G)HH (9)  Y(HH) (9) x(G)HH (g) 
Cotyledons yellow green yellow green 
Seed-coat yellow green green green 

Fi Y(Hh) Y(HH) 
Cotyledons yellow yellow 
Seed-coat green green 

F: = (Y)HH (Y)Hh (Y)hh (Y)HH 

25% 75% 28% 100% 
Cotyledons yellow yellow A yellow 
Seed-coat green yellow green 


If the foregoing interpretation really represents the 
facts in this investigation, we may consider also crosses 
in which forms such as (G)Hh, (G)hh, and (Y) Hh were 
used as the parents, since in these crossings phenomena 
different from those in Table 1 would be expected. These 
expectations have been fulfilled in further experiments in 
which individuals from the previous experiments repre- 
senting different intensities of seed-coat color were used 
as the parent plants. The results of these crosses, accom- 
panied by interpretations, are shown in Table II. 


56 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


TABLE II 


CROSSES MADE AMONG THE PROGENY OF THE HYBRIDS SHOWN IN TABLE I 


Parents Fi Fe 
No. of No. of 
Female | Male | Character | Indi- | Char- | Indi- 
viduals | 2Cte | viduals 


Crossing No. 
a O dra yellow | green yellow | 22 yellow | 2,381 

d-coat yellow | green yellow 

ance (Y) hh | (G)hh| (¥)hh | 100% 


bo 
bo 


Crossing No. 
WEEE os ees Cotyledons | yellow | green yellow 18 yellow | 1,963 

Seed-coat green | green mo 10 

j(Y)Hh | 50% 


Interpret. | (Y) Hh) (G)hh 4 (y)hh | 50% 


ig sie Cua Cotyledons | yellow ¡ green yellow 9 yellow | 1,108 
Seed-coat green | green o 7 


yellow | 2 
fi HH| 25% 


Interpret. (Y) Hh| (G) Hh < (Y) Hh| 50% 


(Y) hh | 25% 


The maternal inheritance described in this paper seems 
to be essentially the same phenomenon as the inheritance 
of the character ‘‘albo-maculata’’ which was studied by 
Correns? in Mirabilis Jalapa and also by Baur? in Antir- 
rhinum majus. In each case one is dealing with chroma- 
tophore characters. 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY, BUSSEY INSTITUTION, 
2 Correns, C., Zeitschr. f. ind. Abst. u. Vererbungslehre, Bd. I, 1909, 
pp. 291-329; Ibid., Ba. II, 1909, pp. 331-340. 


3 Baur, E., Zeitschr. f. ind. Abst. u. Vererbungslehre, Bd. IV, 1910, pp. 
81-102. 


SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 


ao oes IN MAIZE: THE C ALEURONE FACTOR AND 
WAXY ENDOSPERM! 


In 1912 Collins? presented data which showed a linkage be- 
tween waxy endosperm and aleurone color in certain hybrids of 
Chinese and American corn. A summary of the F, data in Table 
II, p. 579,? gives the coefficient of association as .821. This is 
equivalent, approximately, to a 3.5-1 gametic ratio, and a cross- 
ing-over percentage of 22. The percentage of waxy grains is 
about 21 and colorless about 25. This is good evidence that 
Collins is dealing with material heterozygous for waxy endo- 
sperm and heterozygous for only one factor in aleurone. In the 
back eross data in Collins’s Table IV none of the ears shows the 
1:1 relation between colored and colorless expected from plants 
heterozygous for one color factor. The material in that table 
apparently involves more than one aleurone factor in the het- 
erozygous condition and before such data may be considered in 
any linkage study they must be corrected for this or the true 
values for the percentage of crossing over can not be ascertained. 
The coefficient of association need not be used if we are dealing 
with back cross data. If it seems desirable to use the coefficient 
of association with this sort of data new tables should be calcu- 
lated from the gametic series n:1:1:n corrected for the respec- 
tive aleurone factor conditions. 

The advantage of back cross data is obvious. Data of this 
nature obtained by the writer from crosses of plants heterozygous 
for one aleurone factor and for waxiness with double recessive 
plants are presented in the table on p. 58. 

Families 6, 99, and 100 are derived from dlid corneous 
seeds heterozygous for aleurone and waxiness. Families 9 and 
101 are colorless waxy plants. The first nine ears give an average 
crossing over of 26.7 per cent. or a gametic ratio of 2.75:1. Ears 
8 and 9 show repulsion instead of coupling, but this does not 


1 Paper No. 66, Department of Plant Breeding, Cornell University, east, 
N. de 


““Gametic Coupling as a Cause of spread AMER. NAT., +, pp. 
569-590. 1912. 
57 


58 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


necessitate a separate summary for the crossover and non-cross- 
over classes of the coupling and repulsion families. The devi- 
ations from the average are more than twice the probable error 
in ears 1, 3, 4, and 9, between one and two times in ears 5 and 7, 
and less than the probable error in ears 2, 6, and 8. 


Back Cross DATA: HETEROZYGOUS CORNEOUS COLORED X Waxy COLORLESS — 


a z om PESE AES gee 

gi momoe (ERER BEDE) sisas E85 88258 gls Ends 

z Estes eses “555 ESER EEEE] | RF IES 
1| 100(6)X101(1)|147| 58| 65|133| 280:123| 30.5 | 3.8 | 1.49 | 2.55 | 49.1| 47.4 
2| 100(1)X101(3)104| 24| 32| 67| 171: 56| 24.7 | 2.0 |1.98| 1.01 | 43.6| 40.1 
3| 101(9)X100(9) 102| 60| 43|137| 239:103 30.1 | 3.4 | 1.61 | 2.11 | 52.6| 57.6 
4 10005) X 101 (4) 170 49 39 06: 3| 4.4|1.50| 2.93 | 44.4] 47.0 
5 101(3) X 100(8) 124 53| 601153| 277:113/29.0| 2.31 1.51) 1.52 | 54.6| 52.8 
6| 101(5)X100(6) 71| 24| 9| 31| 102: 33 24.4| 2.3/2.57| .89| 29.6] 40.7 
7 igo POCO 10 42| 631124| 264:105| 28.5 | 1.8|1.55| 1.16|50.7| 45.0 
8| 101 (2) Xx 99(1) 46/111/103| 32| 214: 78 26.71 0|1.75| .00|46.2 49.0 
9| 99 (19% 101 (0)! 69229195 60! 424:129| 23.3 | 3.4|1.27 2.68 | 46.1] 52.3 
Total | 2,277:828| 26.7 0. 47.7| 48.4 
6 (6)X 9(6) 11811141128 131| 249:242 49.3 | 22.6 1.35 116.74 | 52.7| 49.9 


Owing, perhaps, to the difficulty in separating waxy from 
corneous grains the percentage of waxy grains for the total of 
the 9 ears is only 47.7 + .6. The deviation from the expected 50 
per cent. is nearly four times the probable error, indicating a 
poor fit. The percentage of colorless grains is 48.4 and the de- 
viation is two and two thirds times the probable error. Here the 
separation is accomplished with a somewhat greater degree of 
accuracy. On the whole, the data seem to show conclusively 
that we are dealing with a linkage between waxy endosperm 
and one of the aleurone factors. 

Ear No. 10, which is derived from a non-linkage family and 
included in the table for comparison with the first nine ears, is 
also the result of a back cross. The per cent. of crossing over is 
49.3, which is practically equivalent to independent inheritance. 
The deviation from 26.7 per cent. of crossing over is 16.74 times 
the probable error and the odds against this being due to ran- 

n sampling are enormous. 


EVIDENCE THAT THE C Factor FOR ALEURONE COLOR Is 
CONCERNED 
Mien the linkage data are interesting and valuable, it is 
elapse of greater interest and value in the study of maize in- 


No. 613] SHORTER ARTICLES, DISCUSSIONS, REVIEWS 59 


heritance to know which of the aleurone factors is concerned in 
this linkage. This may be determined, where the inhibitory 
factor I is not concerned, by crossing plants grown from either 
colorless waxy or colorless corneous grains taken from families 
showing linkage with plants that are homozygous recessive in 
turn for one of the aleurone factors and homozygous dominant 
for the remaining factors. Plants of this nature were available 
in Professor Emerson’s aleurone testers. 

At least five factors are now known to be concerned with de- 
velopment of aleurone color. They are known as the A, C, R, 
Pr and I factors. A, C and R are necessary for the development 
of red. The dominant Pr factor changes red to purple. That 
the Pr factor is not concerned in this linkage is evident from 
the fact that the linkage relation is observed in segregations of 
colored and non-colored aleurone and waxy and corneous endo- 
sperm regardless of whether they are purple or red, and from 
the fact that only red aleurone seeds were used in obtaining the 
back cross data which show the linkage. That the inhibitor is 
not involved is inferred from the fact that the segregation on 
the original parent ear was 195 corneous colored, 95 corneous 
colorless, 95 waxy colored and 15 waxy colorless which is ap- 
proximately a 3:1 segregation of colored to colorless aleurone. 
The relation of the A, C and R factors to waxy endosperm re- 
mains to be accounted for. This may be determined as stated 
above by the use of aleurone testers, which are named for the 
pair of factors which is homozygous recessive. The following 
diagram explains the method of testing for these factors. 


| The Constituti 1 Grains from the 3 : 1 Ear may be 
Constitution of Aleurone Testers i ; E 
aaCCRR | AAccRR | AACOrr 
A tester, aaCCRR ......... No color | Color | Color 
ARA o Color | No color | Color 
R tester, AAC CHRO A Color | Color | No color 


If the C factor were linked with the factor for waxy endosperm 
no color should appear in the F, from a cross between the C 
R and A testers colored ears should be obtained. Crosses of this 
nature were made in 1916 and 1917 with the following results: 


60 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


COLORLESS ALEURONE WITH C TESTER 


Year | Parentage ie niece | Color of Aleurone 
TT | 1 (2) X6857 (9) 360 | No color 
1916..... 2 (14) X6857 (12) 240. EE 
ie 2 (9) x6857 (4) 500 | 
MGR a0 101 (1) X 7506: (2) 250 | 

COLORLESS ALEURONE WITH R TESTER 
1916....: | 1 (5) X 6867 (19) - 480 Colored 
ibero | 2 (1)X6868 (6) 200 

COLORLESS ALEURONE WITH A TESTER 
1917.....| 101 (7) 7505 (2) | 150 | Colored 


The above data are believed to show conclusively that the C 
factor for aleurone is linked with the factor for waxy endosperm, 
because the & and A testers caused the development of aleurone 
eolor when crossed with colorless individuals from the same fam- 
ily while the C tester did not. 


Non-LINKAGE OF ALEURONE COLOR AND Waxy ENDOSPERM 


It is interesting to know that in ear 10, which shows no linkage, 
the C factor for aleurone was not heterozygous. A colorless 
waxy individual from this family crossed with the C tester pro- 
duced an ear consisting of approximately 300 seeds, all of which 
showed colored aleurone. 

Another waxy colorless individual of the same family crossed 
with the R tester produced an ear with 25 seeds, all of which 
were colored. Thus the C and R factors are eliminated with 
some degree of assurance. The A factor apparently is heterozy- 
gous in this family, but unfortunately the writer has obtained 
no crosses with the A tester to verify the conclusion reached by 
the process of elimination. This may be considered as indirect 
proof of the C factor as the aleurone factor which is linked with 
the waxy endosperm factor. 


SUMMARY 
- (a) Collins has presented conclusive evidence of the linkage 


between waxy endosperm and aleurone color. The writer has 
_ presented additional evidence from back crosses, which shows the 


No. 613] SHORTER ARTICLES, DISCUSSIONS, REVIEWS 61 


intensity of the linkage in the material at his disposal to be 
equivalent to 26.7 per cent. of crossing over. 

(b) It has been shown directly, by means of crosses between 
colorless individuals in a linkage family and aleurone testers and 
indirectly by means of aleurone tests with a non-linkage family 
where the A factor and not the C factor is heterozygous, that the 
C factor for aleurone is linked with the factor for waxy endo- 
sperm. 

T. BREGGER 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY 


INHERITANCE IN ORTHOPTERA 


IN a recent paper (Nabours, 717) Nabours has continued his 
admirable studies of inheritance in Paratettix. The paper is 
backed up with an abundance of data, from which a number of 
facts are deduced. In his discussion, he attacks certain modern 
hypotheses, and since it appears to me that his strictures are 
not entirely justified, I venture here to review the evidence, and 
make certain comments on it. 

The following facts, several of which were well brought out 
in a previous paper (Nabours, 14), are presented : 

1. A large number of distinct, true-breeding forms of Para- 
tettiz occur ‘‘in nature.” Of these he has collected at least 
fourteen or fifteen. He no longer looks upon ee as a distinet 
Species, and he has dropped the “specific names”” he suggested 
for them in the previous paper. 

2. The distinguishing characteristics of these forms fall into 
two groups in their mode of inheritance: (a) Fourteen color pat- 
‘terns act as allelomorphs to each other. (b) A fifteenth pattern 
is ‘‘allelomorphie only to its absence.”’ 

3. One of the characters of the ‘‘multiple allelomorph”” group 
does not always act as an allelomorph to the other members of the 
group. This is the character I of his first paper, which was 
noted then for the same behavior. Rather, it behaves (to put it 
briefly, but in words very different from Nabours’s) as if it 
were closely but not completely linked to the others. 

Because I wrote a review of Nabours’s first paper on this sub- 
ject (Dexter, 14), I feel a certain responsibility for what I think 
are mistaken viewpoints concerning the multiple-allelomorph- 
nature of this group. 


62 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIT 


Bellamy, working in the same laboratory, contributes also an 
excellent study on the same subject, but based on a different 
genus of Tetrigine (Bellamy, 717). Both he and Nabours have 
apparently accepted as proven that there is here a large group 
of determiners allelomorphic to each other, and I am quoted in 
support of this idea. Inasmuch, however, as I made certain 
reservations which are important in the light of the new data pre- 
sented, I beg to quote a portion of my former paper. 


As Sturtevant has pointed out, for any case to which the idea of 
multiple allelomorphism is applicable, an equally valid explanation 
may be found in “complete linkage” of the factors concerned. To 
decide in any case between the two explanations would be impossible. 

If however linkage were not complete, a “cross-over” class 
might occur, and this would suffice to rule out the explanation based on 
multiple allelomorphs. Such a cross-over class perhaps is furnished 

y the BEI individual. 


I then suggested that since the BEI individual had been lost 
before it could be tested, the cross be repeated, and said: 


If then BEI forms should oceur again, and in these, when mated to 
other forms, the factors B and I should be found to stay together to 
the same extent as before they separated, it would show that close 
meee, rather than multiple Waite dear Spim this particular 
instanc 


Nabours has repeated this experiment, using the character S 
instead of E, and has again obtained such a cross-over, BIS. 
With this individual, he has carried out breeding tests. 

Apparently forgetting what had been pointed out in my paper, 
he says: 


The significant feature is the complete combination or linkage, ap- - 
parently permanent, of the factor for S, and the factor for the modi- 
fied I. . . . This combination, IS, becomes a new form, a new multiple 
allelomorph (italics not original), pairing with and allelomarphie to 
any other multiple allelomorph with which it has been tried . t is 
not possible for me to suggest the means by which the dosbinalión or 
linkage was effected. 


(One must protest against the use of words which permits a 
single determiner to be called a ‘‘multiple allelomorph. ’ | 

The answer that he was unable to give is obvious. Perhaps 
there are thirteen characters here whose determiners are allelo- 
morphic to each other. That is possible, perhaps probable, 


No. 613] SHORTER ARTICLES, DISCUSSIONS, REVIEWS 63 


though unproved. But I is not a member of that group, but is 
only linked to it, being, as we may say, in the same chromosome. 
The work that Nabours has done makes that certain, and disposes 
also, by the way, of the likelihood that non-disjunction explains 
the similar case in the first paper (Bridges, ” 

Nabours has made a sort of mystery of the character called G 
in his first paper, but now called 6, which, he says, is “‘ only allelo- 
morphic to its absence.” Ignoring the philosophy of this state- 
ment, he has shown that @ mendelizes independently of the other 
characters. He suggests that such determiners may be of fre- 
quent occurrence. He has shown that by substituting Greek 
letters for English letters the formule will work out as well as 
they did before, and has naively applied the method to the case 
of comb inheritance in poultry. His difficulty is simply caused, 
and Bellamy has pointed out its solution: 


It need only be assumed that the determiner is borne by some other 
chromosome. 


In Drosophila some four or five years ago, the determiner for 
bent wings was the only one known for the fourth chromosome 
group. If at that time we had known only one other set of char- 
acters in Drosophila, viz., that of the white-eosin group, the situ- 
ation would have been parallel to the one described by Nabours. 
We might speak of a half dozen or so of ‘‘characters allelo- 
morphic to each other,’’ and of one, bent, ‘‘allelomorphic only 
to its absence.’’ Later on, when we found other characters 
whose determiners were located in the fourth chromosome, we 
should modify our theory. Nabours’s industry in his research 
makes me feel safe in prophesying that he will yet discover some- 
thing linked to 6. 

He says parenthetically that two other characters ‘‘apparently 
of the nature of @’’ have been discovered. It is important to 
find out their linkage relations and we shall wait eagerly to hear 
of them. In the meantime we must conclude that he has discov- 
ered the beginning of at least two chromosome groups. 


er 


PAN 
1917. Studies of Inheritance and Evolution in Orthoptera, Iv. 
Journal of Genetics, Vol. E ou 


64 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 
— C. B. 
916. Non-Disjunetion as a Proof of the Chromosome Theory of 
redity. Genetics, Vol. 


Dexter, J. 8. 
1917. Nabours’s Breeding Experiments with Grasshoppers. AMERI- 
CAN ‘NATURALIST, Vol. 48, p. 317. 
Nabours, R. K. 
Journal 


1914. gS of Inheritance pii Evolution in Orthoptera. 
enetics, Vol. 3, 
1917, Studies o of Inheritance u Evolution i in Orthoptera, II and III. 
of Genetics, pp. 1-5 
JOHN S. DEXTER 


UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN 


THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST 


Voz. LIT. February-March, 1918 No. 614 


INTERNAL FACTORS INFLUENCING EGG PRO- 
DUCTION IN THE RHODE ISLAND RED 
BREED OF DOMESTIC FOWL 


A SURVEY OF THE PROBLEM or Eee PRODUCTION AND A 
PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF AN EGG RECORD INTO ITs 
CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS 


DR. H. D. GOODALE 


MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, AMHERST, Mass. 


INTRODUCTION 

A survey of the problem of egg production, such as is 
made in the present paper, seems desirable at the present 
time because of the great interest taken in breeding for 
increased egg production. While the various factors dis- 
cussed are familiar, to a degree at least, to most poultry 
keepers, nevertheless they are ignored in breeding prac- 
tise and reliance placed upon the numerical record alone 
as a sufficiently detailed and accurate description of a 
hen’s performance, although, as will be pointed out in a 
later section, identical numerical records result from 
quite diverse combinations of factors. 

The point of view which we have been led to adopt may 
be stated in one form as follows: The egg record of a hen, 
expressed as a given number of eggs per unit of time and 
taken by itself, is not a sufficient measure or description 
of egg production, even under a favorable environment, 
for the record is the result of the interaction of a number 
of innate factors. Some of these factors, such as rate of 
growth, are quite distinct from egg production, while 


66 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


others, such as rhythm, are almost inseparable from egg 
production itself. The numerical record of a hen shows 
only the number of eggs laid, but does not show the com- 
ponent elements which enter into the making of such a 
record. All these various elements must be studied in- 
dividually and the influence exerted by each on egg pro- 
duction worked out. Moreover, the mode of inheritance 
of the separate factors must also be determined. 

Further, it should be noted that the interrelation of 
the various factors is so complex that it is difficult to 
describe each by itself. In nearly all cases the bearing 
of some other factors must be considered to a certain ex- 
tent, at least, along with that factor which is specifically 
under discussion. 

It is important to observe that while the results ob- 
tained for the Rhode Island Reds described in this paper 
differ in several respects from those obtained by Pearl 
(712) for Barred Plymouth Rocks, these differences are 
inherent in the birds themselves and are on a par with 
the visible differences, such as color, that exist between 
the two breeds. Pearl has anticipated that differences in 
fecundity in various strains and breeds are likely to be 
found. He states as follows: 


The writer has no desire to generalize more widely from the facts set 
forth in this paper than the actual material experimentally studied 
warrants. It must be recognized as possible, if not indeed probable, 
that other races or breeds of poultry than those used in the present ex- 
periments may show a somewhat different scheme of inheritance of 
fecundity. . . . I wish only to emphasize that nothing is further from 
my desire or intention than to assert before such investigations have 
been made that the results of the present study apply unmodified to all 
races of domestic poultry. 


It is clear, then, that a complete knowledge of fecundity 
and its inheritance in domestic birds can only be ob- 
tained by a careful study of egg production in all breeds 
and perhaps even in several strains of the same breed. 
As shown later on, one of the several factors that deter- 
mine winter egg production is characteristic of Pearl’s 


No. 614] EGG PRODUCTION 67 


Barred Plymouth Rocks, while another is characteristic 
of my Rhode Island Reds. 

The data in this paper are obtained from a flock of 
220 March and April hatched pullets placed in the laying 
houses in the fall of 1913, together with the data on winter 
egg production from the flock (numbering 482 pullets) 
placed in the laying houses in the fall of 1915, although 
the composition of this flock was not the same as that of 
1913-14, because it had been altered by the addition of 
several other strains in order to overcome the unsatis- 
factory vitality of the original flock. The addition of 
new blood apparently increased the variability in some 
respects as shown by the statistical constants (cf. Figs. 
1 and 2, also 10 and 10a). The winter production of the 
flock of 1914-15 was decidedly poor and apparently not 
normal, probably due largely to environmental condi- 
tions, and hence data from this flock have not been used. 

It is impossible within the limits of this paper to pre- 
sent detailed data on all points discussed. To the reader 
who is unfamiliar with egg records, it may be said that 
an inspection of the records reveals the essential nature 
of the problems. 

The original flock came mainly from one of the leading 
showroom strains of the country, to which were added a 
few individuals from another showroom strain. Neither 
strain, so far as known, had been especially bred for egg 
production, nor had any of the strains added in 1915. 


Ways or Measurin6G Eee PRODUCTION 

It has been customary in times past to determine a 
hen’s egg production by her record expressed in the num- 
ber of eggs per year, the year usually running from No- 
vember 1 through the succeeding October 31. At other 
times the first-year record of the hen has been taken as 
the time unit, beginning with her first egg and running 
365 days therefrom. More recently, the Maine Exper- 
iment Station has used the period beginning with the first 
egg of a pullet and extending to March 1 as the unit of 


68 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


measurement, since March 1 serves as a convenient cal- 
endar date, near the end of the winter cycle. Still more 
recently the same workers have suggested that even a 
shorter period would be desirable, because it is held that 
a hen only reaches her highest possibilities under favor- 
able conditions. Recently the Utah Station (Ball, Tur- 
pin and Alder, 714) has suggested that for Leghorns the 
records be kept for three years, since hens that lay poorly 
the first year often lay much better during the second 
or third. Rice, however, (’13) has published data on 
this point, which show that such birds are the exception 
rather than the rule. 

A year, however, may be considered to be a natural 
unit. During this period the whole eycle of seasonal 
changes is gone through with. Moreover, this period 
bears a definite relation to the bird’s life cycle, for its 
beginning may be taken to correspond to the beginning 
of egg production in the fall, while its close roughly corre- 
sponds to the cessation of egg production the next fall, 
usually coinciding with the onset of the fall moult, 
though, of course, in some individuals, the biological year 
exceeds 365 days. Thus, the year would seem to mark a 
pretty definite period in the life of the bird as to her in- 
nate capacity for egg production. In this paper we have 
used both winter and annual periods as measures of pro- 
duction, as the necessities of the moment required. 

There are some objections to each of the two common 
methods of determining the point at which the year 
begins. If the year begins with the first egg of each indi- 
vidual, the differences in age at which the first egg is 
produced are neglected. If a given point in the year is 
chosen and the production of all individuals within a year 
from this date recorded, differences in time of hatching 
are neglected. Possibly a more satisfactory method 
would be to take 365 days from the beginning of egg pro- 
duction in each flock of equal age, or else from the aver- 
age date at which production begins. 

The terms ‘‘high producer”” and ‘‘low producer”” are 


No. 614] EGG PRODUCTION 69 


frequently encountered, but each is used very loosely. 
The use, either of the term ‘‘higher producer’? or ‘‘low pro- 
ducer’ without qualifications of any sort can scarcely be 
iently precise. Unless qualified by the word 
annual, the term ‘‘ high producer”’ in this paper will be un- 
derstood to refer to the winter record only. Pearl (712) 
has defined a high producer as a bird that lays over 30 
eggs during the winter, a mediocre producer as one that 
lays during the winter but that lays fewer than thirty 
eggs, while a zero producer does not lay at all during the 
winter. As will appear later, the use of the numerical 
value of the record as its sole characteristic is insuffi- 
ciently precise. The term ‘‘true mediocre producer”’ will 
be used to denote a mediocre producer in the sense 
(Pearl’s) explained below, while the term ‘‘mediocre 
(under 30 eggs) producer”” will be used elsewhere. 

The Influence of External Factors.—A brief consid- 
eration of the relation of external factors to egg pro- 
duction is necessary before considering internal factors. 

External factors may be divided into two classes: first 
those that operate rather directly upon egg production, 
and secondly those that operate indirectly, through their 
- influence on the organism as a whole. 

Under the head of direct factors should be mentioned 
housing, climate, food, general care, ete. It should go 
without saying that the birds must be properly fed and 
kept under conditions generally recognized as suitable 
for maximum egg production. It is not yet clear, how- 
ever, that the optimum conditions are fully known, or 
that they can be obtained at will, for with the present ap- 
pliances for keeping poultry, only the crudest sort of 
approximation can be made toward securing a uniform | 
environment. For example, one is never certain with 
open-front houses that a draft may not strike one portion 
of the flock, while on the roosts, but not another. There 
are many little things of this sort which can not at pres- 
ent be controlled, nor is it definitely known in what way 
these ““little things” influence egg production. Some 


70 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vor. LIT 


appear to be without any influence whatsoever; others 
appear to. be of varying degrees of importance. 

Thus, it is not easily possible to overemphasize the im- 
portance of the environment in relation to egg produc- 
tion. At best, certain elements of the environment are 
partially controlled and similar conditions supplied to 
the members of the flock under experimentation, but it is 
impossible with the best practical facilities at present 
available to furnish identical conditions to all individuals 
of the same flock. At the very best one can only go 
through the motions of providing such conditions. More- 
over, one may be forced to modify the procedure selected 
in order to keep the birds in good condition. Further- 
more, individuals or strains may not react in the same 
fashion to identical conditions. 

The difference in the reaction of individuals of the 
same strain to similar conditions, particularly when these 
conditions fall near the eritical point for the strain (or 
species), is a matter of considerable importance, espe- 
cially when a character such as egg production is under 
study, and more especially when it is impossible to con- 
trol certain important elements of the environment. As 
long as the environment is not too far from the optimum, 
birds of low vitality, for example, may do quite as well as 
birds of much higher vitality, but when the environment 
approaches either end of its range, then its effects begin 
to manifest themselves. 

A full discussion of the possible influence of the en- 
vironment, either directly or indirectly, upon egg pro- 
duction as a whole or upon any of the several factors in- 
fluencing production is outside the scope of this paper. 
While the reader should bear in mind the possibility that 
the environment has introduced disturbing factors, every 
effort has been made to keep all controlable elements, 
such as feeding and housing uniform. 

Turning now to internal factors, we find that these also 
may be considered under two heads. We have little to 
do with the factors falling under one of these heads, for 


No. 614] EGG PRODUCTION 71 


their effect is exerted only indirectly. They undoubtedly 
play an important part in egg production, but like many 
external factors they are without influence unless they 
fail in some way. Such factors are the capacity to digest 
and assimilate food, to excrete waste matters properly, 
etc. It is not my purpose at this time to discuss such 
factors. Those internal factors with which we are mostly 
concerned are those whose relations to egg production are 
much more obvious. They are rate of growth of the 
chick, cessation of growth, the attainment of both bodily 
and sexual maturity, moults, the size of the bird, the 
stamina of the bird, the presence or absence of cycles, 
litters or clutches of production, the rhythm of produc- 
tion, the rate of production for definite time intervals, 
age at first egg, and broodiness. Some of them are 
clearly separable from egg production. Others are so 
closely interwoven that it is impossible to say that they 
are not phases of egg production. Whether or not this 
is so, is of no immediate importance from the standpoint 
of inheritance, since the result will probably be the same 
whether they are treated as genetic factors that are sep- 
arable from egg production or treated as groups into 
which egg production itself may be divided. These fac- 
tors may be regarded as phases of egg production if one 
desires, but on the whole it has seemed profitable to re- 
gard them as factors influencing egg production. 


Rate of Growth, Bodily Maturity, Cessation of Growth, 
Sexual Maturity’ 

- These interrelated factors are closely interwoven in 
their effect on egg production. Under normal conditions 
it is clear that sexual maturity is indicated by the begin- 
ning of egg laying, and may be measured by a bird’s age 
at her first egg, i. e., the length of time elapsing between 
the date hatched and date of first egg. Sexual maturity, 
however, demands certain antecedent conditions before it 
can become manifest. Among other conditions is a cer- 


1 Unless otherwise stated, reference here is to the female only. 


72 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


tain body size, which depends upon the rate at which the 
individual grows, as well as the limiting size for that in- 
dividual. That is, size at a given age is the result of rate 
multiplied by time, up to certain limiting values deter- 
mined by the genetic composition. Cessation of growth, 
however, does not necessarily coincide with the onset of 
sexual maturity nor even with general bodily maturity. 
Although it is certain that the hen is heavier in her second 
autumn than at the beginning of egg production, our data 
show that there is little or no growth during the first 
winter. We must, then, distinguish between sexual ma- 
turity, which is capable of manifesting itself as soon as 
the body reaches a certain size, from that maturity which 
is not attained until long after the adult size is reached. 
At present the relation between sexual maturity and bod- 
ily maturity has not been worked out. Some extreme 
phases, however, of the interrelation appear a priori 
probable. Chicks that grow very rapidly naturally tend 
to reach sexual maturity at a very early period in their 
life. They may or may not start in laying immediately 
after reaching full size. Other birds grow very slowly 
and can not lay before a certain size is reached. There- 
fore, they must of necessity reach sexual maturity rela- 
tively late in life. It may be impossible for birds of this 
sort to reach sexual maturity before spring if hatched 
during the usual breeding season (April, May). The 
general effect of slow growth, then, will be to lower the 
record made by such individuals, although they may be 
otherwise identical with those that grow more rapidly. 

Combined with the factors mentioned are the factors 
that limit the size finally reached. As pointed out above, 
size results from rate of growth times length of period 
through which growth continues. Each factor is deter- 
mined in part by the environment and in part by the 
genetic constitution of the bird. 

The following combinations of dl (Table 1) and 
their effect on egg production may be assumed. Each 
factor is treated as though it were wholly independent 


No. 614] EGG PRODUCTION Bo 


of the others. Early sexual maturity is assumed to be a 
constitutional tendency to begin laying as soon as a suffi- 
cient body size or body maturity is reached, while late 
sexual maturity is assumed to be a tendency to delay pro- 
duction until after body maturity is attained. This head- 
ing, however, does not refer to the objective attainment of 
sexual maturity which is shown by the column on ‘‘time 
of first egg.” The length of the growth period also is 
assumed to be determined by the attainment of bodily 
maturity. 
TABLE I 


VARIOUS COMBINATIONS OF HYPOTHETICAL GROWTH FACTORS WITH THEIR 
EFFECT ON WINTER Eee PRODUCTION 


| Probable Time of First | hy sone Winter 


Rate of Growth | Sexual Maturity Growth Period Egg £ Production 
| | | 
Rapid | Early Short ae High 
sr Late Short Low 
Early Long Relatively late Medium 
fe Late Long Late Ow 
Slow | Early Short Relatively late Medium 
r Late Short Relatively late Low 
Early ong Late Low 
Late | Long Very late Zero 


It appears from this table that early sexual maturity 
can become fully effective only when combined with rapid 
growth during a short growth period. 

The effect of the activities of some of these factors as 
bearing on winter egg production may be given more 
specifically as follows: If we measure egg production by 
the number of eggs laid before the 1st of March, assum- 
ing for the moment that this point represents, approxi- 
mately at least, a definite point in the history of the egg 
production of each individual, it follows that the birds 
hatched during April and May, or to take a definite point 
for the purposes of illustration—April 15—which mature 
at five months, as is sometimes the case, will begin to lay 
September 15 and will lay a large number of eggs before 
March 1, provided, of course, that they do not moult. On - 
the other hand, true mediocre productivity (slow rate) 
associated with early maturity will tend to force a bird 


74 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von. LII 


out of the class of mediocre producers, when measured by 
a specific number of eggs, into that of the high class. If, 
then, one is dealing with a flock in which these degrees of 
maturity exist, it is evident that extreme care must be 
taken to avoid confusion due to differences in maturity 
or rate of growth. 

Differences in maturity may be observed among the 
males as well as the females, although there is no precise 
objective point at which a male may be said to have be- 
come mature, which is comparable to the first egg of a 
pullet. On the whole, the larger birds tend to mature 
later than the smaller, though the rule is by no means 
rigid, since some small birds grow slowly while some 
large birds grow quickly. Since age at first egg is so 
large a factor in determining the kind of record a bird 
makes, one has a physiological character in the male of 
considerable value as an index of his capacity for produc- 
ing females that will mature at a given age. 

The age of a bird when she produces her first egg does 
not coincide necessarily with bodily maturity, theoreti- 
cally at least, although it seems that a certain size must 
be reached before the bird can begin to lay. On the other 
hand, the relation between body size and age at first egg 
as frequently encountered is of a sort such that the larger 
birds tend to lay at a later absolute age than the smaller 
ones hatched the same day. There are many exceptions, 
however, to this rule. It would, perhaps, be better ex- 
pressed to say that more heavy birds lay late in life than 
early, while more of the lighter birds lay early than late. 
For one of the flocks, the coefficient of correlation between 
age at first egg and weight has been calculated and found 
to have a value of + .5473 + .0216. 

The influence of the date at which the first egg is produced 
as well as the relation of age at first egg to the number of 
eggs laid during the winter months is shown in the series 
- of records shown in Figs. 3 and 4 (Page 78). These 
records have been selected in such a way that the rate of 
- production is nearly constant, although the date of hatch- 


No. 614] . EGG PRODUCTION 75 


ing of the individual birds covers a period of five weeks. 
The records are to be read as follows: The number in the 
upper left-hand corner is the hen’s number. The ver- 
tical mark in each square indicates that an egg was pro- 
duced on that day. The totals are given for each month 
while the figure at the extreme right of the row headed 


PERCENT 


111-380 1811% 198200 


AGE AT FIRST EGC 
Fig. 18 Graph showing the percentage of the flock beginning to lay at the 
ai 5 days) ao ad by the ay limits. Flock hatched in March, ume and 
1915. M = 263.19, S. D. = 37.71; C. V.. = 43.00, C. V. = 


“February”” is the total number of eggs for the winter 
period. The records for March and April have also been 
included in order to show the type of record made by 
birds that begin to lay very late in the season. These 
records show clearly that no sharp dividing line exists in 
the number of eggs laid. On the contrary, it is clear that 
birds hatched at the same time begin to lay at widely dif- 
ferent dates and that in consequence differences in egg 
yield for the winter period result. That this result is of 
general applicability to our flocks is shown by the fair 

sIn calculating the C. V- for the data given in Figs 1 and 2, the 
mean was taken as the difference between the mean age and the lower end 
of the range of Fig. 1. 


76 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST . [VoL. LII 


amount of homogeneity in the flocks in respect to rate of 
production as described below. 

Graphs showing the age at first egg for the flocks of 
1913-14 and 1915-16 are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The 
former (Fig. 2) is unimodal and has a narrow base, the 
shape of the curve indicating a high degree of homo- 


PERCENT 


Sos BOM AG AON & eS 


“hoe AT FIRST ked 
Fic. 28 Graph showing the percentage of the flock beginning to lay at the 


Fy (in a rere by the class limits. Flock hatched in March and April, 
M= Ag, S. D. = 24,34, C. V.s = 28.41, C. V., = 9.32 


geneity in the flock. As might be expected from the na- 
ture of the data (which is affected by the environment in 


only one direction, i. e., toward a retardation of the age 
at first egg) the lower part of the right-hand side slopes 


No. 614] EGG PRODUCTION qi 


off more gradually than the left. The mean has a value 
of 261.18 days.? 

The curve for the flock of 1915-16 (Fig. 1) is somewhat 
unlike the preceding. It is distinctly bimodal, but it is 
not altogether clear that this bimodality indicates two 
genotypes, for it may be due to chance alone. The base 
is broader than for the 1913-14 curve, indicating less 
homogeneity of the flock in this respect, although the 
same gradual slope on the right-hand side is apparent. 
There are reasons, however, for believing that the left- 
hand side of the graph for the flock of 1913-14 was short- 
ened by the methods of handling the pullets that fall. 
The mean has a value of 263.18 days. The difference be- 
tween this graph and the first is undoubtedly due to the 
changes in the composition of the flock as described in an 
earlier paragraph. 

Graphic representations of the day on which the vari- 
ous members of the flock produced their first egg are 
shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The data for the two flocks, i. e., 
1913-14 and 1915-16, are divided into groups according 
to the month in which the pullets were hatched. Each 
dot in the figure represents the first egg of a pullet 
and is placed in a square corresponding to the date on 
which the egg was laid. If more than one pullet began 
to lay on a given date, there is a dot for each pullet. 

There are some interesting differences and resem- 
blances between the groups mentioned in the distribution 
of the first egg through the various months. In all in- 
stances the pullets laying for the first time come in slowly 
during the first few weeks. Then follows a period of six 
to eight weeks during which the new pullets come in at 
a faster and fairly uniform rate. This period is followed 
by a third period when new pullets come in slowly, the 
last of the period representing the stragglers. The fairly 
uniform scatter is due in part to the inclusion of several 

2 In this paper we have given only those statistical constants that appear 
to be particularly pertinent and as a rule have omitted the probable error, 
especially where ‘‘n’’ is large, unless there has been special reason for 
inserting it. 


i 


= No. 4846 er Harcnep Marca 21, 1915. Aam ar First Eco, 191 Days 


Date Estela 
1915-16 1 213|4|5|6/|7|8/|9|10/11/12/13|14|15/16/17/18/19/|20| 21) 22 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 Totals 
Sept......| kid E- 
Oa. PF Pe eee ee) eee ei ls abi IPED GOA EE AI 
Nov 41 Meet AA IEA lib APA ELIT ae AN EA LE 
Dec N| / cae PGs SS aa ot eee ees oe ee ae 
Ca 1 rect il Rl fl hi eel eli) lee PEE AAAA PAI 
eG RR Phere E ELE LLE EFE A 20 
| AY | ul A 
eh ee Fle reel iit ie) AAA Te lees 
ape Ll Rede Plt Ae et bec EEN N Ny naa 
No. 4921 oe Hatcuep Marca 21, 1915. Aam at First Ece, 219 Days 
Revie * 112|38|41|5/6/|7|/8|9]/10/11/12/13/|14/15/16/17/|18|19|20/21/|22| 23 24 | 25| 26| 27| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | Totals 
Sept Po...» : E : | a 0 
Oct... EET El oh 3 
Nov / l / ¡A / / / / IE | inf icf |E 7 
De EA eno ese, ERr EISA AAAF 
D Pilg a a APE eal Pie ER EAA ARE las 
E > 1 
Md IFI BPA 1a PRS AN EEE LARA IBAS 18 
3 Deo Ge 
Mee iis | Ae Fife li ial tr Pre Peery eee] EE 
ore la tee lis lll lil leleletels ty llas] 


Fras. 3 AND 4. Daily records of Rhode Island Red pullets hatched in 1915, arranged in order of decreasing total winter eggs to show 
the effect of approximately equal rates of production, but of different dates of first egg on the total winter production, as shown by the num- 
eral at the right of the February record. March and April records are included to show that no fixed date can be selected as a dividing 
line, l=an egg; N=on nest but did not lay; B, L.=removed to broody coop; A =returned to pen 


8L 


LSITVAALVN NVOIJAWV AHL 


TIT "0A | 


Firas. 3 AND 4.—Continued, 


No. 4514 Hatcuep Marcu 7, 1915. AGE AT First Eca, 266 Days 
Date 3 : ; 
1915-16 T ón 3 617 |81}9 110/11}12/18 | 14| 15| 16/17) 18) 19) 20) 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28| 29 | 30| 31| Totals 
Nova.. 0. N N|/ IB 2 
Dh. ay eS NE LEE LEE eae Fee Wee See dled 
ERY Ll ill Ili ar ab page. tit ¡Y I | 21 
Pe el / i l {li iif Lli Iil AWAY LLEI 20 
| i. 
Mee MU ATI ANN ¿MONTA nl i} i} i] las 
Apr.. lila AGE | E Bot A Y INTE 
No. 5297 Harcuep APRIL 11, 1915. Acre ar First Eca, 268 Days 
bet 1 343 6/1718 )9 110/11) 12)13 | 14/15) 16) 17) 181/19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30! 31 | Totals 
Nov.) c.: E o 
Don. oa 0 
Jan: A oi A T pa aa TAS AA a ea 
Pop.: fly oo eevee Fa i-feel Wey ee) AA NA || [ls 
41 
BL 
Mar. ry alar ear eel [eo BH ao 
NOS a| |N a kes eo ene?) a Sh A UP 


[PT9 “ON 


NOILIAdGOUd DOA 


62 


HATCHED Marcu 14, 1915. Aam at First Eco, 312 Days 
3/4 8/|9¡10/11/12/13/14/15/|16/|17/18/19|20/21|22|23/|24/|25/|26|27| 28} 29 | 30| 31 Totals — 
B o 
0 
/ rd EEIN E Hr FELY rae eee 
J4 l a ANS H 23 
ORE? |: 
AN O CRA ANNAN MT EA 188 
© il) Peer tee al A al lla ll los 
Hatcuep APRIL 4, 1915. Aam ar Frrst Eca, 294 Days 
I 3) 4 8 | 9 |10}11)}12)13)] 14/15/16) 17| 18! 19 |20 |21 |22 23) 24 25 | 26| 27| 28} 29 | 30} 31 | Totals 
| mu 
| 0 
/ LALA lal 7 
eb. LLE JO ANS NINA NE eee we! ON 22 
| | mm”. 
Moz. us|} | Ree AE AAA ee || al 
PE AININ / / AAA Ad Ed IN 20 


l 
Fias, 3 AND 4,—Continued. 


08 


LSTIIVIALVN NVOIJIHMV AHL 


ITI “10A] 


HATCHED. APRIL 4, 1915. Acre at First Eca, 304 Days 


pl 


12/13) 14) 15) 16/17) 18} 19 


20 


Pert yt LAS 


/ 


Peery te eae eT 


/ 


PEN PE] 


/ 


14, 1915. Aem at FirsT Eca, 336 Days 


12/13/14 /15/16/17/|18 19 


20 


| 


"IO y 


¿CENAS SS, 


FIGS. 3 AND 4.—Continued, 


[F19 “ON 


NOILOMaOYd 99A 


18 


No. 5192 HATCHED APRIL 4, 1915. Aam ar First Eca, 334 Days 
=k te 1 9 | 10/11) 12] 13| 14| 15| 16/17] 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | Totals 
Hore E Bo 
A 0 
ae BE 
a | P 
Mar...... see <A A I ee 
Ayee rr A TT Arr 
No. 5201 HATCHED APRIL 4, 1915. Agr ar First Eco, 352 Days 
a 1 9 110! 11/12] 13/14] 15! 16/17) 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | Totals 
Nov.. n E o 
m. 0 
Jan.. 0 
w... y y 0 
0 
wW Pe TTT iy art) ths 
Apr.....-| / cla YE A A AAA JE 


Fics. 3 AND 4.—Concluded. 


38 


ISTIVINOIVN NVOIVAMNV AHL 


117 “10 A] 


HatcHep IN March, 1915 


Date |1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8 9 |10 |11 |12 |13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 [18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 25 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | oe 


[FI9 “ON 


Nov. . ... Lt” pide .. . ... . .. .. . ... .. . ae .. . .. .. . . . . ... . 27.2 
o ... |. . . ... prs . oe ... lo . eee E E $ .. oe |. . . .. . .. . .. .. . 24.4 


Jan. essees E E =? add . .. . . . . . . . eee les 12.2 


HATCHED IN Aprin, 1915 


Date [| 1/2)3) 4) 516) 7) 8 | 9 | 10/11) 12/13/14) 15) 16 |17 | 18 | 19 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |27 |28 |29 | 30 | 31 | ŞE 


NOILINGOUd DOA 


Nov. * . . . . . . .. .. oe . . oe ee see 14.5 
Dea 3 . . ... |. .. ... +. .. . . ts} Le . E id fa ... . . . eee eee lee eee ae E 34.6 
Jan.. i .. .. eee | eee pied . . oe eee .. . : . je .. . . . .. . .. . . ... 25.7 


eee eee 


Man... eee oe. be ne Y ha $ y . . .. . 10.1 


€8 


AM y . a 


Harcuep in May, 1915 


4/15/6|7/8 9 |10/11|12/13 14 15 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 21 22 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 28 2930/31 | o, 


v8 


* . . . . . . ee ee . .. eee 12.5 


eee .. ...j. . oe ee oe ... e... ¡.. oe 114.109 . . s.. | ee . . ...|» eee 
: ? : 37.5 


oe ooo je . . . .. . eee lee . se ae ee . ... . . 32.4 
.. ... . . . . . . . . . . 15.4 
iwa is En : 2.2 


ISITVUAIVN NVOIJANV AHL 


Fig. 5.—Concluded. Diagram to show the date on which the first egg of each member of the flock was laid. Flock of 1915-16, 


TIT 104] 


No. 614] EGG PRODUCTION 85 


hatches on one chart, “na also to the ungrouped data, for 
if the data be grouped in 10-day periods, a curve is ob- 


40 


"PERCENTAGE 
e 
o 


s 


Fic. 5a. Graph mia the percentage of the flock of etme that began 
to lay in the month indica From Fig. 5. ———— March, — — April, 
and ----- May hatched pcia respectively. 


100 


90 
80 
70 
60 
$ 
E 
5” 
x 
ka 
a 
40 
JO 
20 
10 
ea A AA 
Fig. 5b. Graph showing the percentage of the flock of 1915-16 sod waa desa 
to bade DO or an ber naga indicated. From Fig 5 reh, 
il y hatched pullets, respectively: 


tained similar to the one that results from the combina- 
tion of the age at first egg curves of several consecutive 
hatches. | 


Harcnep IN Marcu, 1913 


- Date $ 2 3ļ|41516/7|8]|9/10|11|12|13 |14 |15 |16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 


98 


Nov. oe a . . .. . 
: Deo... O hel oe a e e me ne 0. ee fees repel © 7 . ar lre fs - | 58.5 
de “h ' . i : : . . 15.4 
Go o , : : 6.2 
a 


HATCHED IN APRIL, 1913 


Per 


ISIITVAALVN NVOIMANV AHL 


Date [112131 4(5| 6] 7] 8 | 9 [10/11 | 12] 13/14) 18 | 16 | 17 | 18) 19 | 20 |21 | 22 |23| 24 | 25 20 27 28 20 |30 81 | Gent 
cn ee : | 
Oct... essre A 
Nae.. a . . . .. . . a is . roo jo 16.5 
Dec...... S ee . . . .. . . . . eS .. .. .. oe ee . eco [too fo .. ee |oo ed .. . 38.6 
Jan. 4 is eee |. se ee .. eee [eee lee . . .. ee . . . . ee . . .. . 35.4 a 
— E 
«Feb... 4 . . . .. . . . . . . | 8.7 - 
ha E 
Mar... . : | | 0.8 ma 
A... | | | 


Fic. 6. 


Harcuep 1n May, 1913 


Date a 4(5/6|7/8|9|10/11/12/13/14/15|16/17|18|19|20/21|22|23|24|25|26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 Tae 
Sept...... 
Oita.. 
NOF ira 
Doaa . . . . . . 25.0 
Jan ee E ‘ ' : : y ; * | 50.0 
Yee i : y : Es 25.0 


AD oe 


Fia. 6.—0oncluded. 


Diagram to show the date on which the first egg of each member of the flock was laid. Flock of 1913-14. 


Hatcuep Marcu 22, 1915 


Date | 1 4|5/6| 7 | 8] 9 |10)11|12| 13/14 15/16/17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 can 
Sept... 4 
Oct. . .. . . . . . 25.0 
NOV ao 1 . . 11.1 
Pes ae a > : è he aa e : vs 36.1 
A ob : 19.4 
Pob 1 : 5.6 
Mar........ 0.0 
Aok ae. í F 


Fie. T. isa le show the date on which the first egg of each member of the flock was laid. This figure is based on a new sample of the 
text. 


original strain that made their winter record in 1915-16. 


See t 


NOILOAGOUd DOA [FI9 ‘ON 


18 


88 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST (Vor: LIT 


In any one hatching group a period of several months 
elapses between the date the first pullet begins to lay and 
the date the last member of the flock starts. This period 
is longest for the March-hatched birds, apparently be- 
cause the warm spring weather brings all the stragglers 
to laying and because the March-hatched birds are the 
first to lay in the fall. For the May-hatched birds the 
period between first and last pullet is shorter because they 
begin to lay later in the fall than the March-hatched birds. 

For the March-hatched pullets of 1915-16, the initial 
period is nearly twice as long as for the April or May 
pullets. The date of the first egg of the first pullet is ap- 
proximately a month later for the May than for the April 
pullets. The data, however, for 1913-14 are not quite 
comparable with those for 1915-16. In the first place it 
was impossible in 1913, because of lack of room, to begin 
putting the pullets into the laying quarters until late in 
October, while some were not finally in place until about 
the middle of November. The birds therefore did not get 
settled down at once. The March- and April-hatched 
pullets both began to lay at approximately the same time 
and although most (77 per cent.) of the March birds had 
commenced laying by January, a considerable percentage 
(viz., 44.9 per cent.) of the April pullets did not begin to 
lay until after. Jaunary 1, which is approximately the 
same percentage (viz., 49.7 per cent.) obtained for the 
April pullets of the 1915-16 flock. It should be noted, 
too, that 73.9 per cent. of the March pullets of this year 
began to lay before January 1, so that the effect of the 
delay in housing the 1913-14 flock shows itself principally 
in a retardation of the first eggs of the March pullets, 
forcing a larger percentage of first eggs into December 
than would be normal for that flock. There is a further 
difference in the two years. The percentage of the April 
hatched pullets laying after February 1 was about 24 
times as great for the 1915-16 flock as for the 1913-14 
flock, the ratio being 24 per cent. for the former to 9.5 per 
cent. for the latter. 


No. 614] ' EGG PRODUCTION 89 


There is another way in which the close relation be- 
tween age at first egg (also date of first egg) and the 
winter egg record can be shown, for it follows that the 
higher the age at first egg the lower the winter record 


TABLE II 
AVERAGE WINTER EGG PRODUCTION FOR EACH WINTER MONTH OF 1915-16, 
BY HATCHES 


D Hac pas Se | Ne | D | 

e gos, [Bema E gon | ee | tr | ae Fe, 
February. 7...| 12 |66.83|.5.9 | 14.3 | 11.9 5.2 | 2.6 | 10.8 | 16.2 
February 14... 8 | 56.63 | 5.3 9.9 8.8 6.6 5.5 9.4 | 11.3 
February 21...| 13 !65.92| 1.8 | 10.5 | 10.9 | 10.1 8.8 | 10.8 | 13.1 
February 28...| 18 | 41.44] 0.0 2.0 3.7 6.3 8.8 9.4 111.3 
March Vin... 24 |44.88| 0.0 1.5 5.2 s2 | 206: j 10,6 9.9 

March 14..... 33 4.15 | 0.0 0.0 0.8 5.1 7.7 8.3 | 12.2. 
Mareh 21 23... 48 |40.67 | 0.0 0.3 2.7 7.2 | 11.6 9 8.9 
March 28..... 17 .00 | 0.0 0.0 0.0 44 1118 | 1254 113 
io 29 9.31 | 0.0 0.0 0.1 1.0 8.0 9.4 :| 10.7 

April 11 sais. 63 | 31.30) 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.9 6.8 -| 10.91 87 
April 183.4705) 47 | 29:26 | :0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 5.9 | 10.4 | 12.4 
A O os 34 |27.35| 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 3.3 | 10.6 | 13.1 
May 2 30 2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.3 6.9 | 12.0 
Moy Pesii 30 | 20.37 | 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 1.8 701 1126 
Mar i0., v5 19.) 18.95 |. 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 4.3 | 14.6 
May ZA 3 17.78 | 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 4. 12:9 
May 30 20.111.354: 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 3.1 8.0 


should be. In calculating this coefficient of correlation 

it is necessary that the birds should all be hatched at the 

same time, so that for our flocks, which were hatched at 

intervals of one week, it would be necessary to form as 

many correlation tables as there were hatches. The prob- 

able results did not seem to warrant the labor involved, at 
: TABLE III | 


AVERAGE WINTER EGG PRODUCTION FOR EACH MONTH OF 1915-16, GROUPED 
By MoNTH HATCHED 


|Average 
‘ Sep- No- De- Feb- 
Month no, Pm ABE | er October ver | cr Jomar hay 
tion 
February..... 51 56.2 27 8.3 8.3 dh 6 0i | 129 
ae T REE 122 39.8 0.0 0.4 2.3 6.2 10.4 | 10.0 | 10.3 
ADA. acs 173 | 29.8 ¡ 0.0 0.0 0.02 LE i 0.5 | 12.0 
18.1 0.0 | 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.8 5.4 | 11.9 


90 


THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 


[Vou. LIT 


least not at present, so that the coefficient was calculated 
for one of the largest hatches only. The value found, r= 
— 829 + .029, is in full agreement with the hypothesis 
that the winter egg production of a flock all hatched at 
the same time, depends largely upon the age at which the 


first egg is produced. 


TABLE IV 
AVERAGE WINTER Ege PRODUCTION FOR EACH WINTER MONTH OF 1913-14, 
BY HATCHES 


lay verage 
N er! | | 
sar mA Pullets bei August anne | October Makai Eo ¡January Pb sa 
inHatch duction | | 
e Mie sc lo de a Ge, Pp | 3.7 | 12.7 | 186 | 18.3 
March 16..... ie aks A 16 | 11.3 | 168 | 151 
arch 23..... eae ee eed Ae een Fas 0.3 | 10.3 | 19.4 | 17.1 
March 30..... eke ee ee ee. 0.0 | 7.7 | 13.9 | 14.9 
Annt 6o... 29 | 48.6 2.4 | 11.4 | 18.0 | 16.9 
oped ID EN TA O ne eee 12 |8.4 | 16.1 | 156 
April 20...... Mr eee ea EA POTS 0.2 | 3.3 | 15.9 | 15.8 
ADA ec. ES A O E 0. 4.1 | 125 | 15.9 
Se Soa 9 | wae ee i... 0.0 4.0 | 19.6 | 18.7 
May ll....... B PS POROUS... 00 tsaa | 86) 18.3 
TABLE V 


AVERAGE WINTER EGG PRODUCTION FOR EACH MONTH OF 1915-16, or Stock 
FROM ORIGINAL SOURCE 


Number oe 
DME IS | Pullets | "pro. | August | tember | October! vember | cember | January] ruary 
in Hatch duction 
March 22.....| 35. | 41.11 |, 0.0 0.0 2.3 4.2 7.9 12.8 | 13.9 
April BF oe. 16 | 23.31} 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.6 8.4 | 12.3 
TABLE VI 


A COMPARISON OF THE PROPORTION OF THE FLOCK LAYING EITHER MORE OR 
LESS THAN , TOGETHER THE MEANS 

OF THE RESPECTIVE GROUPS, GROUPED ACCORDING TO THE MONTH 
PRODU: HAVE BEEN OMITTED A AND ALSO THE 

_ Few BIRDS THAT LAID EXACTLY 30 Eces 


Over 30 Under 30 

o Meher Bre ay age ag dere Seaman apd 
February... 63.0 | 43 84.3 15.7 18.8 8 
March..... 54.9 77 68.8. 31.3 16.4 35 
Aon. 46.3 88 58.7 41.3 16.0 62 
May o 40.5 29 26.6 73.4 16.1 80 


No. 614] EGG PRODUCTION 91 


The influence of the time of hatching on winter egg pro- 
duction is shown in Fig. 8 and Table IT and III based 
on the records for 1915-16. The lower graph in Fig. 8 is 
for birds hatched in March; the middle graph for birds 
hatched in April; while the upper is for the May-hatched 
birds. Similar data for 1913-14 are given in Table IV., 


PERCENT 
de 


BN NGAGAN@S 


O FS 610 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 SI-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 


PERCENT 
osuna SN 


1-73 76-80 


0 FS 610 1-15 


PERCENT 
A A 


PS G10 11-15 1220 31-25 2630 3135 36-40 41-43 46-0 SISS Sé-60 6l-6S 66-70 1-TS 7-80 
ECOS 


o 


Fig. 8. The effect of time of hatching on winter egg production, the graph 


. M. for March = 
ullets anal i April. Upper curve, pullets hatched in May 

epee = 35.4, May = 22.5; S.D. for March = 23.50, April =17.91, May 

= 15, a C 38 for March = 5.5, April =55, May = 69.2. 
I med to the pone that for Rhode Island Reds, the zeros peep a 
j March 1 ma no 

wholl artificial class for reasons given in ae a hence, 

red division point in t de ne at which the birds begin to lay. aee 
the zero class has been kept separate and ws sea in calculating these con- 
stants. If M includes the zero class, its value for March is 39.8, for April 29. 9.81 


tan 
and for May 18.1. 


92 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST | [Vot LH 


while Table V. should also be examined in this connection. 
It is clear from these graphs that the earlier hatched 
birds -are superior to the later hatched for winter egg 
production. In the former group there are fewer zero 
and more very high producers than in the last. There is 
also a marked difference in the number of birds in each of 
the several hatching months that laid over thirty eggs 
during the winter period. (See Table VI.) 

The variability in the age at which the first egg is pro- 
duced influences the winter record strongly, so much so 
that we have been led to believe that it is the most im- 
portant determining factor for egg production during the 
winter months for our flocks.* It leads to the abandon- 
ment of the view that those records that fall below 30 eggs 
are made by true mediocre producers, substituting there- 
for the view that many, perhaps most, of them are late- 
maturing high producers. Now, the variability in age at 
first egg, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, is considerable. If this 
variability could be eliminated—that is, if it were possible 
to have each individual of a flock of birds hatched April 
1, begin to lay on a definite date, say December 1—the 
birds would make records which would differ from each 
other in the proportions given by the graphs of rates of 
production. The fair degree of homogeneity of the flocks 
in respect to rate of production is shown in part by the 
coefficient of correlation between the number of days from 
the first egg laid up to March 1, and the number of eggs 
produced during that period. The coefficient was found 
to have a high value, i. e., for 1913-14, r—-+ .8618 + 
.0125 and for 1915-16, r— + .7878 + .0128. That is, the- 
number of eggs laid is a fairly definite function of the 
length of the laying period. These coefficients are a 
rough index of the amount of homogeneity in the flock 
respecting the rate of production, since a high coefficient 
implies a fair amount of homogeneity in the flock (cf., 
however, the statistical constants for rate) for if an egg a 
day is taken to represent the maximum production while 

3 The results obtained from our breeding tests substantiate this point. 


No. 614] EGG PRODUCTION 93 


the minimum is represented by a single egg laid during 
the winter and that one at the beginning of the winter 
period, no correlation would exist if the scatter is per- 
fect between these extremes. Experience shows, how- 
ever, that conditions approached by the maximum rate 
of production are much more common than those rep- 
resented by the minimum so that the coefficient, even 
though it has a high value, shows only that the rate of 
production is comparatively uniform. It does not prove 
that the flock is composed exclusively of high producers, 
for, since it is an average figure, the flock may still con- 
tain some true mediocre producers. A certain degree of 
correlation, however, is to be expected in any flock, so that 
the mere existence of a small positive correlation is of 
little value, though a low value for the coefficient would 
imply that there was considerable variability in rate of 
production. It is quite clear that if a considerable per- 
centage of the flock made records like those shown in Fig. 
12, the variability in rate would be much greater than 
observed, and the coefficient of correlation between length 
of laying period and number of eggs would be smaller. 

Size.—Size does not of itself seem to have any specific 
relation to a bird’s ability to lay because birds of all sizes 
may lay equally well once they have started. It is true, 
of course, that very large birds rarely make high records, 
but as there are very few large birds, the chance for a 
combination between very high egg production, itself un- 
common, and large size is rather remote. The converse, 
however, is not apparently true, for small birds fre- 
quently make good records. Since, however, birds that 
are too small are not desired by poultrymen while as a 
rule large birds are considered desirable, very small birds 
are not often trap-nested, so that a strict comparison is 
at present impossible. 

In another way size seems to exert some influence on 
the record a hen makes. On the average, as shown by 
the coefficient of correlation between age at first egg and 
weight, birds of large size reach this size later in life 


94 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


than small birds do. That is, large size usually, but not 
always, results from long-continued growth rather than 
from very rapid growth and as long-continued growth 
- naturally tends to postpone the date at which the first 
egg is laid, the large hen, other things being equal, can 
not lay as many eggs. It is possible, however, that the 
case may actually be the converse, viz., the hen may grow 
large because she does not lay, though there is no definite 
evidence for this point of view. While it is easy to find 
many instances of small birds that mature late in life, 
instances of large birds maturing at the same age as 
birds of approximately half their body weight have not 
been observed. The reason for this is probably to be 
found in the consideration that while some large birds | 
may grow more rapidly than some small birds, it is always 
possible for some small birds to grow as fast as it is ever 
possible for a large bird to grow and hence to mature 
that much earlier. 
(To be continued) 


THE CASE OF THE BLUE ANDALUSIAN! 


WILLIAM A. LIPPINCOTT 


Kansas AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, MANHATTAN, Kansas 


Tr blue Andalusian has become the classic in animals 
as an example of a heterozygote phenotypically inter- 
mediate between the parental types. It has also served 
as an illustration of the failure of dominance for those 
opponents of Mendelism who consider dominance one of 
its fundamentals. Furthermore, it has been in constant 
demand as a classroom example of blended inheritance. 

The main facts concerning the breeding behavior of 
blue Andalusians are, accordingly, more or less familiar. 
In spite of the long-continued efforts of their breeders 
they do not come true to color as a breed, but. continually 
throw a certain proportion of off-colored progeny, or 
‘wasters, of two kinds. One is self (entirely) black. 
The other approaches white, but displays considerable 
pigment, and is referred to variously as white, splashed, 
and splashed-white. Since an examination of a large 
number of birds of this type shows the pigmented feathers 
to be blue in all sections of the female and in those sec- 
tions of the male which carry blue feathers in the blue 
Andalusian male, they will be referred to throughout this 
paper as blue-splashed. 

““Splashed” refers to the fact that the pigment does not 
regularly appear in any particular group of feathers or 
in any definite region. Feathers located apparently at 
random on any part of the body may be pigmented over 
their entire surface or may show only slight traces of pig- 
ment. Not infrequently both of these conditions are 
present in the same individual. 

Since the blacks and blue-splashed breed true when 

1 Contribution from the Department of Experimental Breeding, Wis- 
consin Agricultural Experiment Station, No. 12, and from the Kansas Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station. : 

95 


96 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


mated inter se, they are considered as being homozygous. 
If crossed they invariably produce blues. 

These facts have led to the current view that the case 
involves a single allelomorphic pair of characters. The 
blacks and blue-splashed represent the homozygous con- 
ditions, while the self blue is the heterozygote between 
the two. When blues are interbred, blacks, blues, and 
blue-splashed are produced in a ratio approximating 
1:2:1 for these classes, respectively, which seems to cor- 
roborate this view. 

Although the blacks and blue-splashed breed true for 
color, they are not recognized by fanciers as breeds or 
varieties, and it is doubtful whether they would continue 
to exist if, much to the disgust of the breeders of blue 
Andalusians, they did not continue to appear as ‘‘wast- 
ers’’ among the progeny of blues. The blues, on the 
other hand, are quite widely bred. They are officially 
recognized by the American Poultry Association as a dis- 
tinct breed and have their place in the American Standard 
of Perfection. It is interesting in this connection to note 
that the numbers of blues they throw on the Mendelian 
expectation barely gets them into the Standard, since the 
rules of the Association are that no breed can be officially 
recognized as such unless a minimum of 50 per cent. of 
the offspring come reasonably true to type (American 
Poultry Association, 1910, p. 328, Constitution, Article 
XT) 


The blues are quite uniformly bluish-gray throughout 
the body, with certain exceptions in the males to be noted 
later. Emphasis has usually been laid on their distinet- 
ness from the black and the blue-splashed birds, but it 
seems important to note their resemblance to these two 
classes. In the first place, they are like the blacks in being 

self-colored, that is, all feathers in all parts of the body 
are pigmented. In the second they resemble the blue- 
splashed in that the color of the individual pigmented 
feathers is blue rather than black, save in certain sections 
of the males of both classes, where the feathers showing 


No. 614] THE BLUE ANDALUSIAN 97 


pigment are a glossy black, apparently a secondary sexual 
characteristic. The blue appearance is due to the distri- 
bution and arrangement of the pigment granules in the 
feather structure, as will be described later. The fact 
that the splashed birds are splashed with blue (with the 
exception noted above) rather than black is important 
and appears not to have been noted, or at least not em- 
phasized, by previous writers. 

As an example, Punnett (1911, p. 70), in discussing the 
breeding behavior of the blue Andalusian, says: ‘‘It 
always throws ‘wasters’ of two kinds, viz., blacks, and 
whites splashed with black’’ (italics mine). In the ma- 
terial which has come under my observation, consisting of 
upwards of one hundred birds in the unrelated flocks of 
the poultry departments of Kansas State Agricultural 
College and the University of Wisconsin, no individual 
has been noted in which the pigmented areas were not dis- 
tinctly bluish-gray, except that those pigmented feathers 
or parts of feathers appearing in the hackle, back, and 
saddle of the male were glossy black. These sections, it 
should be clearly understood, are also glossy black in the 
blue Andalusian male. There are occasionally flecks or 
small spots of black, appearing in the blue-gray feathers, 
and even in the white feathers of the blue-splashed birds. 
This is also true of the blues and, indeed, is not a rare 
occurrence in both dominant and recessive white races of 
other breeds. It does not in the least affect the fact that, 
in the material so far observed, the white birds have been 
splashed with bluish-gray rather than black in those sec- 
tions where the blue Andalusian is also blue. This con- 
clusion is borne out by the results of a microscopic ex- 
amination. 

In an effort to determine the fundamental differences 
between the three Andalusian phenotypes, a careful study 
of feathers from numerous individuals of each phenotype 
was made. A detailed account of the results of the study 
will be published in a later paper. For present purposes 
a short account of the most obvious differences will serve. 


98 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


The pigment in all three phenotypes is black. The dif- 
ferences in appearance are due to the distribution and 
arrangement of the pigment or to its absence. 

The pigment in a black Andalusian feather is in the 
form of rod-shaped granules, which almost completely fill 
each cell. They extend to the very tips of both curved 
and hooked barbules, and into the tiny hooklets given off 
from the barbs of the latter class. The cell boundaries 
are usually visible, due, apparently, to a slight contraction 
of the pigment, leaving very narrow pigment-free spaces 
between the cells. The former position of the nucleus of 
each cell is almost always plainly visible, due to an accu- 
mulation of pigment at its border, and to a narrow area 
surrounding it that bears relatively little pigment. In 
appearance, size and distribution the pigment granules in 
feathers from the black Langshan seem to be identical 
with those of black Andalusians. 

The feathers from blue Andalusians differ from those 
of the blacks in two important particulars, namely, the 
restriction of the pigment in the feather structure and the 
shape of the granules. In blues of average shade, pig- 
ment fails to appear in the extremities of the barbules of 
both types. The hooklets are also entirely pigment-free. 
Though not always the case, the curved barbules usually 
carry rather more pigment than the hooked barbules, 
since the pigment extends further toward the distal end. 
As a usual thing that part of the hooked barbule which 
bears the hooks is free from pigment and does not differ 
in appearance, by transmitted light, from the same por- 
tion of a similar barbule from a white feather. 

In the pigmented portions the pigment is usually mark- 
edly contracted or clumped within each cell, leaving a 
pigmentless space about the border much wider than is 
the case with blacks. These spaces are not always clean 
cut, but may be broken by invading rows of granules, or 
isolated granules may be found scattered within them. 
As a usual thing the nuclear boundaries in the cells of 
blue-gray feathers can only be made out with difficulty, 

if at all. 


No. 614] THE BLUE ANDALUSIAN 99 


In cross-section, the pigment granules are seen to be 
scattered through the cortex of the barb and along the 
boundaries of the medullary cells. They are not re- 
stricted to the apex of the barb, as is reported by Lloyd- 
Jones (1915, p. 472, Figs. 37-39) in the so-called blue 
pigeon. 

The predominating shape of the pigment granules in 
feathers from blue Andalusians is round. There may 
be a few elliptical granules ¿nd occasionally one which 
can not be classified otherwise than as a rod. These are 
quite rare, however, and one may carefully serutinize sev- 
eral blue-gray feathers without finding any but round or 
very slightly elliptical granules. These round granules 
quite frequently appear in straight rows, giving the effect 
of a string of beads. 

While the granule shape may have an appreciable 
effect in giving the bluish-gray cast found in blues and 
blue-splashed, it seems more likely that, as suggested 
above, the bluish appearance is due to the restriction or 
arrangement of the pigment. While the condition is not 
precisely the same as in pigeons, as described by Cole 
(1914, pp. 324-325) and Lloyd-Jones (1915, pp. 472-473), 
the optical effect appears to be from essentially the same 
causes, namely, the clumping of the pigment within the 
cells, and the reflection from this pigment through more 
or less transparent layers of keratin. It appears, how- 
ever, that in the blue Andalusian the contrast between 
the pigment-free ends of the barbules and the pigmented 
barbs and barbule-bases is of more importance in produc- 
ing the bluish effect than is suggested for the pigeon by 
these writers. 

A characteristic of the typical blue Andalusian not be- 
fore mentioned is that the contour feathers on the female 
and the breast feathers on the male present a laced ap- 
pearance. This results from a black edging on that por- 
tion of each feather which is exposed when in its natural 
position. In this part of the feather the barbules on both 
sides of the barb are alike, being without hooks. The 


100 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


cells in these barbules are more heavily pigmented than 
is true of the rest of the feather and the granules are rod 
shaped. In the regions where the black is giving way to 
blue, both round and rod-shaped granules are found. 

All pigmented feathers secured from several blue- 
splashed females show identically the same pigment ar- 
rangement and granule shape as predominates in the 
blues. This holds true whether the portion examined 
comes from a feather that gs pigmented throughout, or 
from one that is almost wholly white, with but a trace of 
pigment showing. In feathers which are pigmented 
throughout, the same relation regarding the lacing occurs 
as in homologous feathers in blue females. 

The statements of the foregoing paragraph apply 
equally well to the feathers of those sections of the blue- 
splashed male which are blue in the blue male. 

As previously mentioned, in both blue-splashed and 
blues, as well as in other self-colored races, black flecking 
or spotting not infrequently appears. Such spots, whether 
taken from a blue feather from a blue individual, or from 
a blue or an almost white feather from a blue-splashed 
bird, invariably show rod-shaped granules, while the sur- 
rounding area, if blue-gray, shows round granules. These 
spots are apparently entirely independent of the factors 
and conditions discussed in this paper and their appear- 
ance is comparatively limited. If hereditary, they prob- 
ably depend on other factors. In handling blues and 
blue-splashed, however, one can not help being impressed 
with the possibility that these spots are caused by some 
interference with the full expression of the factors re- 
sponsible for the arrangement and rounding of the pig- 
ment granules. Whether this interference is hereditary 
or environmental is as yet undetermined. 

One further fact concerning the blue Andalusian males, 
already alluded to, is of interest. The long feathers of 
the neck (hackle) and saddle are glossy black. This is 
apparently a secondary sexual characteristic, though it is 
as yet undetermined whether it is due to the presence of 


No. 614] THE BLUE ANDALUSIAN 101 


testicular secretion or the absence of ovarian secretion. 
The black feathers from both sections show rod-shaped 
granules predominating. There are numerous elliptical 
granules and a few round granules present. The pig- 
ment is not restricted as to distribution in the feather 
structure and is found even in the tiny hooklets of the 
hooked barbules, being in all these respects similar to the 
analogous feathers on a black male. These same condi- 
tions prevail in homologous pigmented feathers in a blue- 
splashed male. 

The foregoing describes the conditions that usually 
prevail. There is some variation in all conditions de- 
scribed. In pure-bred blue Andalusians, for instance, 
there frequently appear areas that are not the usual clear 
blue-gray, but are dull and smoky. In such regions both 
round and rod-shaped granules are found in about equal 
numbers. 

Bateson and Punnett (1906, p. 20) make note of the fact 
that the adult color of Andalusians may be determined 
from the down color of the young chicks. Examinations 
of the down show the same differences in granule shape 
that are observed in the adults. The blue and blue- 
splashed chicks for the most part show nothing but round 
granules in the down, while the blacks show rods. 

It is of interest to note in this connection that a section 
from that portion of a barred Plymouth Rock feather 
where the black bar is giving way to the white, and the 
eolor is dull gray or dun with no bluish cast, there is a 
dilution of pigment as to amount, but no restriction as to 
arrangement or distribution. The pigment is fully ex- 
tended through the barbule cells and consists of rod- 
shaped granules. There simply appears to be less pig- 
ment. While this is the usual condition, here, too, there 
is variation. At least one barred Rock individual was 
found whose feathers showed numerous round granules, 
though the rods predominated. 

While it is generally accepted that blue Andalusians, 
when mated inter se, produce blacks, blues and blue- 
splashed in the ratio of 1 black to 2 blues to 1 blue- 


102 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST (Vou. LIT 


splashed, exact data on this mating, as well as on the back 
crosses to black and blue-splashed, are really very mea- 
ger. Bateson and Saunders (1902, p. 131) first sug- 
gested that the blue Andalusian was probably a hetero- 
zygote. Bateson and Punnett (1905, p. 118) quoted Mrs. 
Blacket Gill, a fancier of blue Andalusians, to the effect 
that blues mated to blues gave 22 blacks, 36 blues and 17 
white-splashed (i. e., blue-splashed). They secured stock 
from Mrs. Gill and made matings which gave the follow- 
ing results: 

By the blue Y the white 2 gave 34 blue, 20 white-splashed, and the 
black 2 gave 27 blue, 19 black. In each case the result is qualitatively 
what would be expected if the blue is a heterozygote of black X splashed 
white [italics mine]; but whether the departure from equality indicates 
that some gametes bear the unsegregated blue, or may merely be taken 
as individual irregularities, can not yet be stated. 

The same blue cock was bred with a black hen from Experiment 40 
(in which the dark birds were unexpected), F„ from White Wyandotte 
X Wh. Legh., giving as offspring 10 black, 15 slaty black to bluish. 
Hence, therefore, it is evident that the black $ was a homozygous black. 
The 10 blacks are the result of the union of the black gametes from the 
Andalusian d with those of the 2, and the 15 slaty resulted from the 
meeting of the black of the hen with the white-splashed from the 
Andalusian. 

Bateson and Punnett (1906, p. 20) give the following 
summary of the data upon which the case of the blue An- 
dalusian largely rests at the present time. 

In Report I it was suggested that the blue colour of the Andalusian 
is probably heterozygous, and in Report II (p. 118) figures were given 
in support of this view. During the past two years additional evidence 
has been acquired, and every form of mating has now been tested, with 
the following results: y 


Result 
No. of Experiment Nature of Mating 
Black Blue | Wh. Spl. 
Rep. H piis 2. | Bitte a X bed ees ek 22 36 17 
Ll o sie bit e DMG o eee. ae 42 29 
(Total numbers for blue and bue... aS e ye 41 78 39) 
: tation (inserted ae ps, ea ee EE 39.5 | 79 39.5] 
Rep. T, pls. 3 | WE SL 9 <bhie S... — 34 20 
Hon ET e XX bhie oca la 19 27 — 
Em. A ets vi a. O's KWH. ap. Oi... nae ha a 
MoO: ts Blac M wh. DE dg. dai ey — 20 — 
SS ene [Black $X black ociosos 25 TO | K 


No. 614] THE BLUE ANDALUSIAN 103 


The colour of most of the chickens was determined in the down. In 
the blacks the down is black with the exception of the ventral surface, 
the tips of the wings, and sometimes parts of the head, which are white. 
The down in the blues is slaty-blue, similarly marked with white, whilst 
in the white splashed it is of an exceedingly pale blue tint as a rule, 
though sometimes practically colourless. 

The above figures bear out the view we previously expressed as to the 
heterozygous nature of the blues, . . . 


The only other definite figures that have come under 
the writer’s notice are from W. J. Coates, a blue Anda- 
lusian breeder of East Calais, Vermont, quoted by Platt 
(1916, p. 665) and referred to by Pearl (1917, p. 149). 
These are for matings of blue to blue and are as follows: 


White (Blue- 
Mating | Splashed) Blue Black Dark Red 

F 20d Se ee ae 4 10 3 1 
T e E EE A a E 4 5 2 0 
EE E E E E 3 3 0 3 
DT Al eee eee es 0 12 1 0 
PCa eve cae ee 3 3 1 0 

| 14 33 7 4 


The fact that birds showing dark red appear is unusual 
and would seem to indicate that the Coates stock differs 
in its genetic constitution from the majority of the mem- 
bers of the breed, unless the occasional appearance of red 
is a fact usually suppressed by breeders. 

Bateson and his co-workers make no attempt beyond 

‘that quoted above to account for the hereditary behavior 
of Andalusians and appear content to rest the case on the 
assumption that ‘‘blue is a heterozygote of black x 
splashed white.’’ 

The fact that ‘‘blue’’ is not a true intermediate be- 
tween black and blue-splashed does not seem to have re- . 
ceived due consideration. While the blue-gray bird is in 
a sense intermediate between self black and an individual 
that approaches white more or less closely, this inter- 
mediacy is more apparent than real. As previously 
pointed out, it is not intermediate in regard to either of 
the conditions involved when they are considered sepa- 


104 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


rately. It resembles the black phenotype in being self- 
colored and the blue-splashed phenotype in having the 
pigment restriction within the barbules, which gives the 
blue-gray effect. 

The 1:2:1 ratio may therefore be analyzed as follows: 


Pigment not re- Pigmen re- Pigment re- 
stricted in bar- stricted ES bar- stricted in bar- 
bule cells; es- bule cells; egs- bule cells; not ex- 

Phenotypes ..... tended through tended through tended through 

(Mie plumage (*“self”” plumage (self); plumage; pheno- 
condition); phe- phenotype blue, type blue- 
notype black. splashed. 


good Boe pheno- } 1 9 1 
— — 
Ratio for restric- 1 3 
tion in barbules 
Ratio for exten- a Ra 
sion in p um- | 3 i 1 
ERE 


In reality, then, the 1:2:1 ratio is the result of the com- 
bination of two 3:1 ratios. 

The foregoing facts appear to lend themselves equally 
well to two interpretations. The first is that there are 
two pairs of allelomorphic factors at work. The second, 
that there is one pair of true allelomorphs (i. e., factors 
having identical loci on homologous ehromosonive), 
neither of which is recessive to the other in its manifesta- 
tion in the phenotype. 

The suggestion of two pairs of allelomorphic factors to 
explain the case of the Andalusian is not a new one. 
Goldschmidt (1913, p. 274) makes such a suggestion. 
After pointing out that the offspring of a pair of blues 
are black, blue, and ‘‘schmutzigweiss’’ in the ratio of 
1:2:1, and that all three phenotypes carry pigment, he 
. proposed two factors to account for the condition. The 
one is an “Entfaltungsfaktor,'” which brings about a full 
development of the pigment. He represents this factor 
by “Q” (Quantität) which is possessed by the black race. 
The other factor, which is possessed by the ““Weisse?”” 
race, he calls a “Mosaikfaktor,?? which finely divides the 
pigment. This factor he designates M (Mosaik). He 


No. 614] THE BLUE ANDALUSIAN 105 


finds it necessary to postulate further that Q is closely 
linked with m, and M is closely linked with q. Assuming 
pigment (P) to be present in all cases, he represents the 
““black”? gamete as (mPQ), the ‘‘white’’ gamete as 
(MPg), and the F, blues as (mPQ)(MPg). The blue 
results from bringing M and Q into the same zygote. 
The monohybrid ratio results when the blues are inbred, 
however, because of the close coupling of the factors 
within the parentheses. 

The Hagedoorns (1914, p. 179) also make use of two 
coupled factors in accounting for the hereditary behavior 
of blue Andalusians. They state: 

A blue Andalusian fowl, when mated by us to “recessive” white 
hens did not produce as many blue as white chicks, as should result on 
the hypothesis, that the white Andalusian is a recessive white (blue and 
black Andalusians being heterozygotes and homozygotes for one single 
genetic factor), but exclusively blacks and blues in equal proportions. 

To account for this result they propose a gene A which 
is present in black Andalusians, but absent in the ““white”” 
Andalusian. The blacks, conversely, lack a gene B which 
is present in the ‘‘ whites.’ 

This factor B, present in a pigmented fowl, actively “dilutes” the 
colour. It has no effect in the white Andalusians, because these, as they 
lack A, are not pigmented [italics mine]. We should therefore expect 
dilute black (blue) young from the cross black white, which, inter se, 
would give AB, Ab, aB and ab offspring. Now, there is no evidence 
that in Andalusians there are ever produced aabb animals, or AABB. 
There seems to be a mutual repulsion between A and B, so that no AB 
or ab gametes are ever produced. In some varieties of fowls this repul- 
sion does not seem to exist, as pure strains of blue chickens occur. 

Unless their material differs from any that has come 
under my observation the Hagedoorns err in assumin 
that what is frequently termed ‘‘the white Andalusian”” 
carries no pigment, and Goldschmidt’s suggestion accords 
more closely with the facts. Further, if the ‘‘recessive’’ 
white to which they refer was an Andalusian, the produc- 
tion of equal numbers of blues and blacks from a blue X 
white (blue-splashed) cross is difficult to understand. 
The expectation would be equal numbers of blue-splashed 


106 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


and blues. If, as I suspect, the ‘‘recessive’’ white was a 
true recessive from another race, their results can only 
be interpreted by assuming that the ‘‘white’’ gametes as 
well as ‘‘black’’ gametes produced by the blue fowl car- 
ried a factor necessary for pigment production, which 
was lacking in the recessive whites. 

If the latter is the case it accords with results I have 
obtained the past season. Among several matings made, 
preliminary to a further study of Andalusian blue, a white 
Wyandotte Y (R 840 from the University of Wisconsin 
flock) was mated with blue-splashed Andalusian 22 M 
409 and M 539 (also kindly furnished by the poultry de- 
partment of the University of Wisconsin). From M 409 
seven chicks were hatched, all of which were unmistakably 
bluish-gray. Six chicks which failed to hatch, but which 
did develop far enough for the color of the down to be de- 
termined, were also all blues. From M 539, brought in 
late in the season with the hope of increasing the numbers 
of chicks from this type of mating, three chicks were se- 
cured, which were again all bluish-gray. On the assump- 
tion that Wyandotte white is recessive (I am surprised to 
find no statement to this effect in the literature) these 
results would seem to indicate that a factor necessary for 
pigment formation as well as one causing the character- 
istic arrangement or restriction of the pigment found in 
blues, and both lacking in the Wyandotte, were furnished 
by the blue-splashed Andalusian. And further that a 
factor for the extension of this pigment to all feathers on 
the body was furnished by the Wyandotte. The blue off- 
spring from this mating are assuredly not intermediates 
between a pure white parent and one that appears to be 
nearly white. 

It is significant to note in this connection that the blue- 
gray offspring of the white Wyandotte X blue-splashed 
Andalusian cross show pigment granules that are pre- 
dominatingly round, In some individuals they all appear 
to be round, while in others some rods may be made 
out. The down of black chicks, offspring of a blue Anda- 


No. 614] THE BLUE ANDALUSIAN 107 


lusian Y and a white Plymouth Rock 9, showed only rod- 
shaped granules. Feathers from a blue-gray individual, 
whose dam was a blue-splashed Andalusian and whose 
sire was a crossbred, the offspring of a Houdan Y X 
single-combed white Leghorn ? cross, showed only round 
granules. 

If, as Goldschmidt assumes, his factors mQ and Mq are 
so closely linked that they never separate, and behave 
only as a single pair of factors, it is simpler to assume 
that there is but one pair of factors. As already pointed 
out, however, the discontinuity in the gradations from 
blue-splashed to black is such as to lead one strongly to 
suspect that two pairs of factors are at work. This dis- 
continuity is greatly emphasized in the case of the blue 
offspring from the white Wyandotte X blue-splashed An- 
dalusian cross. Itis perhaps not impossible that a single 
pair of factors should bring about the result found in 
Andalusians, but it is so unusual as to make the assump- 
tion of two pairs of factors reasonable. 

If this assumption is correct it must be further as- 
sumed, as Goldschmidt implies but does not state, that 
the black and splashed races each contribute a dominant 
and a recessive factor, and that in the blues we have the 
expression of both dominants, namely, the extension of 
pigment to all feathers, furnished by the black (or, in the 
Wyandotte cross noted above, by the white) parent, and 
the restriction of the pigment in the feather structure in 
such a way that the effect is bluish-gray, furnished by the 
blue-splashed parent. It is of interest in this connection 
to note that the blue condition produced by the restriction 
of the pigment in the barbule cells is recessive in pigeons 
(Cole, 1914, p. 325), while in Andalusians, on the above 
assumption, it is dominant. 

While exact data concerning the breeding behavior of 
blue Andalusians are gly meager, the experience of 
breeders generally seems to be in accord with such data 
as there are, and with the interpretation offered by Bate- 
son and his associates. In order to account for the fail- 


108 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


ure to secure a dihybrid ratio from the mating of blues, 
one is driven to assume linkage, and apparently a quite 
close linkage, of the dominant of one allelomorphic pair 
to the recessive of the other. As I hope to make clear, 
however, the linkage may not be complete, since it would 
easily be possible for crossing-over to occur occasionally 
with very slight likelihood of detection. 

Goodale (1917, p. 213) has very recently shown that 
crossing-over occurs in the sex chromosome of the male 
fowl, though he has not as yet presented his evidence in 
detail. The universality of the laws of heredity through- 
out the plant and animal kingdoms is such that it would 
be a matter of surprise if crossing-over in fowls did not 
also occur in chromosomes other than the sex chromosome. 

There is at present no certain criterion by which to pre- 
dict whether, having assumed crossing-over in the auto- 
somes of fowls, it occurs in one sex only or in both; and 
if in but one sex, which it may be, unless one dins to 
suppose that it occurs only in the sex homozygous for the 
sex chromosome, as in Drosophila. If it occurs in both 
sexes, it is apparently so rare an event in Andalusians 
that the probability of securing two cross-over individuals 
in a mating made for purposes of analysis is so small as 
to be almost negligible. 

After a somewhat extended microscopic study of blue- 
gray feathers from blues, blue-splashed and certain 
crosses, it seems more in accordance with their apparent 
action to refer to the factor responsible for changing black 
into bluish-gray as a restrictor, designated as R rather 
than M (Mosaikfactor) as was done by Goldschmidt. 
Similarly in place of Q (Quantität) I would suggest E, as 
responsible for the extension of pigment to all the feathers 
of the body. 

Using this terminology and assuming for the moment 
complete linkage, a cross between individuals of the black 
and blue-splashed races, respectively, would appear as 
follows: 

Er Er = black X eR eR = biiabdaabadl: 
F, Er eR = blue; 


No. 614] THE BLUE ANDALUSIAN 109 


F, 1 Er Er=black + 2 Er eR = blue + 1 eR eR = blue- 
splashed. 

The gametes produced by the F; ( blues) are Er and eR. 
If crossing-over should occur there would be occasional 
ER and er gametes produced. It is highly interesting to 
note that if these two classes of cross-over gametes were 
produced in equal numbers, as would be expected, and the 
individuals producing them were mated with ordinary 
blues, exactly the same phenotypic ratio would result as 
from the unions of the non-cross-over gametes, viz.: 


F, crossover gametes _ Ordinary gametes of F, blue 
, Or Er, e 


F, ER Er= blue, ER eR = blue, er Er=black, er eR 
= blue-splashed. 

This is the usual ratio of 1 black to 2 blues to 1 blue- 
splashed and would, from the very nature of the case, 
escape observation as involving crossing-over unless care- 
ful analysis were made of the hereditary constitution of 
these particular F, individuals. 

Such analyses would not be impossible, though they 
might be long and tedious. The matings which would un- 
cover any of the cross-over types, if offspring were pro- 
duced in sufficient numbers to make it fairly certain that 
one were not dealing with chance variations in the ratios, 
are given herewith. | 

Cross-over blue of ER Er constitution mated with an 
ordinary blue would give the following expectation : 

ER Er = blue cross-over X Er eR = ordinary blue; 


F, ER Er= blue, 
ER eR = blue, 

Er Er = black, 
Er eR = blue, 


or 3 blues to 1 black, while the ordinary blues would give 
the normal 1 black to 2 blues to 1 blue-splashed. 

Similarly this same individual mated with ordinary 
blue-splashed would produce all blues instead of the ordi- 
nary expectation of 1 blue to 1 blue-splashed, viz.: 


110 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIT 


ER Er = blue cross-over X eR eR = ordinary splashed; 


F, ER eR = blue, 
EreR = blue. 


If blue cross-over of the type ER eR were mated with 
ordinary black the expectation would be all blues instead 
of the usual blues and blacks in equal numbers, viz.: 

ER eR = blue cross-over X Er Er = black; 
Fi ER Er = blue, 
eR Er = blue. 
This second type of blue cross-over individual, ER eR, 
mated with ordinary blue, would give an expectation of 
3 blues to 1 blue-splashed instead of the ordinary 1:2:1 
ratio, Viz.: 


ER eR = blue cross-over X Er eR = ordinary blue; 


F; ER Er = blue, 
ER eR = blue, 
eR Er = blue, 


eR eR= blue-splashed. 


If black cross-over Er er were mated with ordinary blue 
the expectation would be 2 blacks to 1 blue to 1 blue- 
splashed instead of the ordinary ratio of equal: numbers 
of blues and blacks, viz.: 


Er er = black cross-over X Er eR = ordinary blue; 
j Er Er = black, 
Er eR —blue, 
er Er = black, 
er eR = blue-splashed. 


This same individual Er er (black cross-over) mated 
with an ordinary splashed bird would give an expectation 
of half blues and half blue-splashed instead of all blues, 
as in the case of ordinary black and blue-splashed, viz. : 

Er er = black cross-over X eR eR = ordinary blue- 
splashed; 
F, Er eR = blue, 
er eR = blue-splashed. 


No. 614] THE BLUE ANDALUSIAN 111 


Finally, blue-splashed cross-over eR er mated with or- 
dinary blue would give an expectation of 1 black to 1 blue 
to 2 blue-splashed instead of the ordinary expectation of 
equal numbers of blues and blue-splashed, viz. : 


eR er =blue-splashed cross-over X Er eR = ordinary 


blue; 
F, eR Er = blue, 
eR eR = blue-splashed, 
er Er = black, 


er eR = blue-splashed. 


The possible matings not indicated in the foregoing are 
those which would produce the same phenotypic ratios as 
if ordinary individuals (i. e., non-cross-overs) of the same 
appearance as the cross-overs were used. Such matings 
are naturally of no value for analysis. 

If it should later be shown that crossing-over does occur 
as suggested above and there are two pairs of factors con- 
cerned, there is the possibility of occasionally securing 
ER gametes. This in turn would seem to make possible 
the blue Andalusian breeder’s long-time dream of pro- 
ducing blues that ‘‘breed true.’’ With the appearance of 
the double recessive gamete er another race of Andalu- 
sian would apparently become possible, which, if the 
factors assumed in this paper are correct, should be white 
splashed with black instead of with blue. 

The second possible interpretation of the facts so far 
established is that my postulated factors R and E occupy 
identical loci on homologous chromosomes, neither being 
recessive to the other in its phenotypic expression. For 
the present at least any evidence that this is the correct 
interpretation will be largely negative and come from con- 
tinued failure to find cross-over individuals with regard 
to R and E. If these cross-overs should not be found it 
might at first appear that the interpretation of the case 
of the blue Andalusian is in all probability exactly what 
has been suggested from the first, namely, that blue is 
. a heterozygote intermediate between the parental types. 


112 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


Such an interpretation makes the characters black and 
blue-splashed the allelomorphs. 

The practise of referring to characters that seem to be- 
have in an alternative relationship in heredity as allelo- 
morphs, instead of factors occupying identical loci on 
homologous chromosomes, is, it is to be hoped, passing. 
That it has lead to a misinterpretation in the present case 
is shown by the fact that all the offspring of certain pure 
white birds mated with blue-splashed ones are blue. The 
E factor must have come from an individual that was ho- 
mozygous for it and devoid of pigment. It appears rea- 
sonable to expect that among the F,’s from the white 
Wyandotte X blue-splashed Andalusian cross will appear 
pure whites that carry the R factor. If this proves to be 
the case the allelomorphs are two factors, R and E, which 
act on black pigment. R arranges and restricts the pig- 
ment in the feather structure so that it gives a bluish-gray 
appearance. ŒE extends any black pigment present to all 
the feathers of the body. One and probably either or 
both may be present without any phenotypic expression 
whatsoever. In fact, for every sixteen F, individuals 
from this cross four pure whites are to be expected in 
which the genotypic ratio with regard to R and E is1:2:1, 
exactly as in the F,'s from a cross of a black and a blue- 
splashed Andalusian. One of these whites will be homo- 
zygous for R like the blue-splashed Andalusian. One 
will be homozygous for E like the black Andalusian. And 
two will be heterozygous for E and R, as are the blue 
Andalusians. But because there is no black pigment 
present these differences in the genotype do not affect 
the phenotype. For the sake of clearness the expectation 
of this cross is shown herewith, carried through the F, 
generation. P is taken to represent a factor necessary 
for the formation of pigment which is present in the blue- 
splashed Andalusian, but absent in the white Wyandotte, 
] es E and R are represented as allelomorphic to each 

other. 


No. 614] THE BLUE ANDALUSIAN 113 


White Wyandotte Y X blue-splashed Andalusian 9. 
ppEE PPRR 
i PpRE = all blue; 
F, 6 blues: 3 blue-splashed: 3 black: 4 white. 


Strat 1PPRR 1 PPEE 1ppRR 
4 PpRE 2 PpRR 2 PpEE 2 ppRE 
1 ppEE 


This same ratio (6:3:3:4), which is to be expected on 
either interpretation, has been reported by Baur (1914, 
p. 95) for crosses between a white-flowered race and cer- 
tain plants bearing ivory-colored flowers, of the snap- 
dragon (Antirrhinum majus). 

Recessive mutations are of comparatively frequent oc- 

currence. Dominant mutations, though much less fre- 
quent, have been described so often that they can not be 
reasonably doubted. There appears to be no reason, a 
priori, why a mutation might not occur where the mutated 
factors’ potency of expression in the phenotype is approxi- 
mately equal to that of the normal factor. That this has 
occurred, not once, but several times, might be the inter- 
pretation placed on the striking allelomorphic series re- 
ported by Nabours (1914, p. 141) for the color patterns 
of the grouse locust (Paratettix). 
-= Upon which of the two alternative interpretations is 
correct appears to depend the possible success or the futil- 
ity of the search for true breeding blues. The first makes 
it possible. The second appears to close the door of hope 
in the Andalusian breeder’s face unless hope is seen in 
the progressive selection of the darker blue-splashed in- 
dividuals. It does not appear possible, on the basis of 
present known facts, to reach a conclusion. Extensive 
matings are being made for the coming breeding season 
which it is hoped will throw further light on the matter. 


SUMMARY 


1. This paper shows that blue Andalusians are like 
black Andalusians in that they are self-colored. They 


kd 


114 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


are like the blue-splashed in that homologous pigmented 
feathers in both sexes have the same condition with ref- 
erence to the restriction of pigment in the feather struc- 
ture. 

2. The fundamental phenotypic differences between 
black, blue and blue-splashed Andalusians are briefly 
described. 

3. It is pointed out that the 1:2:1 ratio is in malty a 
combination of two 3:1 ratios. 

4. The condition in the blues is shown to be due to the 
combined action of two factors R and E. R acts on black 
pigment, restricting its distribution in such a way that it 
gives the characteristic blue-gray appearance. E extends 
black pigment to every feather on the fowl’s body. 

5. It is impossible to decide on the basis of present 
facts whether R and E are located on identical loci of 
homologous chromosomes or are the dominants of two 
pairs of factors, each linked to the recessive allelomorph 
of the other. 

6. It is shown that if the latter is the condition, crossing- 
over might occasionally occur between R and E with small 
likelihood of detection.? If crossing-over does occur, RE 
gametes are possible, which appears in turn to make pos- 
sible true-breeding blues. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


It is a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. 
Leon J. Cole and Professor Jas. G. Halpin, of the Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin. The blue Andalusian problem was 
undertaken at Dr. Cole’s suggestion and the work is 
being continued under his direction. I have consulted 
him freely during the preparation of this paper. Pro- 

2In ordinary practice poultry breeders make what are kno own as ‘‘pen 
matings,’’ that is, one male is mated to a number of females and the off- 
spring from these females are not kept separate. The exact parentage of 
any individual is therefore known only with regard to its sire, since its dam 
might be any one of the females in the group. As the detection of erossing- 
over depends upon the results of individual matings, it would be practically 
impossible to discover it under these conditions. 


® 


No. 614] THE BLUE ANDALUSIAN 115 


fessor Halpin very kindly placed stock and equipment at 
my disposal for an entire breeding season, without which 
it would not have been possible to carry on the breeding 
work reported herein. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


American Poultry Association 
1 The American Standard of Perfection. 331 pp. Pub. by Amer. 
Poultry Assoc. 
Bateson, W., and Saunders, E. R. 
19 Re note to the Evolution Committee of the Royal Society, I, 


pp. 
Bateson, W., er Punnett, R. C. 
1905. Reports to the Evolution Committee of the Royal Society, II, 
99-131 


1906. Reports to the Evolution Committee of the Royal Society, III, 
pp. 11-23. 


Baur, E. 
1914. Einführung in die experimentelle Vererbungslehre. 2. neube- 
sea Auflage. viii+401 pp. ‘Berlin: Gebriider Born- 
aeger 


Cole, L. J. 
1914, Studies on Inheritance in Pigeons: I. Hereditary Relations of ' 
the Principal Colors. R.I. Agr. Expt. Sta., Bull. 158, pp. 311- 
380, pls ! 
emana R. 
1913. Einführung in die RAET OE Zweite Auflage, 
xii + 546 pp. Leipzig: W. Engelma 
soas H. D 
1917. Crgeatug-over ì in the Sex Chromosome of the Male Fowl. Science, 
N. S., Vol. 46, No. 1183, p. 213. 
Hagedoorn, A. L., and A. C. 
1914 Studies on Variation and Selection. Zeitsch. a Pot Abstam-. 
ererbungslehre, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 145— 
ne Jones, O. 

1915. Studies on Inheritance in Pigeons: II. A Microscopical and 
‘Chemical Study of the Feather a Jour. Exp. Zool., 
Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 453-495, pls. 1-7 

Nabours, R. K. 
1914. par of Inheritance and it hee in Orthoptera I. Jour. 
. Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 
Pearl, R. 
1917. The Probable Error of a Mendelian Class Frequency. AMERI- 
AN NATURALIST, Vol. 51, No. 603, pp. 144-156, 
Platt, F. L, 
1916. ‘‘Western Notes and Comment.’’ Reliable Poultry Journal, 
ol. 6 
Punnett, R. C. 


THE ROLE OF FACTOR MUTATIONS IN 
EVOLUTION 


ERNEST B. BABCOCK 


PROFESSOR OF GENETICS, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 


Tux essential features of the mutation theory of evolu- 
tion, as proposed by de Vries in 1901, are discontinuity 
and heritability of those variations which make evolution 
possible. New forms arise from preexisting forms by 
saltation; they occur in all directions; they are heritable; 
some of them are advantageous to the species and these 
are preserved by natural selection. These features are 
still recognized as the definitive elements of the mutation 
theory, but biologists are gradually changing their point 
of view concerning the real nature of mutations them- 
selves. De Vries had worked with entire plants as units. 
He was searching for evidence of species in the making. 
He believed he had found this evidence when he discov- 
ered his new evening primroses at Hilversum and found 
that they transmitted their divergent characters to their 
progeny. The evidence appeared none the less clear to 
him, even though the parent species when tested did not 
always breed true, but continued to produce not only the 
forms first discovered, but also new ones which did not 
exist in the original population. 

It is not my purpose to discuss the cenothera data which 
have accumulated in such enormous bulk in recent years. 
Goodspeed and Clausen, in their papers on species hybrids 
and the reaction-system concept of Mendelian heredity, 
have provided a strong argument for attributing many 
of the so-called mutations among the evening primroses 
to antecedent hybridization between distinct species. 
- These authors have shown that ‘‘the occurrence of the 
‘mutants’ (in @inothera) and their subsequent behavior 
in hybridization admit of Fog arrangement and inter- 


No. 614] FACTOR MUTATIONS IN EVOLUTION 117 


pretation without any necessity for assumption of exten- 
sive germinal changes.’’ On the other hand, Muller’s re- 
cent investigation of balanced lethal factors in Drosophila 
led him to conclude ‘‘that some (if not most) of the so- 
called mutations in O. lamarckiana are but the emergence 
into a state of homozygosis, through crossing over, of 
recessive factors constantly present in the heterozygous 
stock.’’ If this is correct and these recessive characters 
arose as factor mutations, it is obvious that, in basing his 
theory of speciation by mutation on the evidence from 
(Enothera, de Vries builded better than he knew! 

During the decade following de Vries’s announcement 
of his theory biological interest shifted from the general 
problem of evolution to the more specific problem of 
heredity. The rediscovery of Mendel’s law at once 
focused attention upon the inheritance of particular char- 
acters. Then began the era of experimental evolution in 
which, under the leadership of Morgan, most remarkable 
progress has already been made. The traditional prob- 
lem of heredity, its mechanism, has been solved. We 
know, not only that the ultimate hereditary units are 
germinal, but also that they are located in that particu- 
lar portion of the germ cell called the chromatin, and there 
is an ever-growing body of evidence proving that each 
hereditary unit occupies a particular locus in a particular 
chromosome. These hereditary units have been desig- 
nated by various terms, but are most commonly referred 
to as genes, genetic factors, unit factors or simply factors. 

The germ plasm has come to be recognized as an ex- 
ceedingly complex stereochemic system, and, as Reichert 
has pointed out, on account of the impressionability and 
plasticity of such a system the germ plasm must be ex- 
ceedingly sensitive to changes in internal and external 
conditions. That factors, however, are relatively stable 
entities is being clearly evidenced all the time. But occa- 
sionally they undergo definite alteration, doubtless as the 
natural result of some new or peculiar set of internal con- 
ditions. These alterations in genetic factors, or factor 


118 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


mutations we shall call them, have been most thoroughly 
investigated in the common fruit fly, Drosophila ampelo- 
phila, in which species Morgan and others have discov- 
ered over 150 factor mutations, each of which is inherited 
in strict conformity with Mendel’s laws, when tested in 
contrast with its normal mate as it exists in the wild 
type. This has become the classical evidence for the 
theory of factor mutations. Furthermore, it is now com- 
mon practise to refer all Mendelizing characters to their 
hypothetical representatives in the germ cell, the genes 
or factors; and we speak of a pair of contrasted charac- 
ters which are irherited according to Mendel’s rule for 
the monohybrid as due to a single factor difference. 

It is well known that Mendelizing characters exist gen- 
erally throughout all groups of sexually reproduced or- 
ganisms. Therefore it appears that factor mutations are 
of general occurrence. The data on factor differences will 
undoubtedly continue to increase in volume, and as they do 
our knowledge concerning the relative frequency of fac- 
tor mutations will become more precise. In general Men- 
delian phenomena have been observed mostly in conspicu- 
ous characters, but certain minute character differences, 
such as forked bristles in Drosophila and size and shape 
of starch grains in peas, are inherited in Mendelian 
fashion. Factor mutations, therefore, are sufficient to 
explain the origin of all differences between varieties, and 
doubtless they provide the necessary point of departure 
in the origin of new races. If the new characters thus 
produced are beneficial or advantageous, then natural 
selection will cause them to be preserved. Sumner has 
recently discovered a number of interesting mutations in 
deer-mice (some as yet unpublished) and has shown that 
isolation may assist in differentiating local races. The 
writer is not unmindful of the earlier discussions of Wag- 
ner and others, and later of Jordan and others, on isola- 
tion as a cause of evolution. Many biologists are still 
inclined to think of geographical differences as the deter- 
minative condition in the production of new species. For 


No. 614] FACTOR MUTATIONS IN EVOLUTION 119 


example, Harrison has discovered that certain species of 
moths, which are natives of different continents, but which 
resemble each other so closely morphologically as to be 
sometimes indistinguishable, exhibit extreme physiolog- 
ical differences. These physiological divergencies were 
indicated by the failure of hybridization between these 
species to produce offspring which were viable, or, if 
viable, which were fertile. Harrison concludes that geo- 
graphical differences play a very important part in the 
production and accentuation of such physiological diver- 
gencies. 

The rôle of the environment in the production of factor 
mutations is still an unsolved problem. As Caullery 
points out, the rôle of external factors in the production 
of mutations is no longer very clearly or directly appar- 
ent. It even appears that factor mutations occur in ‘‘all 
directions’’ quite independently of those elements of the 
environmental complex which are outside the organism. 
This does not mean that factor mutations are not caused. 
Like any other natural event, they must be dependent upon 
or conditioned by certain antecedent events, and, a priori, 
there is no reason why such antecedent events should 
not occur outside the organism. In other words, it is 
reasonable to suppose that specific elements of the ex- 
ternal environment might induce permanent alterations 
in genetic factors. But, as yet, such a specific relation 
between the external environment and factor mutations 
can not be said to have been determined beyond reason- 
able doubt. On the other hand, migration, isolation and 
geographical differences along with other elements of the 
environment play an important róle in the selection of mu- 
tations, and must, therefore, be recognized as of funda- 
mental importance in organic evolution. It is conceiv- 
able, indeed, that, given the occurrence of factor mutations, 
the continuous impingement of some definite element in 
the environmental complex during long periods of time 
might condition a definite orthogenetic trend in phylogeny, 
as in the evolution of the elephant and the horse. But 


120 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST (Vor LIT 


may we safely assume the oceurrence of the necessary 
factor mutations? The fact that such mutations are 
known in many species and that in Drosophila the same 
mutations have arisen anew in the same loci of homol- 
ogous chromosomes of different pure strains would cer- 
tainly indicate that we may. A factor mutation probably 
involves some sort of change within the group of similar 
molecules occupying a particular locus in a particular 
chromosome. Obviously the number and direction of the 
changes possible in such an entity are limited and the sum 
of the limits of change in all the loci in the chromosome 
group of a given species would define the limits of factor. 
mutations for that species. The limits and direction of 
these mutations must have some bearing and may have 
intimate bearing upon orthogenetic trend. 

Factor mutations produce new morphological and 
physiological characters such as distinguish the forms, 
races or varieties of existing species. As they occur 
generally in animals and plants at the present time, we 
may safely assume that they have occurred in preexisting 
organisms more or less frequently, and, therefore, that 
they have played a definite róle in evolution. But just 
how extensive is this róle? Can we account for the whole 
process of organic evolution including the origin not 
only of species, but also of genera, families, orders and 
phyla upon the basis of factor mutations? To be worthy 
of serious consideration a theory of evolution must ae- 
count for the development of the organic world as we 
know it at present. Can the hypothesis of evolution 
through factor mutations fulfil this requirement? 

Tt is well known that in many genera some of the species 
differ in their chromosome number. Do factors play a 
róle in determining chromosome number? It is possible 
that they do. It is conceivable that a factor mutation 
might arise which would so alter the physico-chemical re- 
lations between different parts of the chromosome as to 
cause the chromosome to break at some point. Yet 
chromosomes are genetic units of a higher order than 


No. 614] FACTOR MUTATIONS IN EVOLUTION 121 


factors, each chromosome containing many factors and in 
general behaving as a continuous entity. Glaser has re- 
cently suggested that while the chemical forces determin- 
ing the specific structure of individual molecules may be 
precisely analogous to those which account for the nature 
of the hexose molecule, for example, yet aggregation into 
linear series in the case of the chromosomes very likely 
involves elements not strictly molecular. It seems to be 
necessary, therefore, to postulate some process by which 
these major entities become altered in number or recom- 
bined in entirely new systems. We are dealing here 
with phenomena of a different sort for factor mutations, 
` and the latter appear, therefore, to be of slight signifi- 
cance in the origin of species having unlike chromosome 
numbers. Alterations in chromosome number may be 
brought about either by the unique or irregular behavior 
of one or more members of a chromosome group or by 
hybridization between species. Natural hybrids between 
distinct species of plants are of not infrequent occur- 
rence and, according to Lotsy, species hybrids are known 
in the following groups of animals: Echinodermata, 
Vermes, Arthropoda, especially the insects, Mollusca, Am- 
phibia, Aves in which even generic hybrids are known, 
and among mammals where there are several well-known 
cases of fertile hybrids. As for unique chromosome be- 
havior, several different types have been discovered and 
are known to occur occasionally. Those which contribute 
directly to chromosome group evolution are: (a) non-dis- 
junction of homologous chromosomes in the heterotypic 
or true reduction division, preceding gamete formation; 
(b) failure or retardation of the reduction division, re- 
sulting in chromosome groups of three, four or more 
times the haploid number of the parent species; (c) frag- 
mentation or loss of one or more chromosomes, resulting 
in gross changes in the germinal reaction system and 
hence potentially in new species. The occurrence of the 
last type has not been proved, but, from his cytological 
investigations of several species of Drosophila, Metz in- 


122 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


fers that within this group of species there has been a 
definite evolution of chromosome groups. 

The known methods of species formation, therefore, 
may be described as follows: (1) Factor mutations, caus- 
ing more or less extensive heritable somatic changes, some 
of which are adapted to the environment and persist. 
These, under the influence of natural selection, provide 
the means for gradual differentiation of groups having 
the same chromosome numbers. Presumably these groups 
would be recognized at successive stages in the process 
as geographical or ecological forms or races, distinct 
varieties and, ultimately, related species. (2) Chromo- 
some group alterations, which produce new and sometimes 
inconstant forms, but which may also produce true species. 
(3) Species crosses, which are known to give rise to new 
types, some of them constant, but mostly inconstant 
forms, all of which are cryptomeres, potentially capable 
of throwing new combinations of parental characters in- 
definitely. The possibility should also be noted here that 
new constant types, having different numbers of chromo- 
somes from the parent species, might originate as species 
hybrids. 

Factor mutations occasionally produce new dominant 
characters. This fact, now fully established by various 
investigations, is of considerable theoretical significance. 
It has been a common practise during recent years to ex- 
plain the origin of recessive characters as due to verlust 
mutations, i. e., mutations due to the “loss”? of factors. 
This conception has been associated with the much used 
though inadequate “presence and absence”” hypothesis, 
according to which the only relations which can exist 
with respect to a certain factor depend on its presence or 
absence from the hereditary material. Difficulties are 
met when attempts are made to explain the origin of domi- 
nant mutations in terms of this hypothesis, for in such 
cases it is necessary to assume that a factor has been 
added to the hereditary material. As a result of employ- 
ing the presence and absence hypothesis in genetic nomen- 


No. 614] FACTOR MUTATIONS IN EVOLUTION 123 


clature we have the conception of evolution, recently sug- 
gested by Bateson and expanded by C. B. Davenport, 
which holds that ‘‘the foundation of the organic world 
was laid when a tremendously complex, vital molecule, 
capable of splitting up into a vast number of kinds of 
other vital molecules, was evolved,’’ and that the process 
of evolution may be described as the unpacking of this 
‘‘original package’’ by the process of loss of factors or 
portions of factors. Various lines of evidence indicate 
that changes in species are the result of some process of 
factor changes. But those who adopt a physico-chemical 
conception of factors and factor changes will find it un- 
necessary to imagine the ‘‘primordial ameeba’’ in which 
was laid the foundation of the organic world as possessing 
in some mysteriously generalized condition all the genetic 
factors that comprise the hereditary complex of the genus 
Homo, since it is not by the ‘‘loss’’ or ‘‘fractionation”’ of 
factors that hereditary changes have been wrought. A 
gene does not ‘‘drop out”” or ‘‘split up”” into two or more 
—rather a gene or factor is altered so that its reactions 
condition a different somatic end product. It is not by 
loss of factors, but by changes in the composition of fac- 
tors, supplemented by intercrossing, that new races, new 
varieties, and new species having the same chromosome 
number, originate. 

Definite organization of the ‘‘hereditary substance par 
excellence,’’ the chromatin, probably occurred in certain 
prototypes of existing organisms, in which the chromatic 
substance was not differentiated from the remainder of the 
cell plasm. The recent papers of Minchin on the evolution 
of the cell and of Troland on the enzyme theory of life 
show that the most probable early course of evolution was 
from that unorganized state typical of the Chlamydozoa, 
which are supposed to consist of free chromatin material, 
up through advancing degrees of differentiation between 
the specialized hereditary substance and the remainder of 
the protoplast. Between this fairly satisfactory concep- 
tion of the earliest steps in evolution and the ever- 


124 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


strengthening evidence that factor mutations furnish the 
means for evolutionary change within existing species, it 
must be admitted that there is a wide gap which needs to 
be filled. May we not look to future studies on the 
phylogeny of the chromosomes to supply this need in some 
measure? I venture to suggest that more work like that 
of Metz on the chromosome groups of related species will 
prove to be an important source of further light on this 
problem. 

We may now consider the róle of factor mutations in 
more detail. It is certain that even those species having 
the same chromosome number differ as a rule in many 
unit factors. Hence in order to explain the origin of one 
from the other it is necessary to assume one of three pos- 
sible methods of procedure. 

1. There may have been one or more factor mutations 
having manifold somatic effects. That profound somatic 
differences such as would distinguish species from one an- 
other are sometimes produced by single factor mutations 
is proved by the results of the crosses between the oak- 
like walnut and its parent, the California black walnut, 
which I have described in earlier papers. The mutant 
form, unlike most so-called monophyllous varieties, differs 
from its parent in every gross external feature, yet it 
behaves as a simple recessive in F, and F,. However, 
factor mutations which induce such extensive somatic 
changes seem to be exceedingly rare. 

2. There may have been simultaneous mutations in sev- 
eral factors, thus producing full-fledged an individual of a 
new species. Objection to this hypothesis is found in 
the observation that factor mutations always or nearly 
always occur singly, i. e., a single factor mutation in a 
given individual at a given time. This observation is 

ble since the probability of the oc- 
currence of two: factor mutations in the same individual 
at the same time, according to the principle of least 
‘Squares, would be the inverse ratio of the square of the 
number of typical (unchanged) individuals in the popu- 


No. 614] FACTOR MUTATIONS IN EVOLUTION 125 


lation. Thus, for example, if one factor mutation occurs 
in one individual among say 1,000, then the probability 
of two factor mutations occurring in the same individual 
at the same time would be once in 1,000,000 times. More- 
over, individuals showing even one factor mutation are 
comparatively rare. Hence, it appears extremely doubt- 
ful that any species have arisen through simultaneous 
factor mutations in single individuals. 

3. Single factor mutations may have occurred in dif- 
ferent individuals within a group either simultaneously. 
or successively. This hypothesis implies that individuals 
possessing certain mutant characters are capable of main- 
taining themselves in the wild state, an assumption which 
is justified by the fact that factor mutations are known 
which have not impaired vitality and fertility, nor re- 
duced the general adaptability of the organism. Further 
evidence to support this hypothesis is found in the wide- 
spread existence of composite species. Although these 
heterogeneous groups have been classified as species, they 
are really aggregates of numerous distinct varieties or 
subspecies. Indeed, their Mendelian behavior indicates 
that many advantageous physiological characters, such 
as earliness or lateness of maturity, resistance to disease, 
high fecundity or possession of a certain pigment, origi- 
nate through factor mutations. Such mutations fre- 
quently, though not necessarily, involve morphological 
ehanges also. In all except strictly autogenous (self-fer- 
tilized) species new combinations of mutant characters 
would occur through intercrossing, thus increasing the 
chances of beneficial or advantageous results to the 
species. Populations of such species consist of indi- 
viduals of heterogeneous germinal constitution, and fre- 
quently disadvantageous or even lethal factor mutations 
persist in heterozygous condition, but soon make their 
presence manifest when inbreeding or self-fertilization is 
practised. Autogenous species, on the other hand, are 
composed of individuals of homogeneous germinal con- 
stitution (pure lines) which have arisen through the re- 


126 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von. LII 


currence of factor mutations. When in a certain germ 
cell of such an individual a mutation occurs which will 
produce a detrimental or lethal effect, the offspring will 
either die or fail to reproduce as the case may be. Hence 
pure lines possess no lethal or highly detrimental factors; 
yet these biotypes may vary between wide limits in their 
morphological and physiological characters. 

There is no necessity whatever for the simultaneous 
appearance of mutations in order to establish new forms. 
«Only three conditions are necessary in this method of 

-evolution: the existence of species during long periods of 
time; repeated occurrence of some factor mutations re- 
sulting in new characters advantageous to the species; and 
the transmission of these mutations from generation to 
generation. All these conditions are known to exist. In 
fact, the repeated occurrence of the same mutation in the 
same locus of a particular chromosome has been observed, 
as well as the occurrence of different factor mutations 
producing similar somatic variations, 

Factor mutations, therefore, provide the means for 
eradual evolution within species; only a few, to be sure, 
out of many factor mutations being preserved, but these 
few being sufficient, with the frequent aid of migration or 
isolation by geographical barriers, to build up new groups 
which can be recognized only as distinct species. But 
these new species, it will be understood, would have the 
same chromosome numbers as the ones from which they 
arose. We are, therefore, considering here only one of 
several methods by which new species originate. Strictly 
speaking, the only true mutations are factor mutations, 
as they are the only known germinal variations. 


CONCLUSION 

Factor mutations occur in accordance with the general 
scheme of the mutation theory as formulated by de Vries. 
They arise suddenly, they occur in all directions, they are 
heritable, and some of them are advantageous to the 
species and are preserved by natural selection. When so 


No. 614] FACTOR MUTATIONS IN EVOLUTION 127 


preserved they give rise to new forms or races, and when 
fostered by man they make possible new horticultural 
varieties of plants or new breeds of animals. It is prob- 
able, as Morgan has shown, that factor mutations alone 
have furnished the necessary germinal changes to make 
possible the evolution of the elephant’s trunk and similar 
cases of orthogenetic development which have been dis- 
covered by paleontologists. But factor mutations alone 
are not sufficient, so far as we know, to account for the 
origin of species of different chromosome numbers, much 
less for the appearance of phyla and genera. It is to be 
hoped that light will be shed on these more obscure phases 
of the general problem of organic evolution through a 
combination of taxonomic, genetic, cytological and physio- 
logical researches. It would seem that the solution must 
involve the expression of relationships between organic 
groups in terms of the morphology and physiology of 
the chromosomes. 


LITERATURE CITED 
Babcock, E. B. 
1916. Studies in Juglans, III; Further Evidence that the Oak-like 
Wal ng Sit ae by Mutation. Univ. of Calif. Pub. in Agr. 
Bei, 1 
Bateson, Wm. 
1914. Address of the es of the British Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Scie Sci., N. S., 40, pp. 287-302; 319-333. 


2, 


Caullery, M. 
1916. The Pal hoes of the Problem of Evolution. Sci., N. S., 43, 


pP. 
Clausen, R. E., an si eos T EL 
1916. Hereditary Reaction System Relations—an Extension of Men- 
delian Concepts. Proc, Nat. Acad. Sci., 2, p. 240. 
Davenport, C. B. 
A The Form of Evolutionary Theory that Modern Genetical Re- 
search Seems to Favor. Am. NArt., 50, pp. 449-465. 
Glaser, O, C. 
1916. The Basis of Individuality in Organisms. Sci., N. S., 44, pp- 
cei 


Goodspeed, T. snd Clausen, R. E. 
1917a, og a: of the F, Species Hybrids between Nicotiana syl- 
vestris and Varieties of Nicotiana Tabacum, with Special Ref- 
erence to the Conception of Reaction System Contrasts in 
Heredity. Univ. of Calif. Pub. Bot., 5, pp. 301-346. 


128 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vor. LII 


1917b. REIR, Factor Differences versus Reaction pen Con- 
asts in Heredity. Am. NaT., 51, pp. 31-46 and 92-101. 
Harrison, J. W. 
1916. Studies i in the Hybrid Bistoninæ. Jour. Genetics, 6, pp. 95-161. 
Jordan, D. 8. 
1905. The Origin of Species through Isolation. Sci., N. S., 22, pp. 
45-562. 


Lotsy, J. P. 
1916. Evolution by Means of Hybridization. The Hague. 
Metz, C. W. 
1914, Chromosome Studies in the Diptera, I. A Preliminary Survey 
of Five Different Types of ad Groups in the Genus 
- Drosophila. Jour. Exp. Zool., 17, Ao 
19164. ES Studies in the Dipte oo The Paired Associa- 
of the Chromosomes in the Motera, and its Significance. 
Pe 21, pp. 213-264. 
19160. arpa Studies in Diptera, III. Additional Chromosome 
oups in the Drosophilide. pan Nar., 50, pp. 587-599 


chin, E. na 
1916. The Ss ai of aes Cell. Am. Nar., 50, pp. 5-38; 106-118. 
Morgan, T. H., Sturtevant, A. H., Muller, H. J., and Bridges, C. B. 
1915. The eva of Sane Heredity. New York. 
Morgan, T. 
1916. A Critique of the Theory of Evolution. Princeton. 
Muller, H. J. 
1917. ar Gnothera-like Case in Drosophila. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 
3, pp. 619-626. 
Reichert, E. T. 
1914. The Germplasm as a Stereochemic System. Sci., N. S., 40, pp. 
649-661, 


Troland, L. 


1917. Biological Enigmas and the Theory of Enzyme Reaction. AM. 
AT., 51, pp. 321-350, 


Vries, H. de. 
1901. Die Mutationstheorie. Leipsic. 
Wagner, M 


1868. “*Die Darwinische Theorie und das Migrationsgesetz der Organ- 
ismen,’’ cited =e Kellogg, V. R., in Darwinism To-day, N. Y. 


PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN THE LIFE- 
HISTORIES OF ANIMALS WITH PAR- 
TICULAR REFERENCE TO THEIR 

SEASONAL APPEARANCE! 


PROFESSOR VICTOR E. SHELFORD 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
I. [INTRODUCTION 


Tue fact that plants flower, fruits ripen, insects appear 
and disappear in succession throughout a growing season 
needs no statement even to the savage huntsman or the 
city flat dweller. The variations of the usual succession 
of appearances with peculiar seasons, unusual weather, 
etc., are general guides to many operations of primitive 
agriculture and matters of comment by all out of door 
people. Seasonal succession has long been scientifically 
investigated (see Alee, *11; Forbes, 16; Harvey, ’08; 
Hough, ’64; Johnstone, 08; Shelford, '13). Only re- 
cently has careful investigation of it been stimulated by 
the general interest in modern ecology and economic prob- 
lems. The importance of a knowledge of delayed germi- 
nation of seeds to the agriculturist (Crocker, ’06) has 
further stimulated work along a line throwing light on the 
general subject. The analysis of the physiological causes 
of the normal succession of biological events in any season 
calls on many of the laws of biology to formulate merely 
the outline or even a portion of a life history, as, e. g., the 
answers to questions such as why potato beetles appear 
from hibernation at a certain time, and not earlier, and 
deposit eggs on plants of the genus Solanum. Further, 
as soon as we concern ourselves with the analysis of the 
causes of the irregularities of appearance in any season, 
the evident complication of problems is such that one may 

1 Contribution from the Illinois Natural History Survey and from the 
Zoological Laboratory of the University of Tlinois, No. 100. 

129 


130 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


undertake to discuss them without apology. The prac- 
tical significance of variations to agriculture is shown by 
the destruction of the wheat crop in the Southwest by the 
wheat aphis. This was due to differences in response to 
weather on the part of the pest as compared with its ene- 
mies. The cause of seasonal appearance, or more espe- 
cially of variations of seasonal appearance, is to be 
found in the influence of external factors on the initiation 
and velocity of growth and on fecundity and length of 
life, in dormancy in various stages in the life histories, 
and in the adjustment of the innate rhythm to the annual 
climatic cycle. 


Tl. THe INFLUENCE or EXTERNAL CONDITIONS ON TIME OF 
PEARANCE AND NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS 


1. Differences in Initiation and Velocity of Develop- 
ment.—The problem of initiation of development is one 
that has attracted much attention of late on account of the 
importance of an ability to predict the time when various 
insect pests will emerge from hibernation or will reach a 
stage of development at which it is necessary to spray, 
if such treatment is to prove satisfactory. 

In this connection attention has been directed to the 
conditions, particularly of temperature, under which 
there is no development during periods lying within the 
bounds of the ordinary life history of the animal in ques- 
tion (Sanderson, '10, Headlee, and Peairs). The limit at 
which development does not take place, usually called 
physiological zero or zero of development, is better termed 
threshold of development. Sandersonhas discussed vari- 
ous data and theories relative to the effect of temperature 
on development. 

The attention of physiologists has been directed toward 
the study of the effects of temperature on the rate of 
metabolism and development. In general the results 
of such study have been interpreted with reference to 
Van’t Hoff’s law relative to the increase of reaction 
with a rise of temperature of 10 degrees, usually des- 


No. 614] PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 131 


ignated as Qio Vt is the velocity of development at 
aor ; V(t+01) 

y temperature (+), so that Q,, is the quotient of ier: T 
and supposedly is a constant. In fact, the Q, is not a 
constant for living phenomena, but usually varies from 
2 to 3, being greater for the lower temperatures and 
smaller for the higher ones. Snyder has pointed out in 
detail that while the temperature coefficient for differ- 
ences of 10 degrees varies, the variation is not only for 
physiological actions, but also for many chemical reac- 
tions; in both cases the variations are in the same direc- 
tion. He finds that changes in viscosity with changes in 
temperature follow the same rule. He holds the hypothe- 
sis that even in the simpler physiological actions we have 
to deal with at least two distinct chemical actions whose 
fundamental velocities at any given temperature are 
different. 

Recently Krogh ('14) has calculated the Q,, from Q,, 
Q, and the like, at different temperatures for the time 
from fertilization of the frog’s egg to the appearance of 
the first cleavage plane. He found 53.0 (published as 
5.3, which appears to be a error) for the interval be- 
tween 3 and 5 degrees, 4.1 for the interval 5 to 10 
degrees, 2.0 for the interval 15 to 20 degrees. He raises 
the question as to the value of such a variable ‘‘con- 
stant.” He calls attention to the fact that the velocity 
curve (the reciprocal of the time-temperature curve) 
is a straight line within certain limits. This is not 
the curve for the reciprocal of Van’t Hoff’s time and 
temperature formula. The latter law is valuable only as 
evidence that the life process is a combination of chemical 
processes. The condition of any environmental factor at 
which development does not take place, but immediately 
above which development may be initiated, is called the 
threshold of development. It is evident that there is a 
threshold of development for most species as regards 
temperature, moisture, light, oxygen, quantity and qual- 
ity of food, and probably other factors. The brief state- 


182 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


19 
it 
etd 30 AY ] 
18 
17 DR 
tf GJ 
4 \ 
4c 1 on 
“Vv 
12 15 Y. f P 
19 tJ Pi 
N N 
14 10 A 
HEHH } s 
1A R EE 
iv Vir LIA 
2 sel Eu a 
Enis EN 
Pgh A ee Be 
12 ra erie tig ELL Lil 
) 10 t5 20 do 30- 35 
i fig. 2 
1 
+ E p 
a 
J 
Q 1 ^ 
o . 
pd 
t A J 
6 
1 
5 
4 
a 
v 
9 
LA 
4 iB 
y 
1 
F i y 
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 
Fapt 
Fic. 1. Showing the time-temperature curve (the longer curve) ooh the ap- 
pearance of the first cleavage plane in the = of the frog. The solid curved line 
is the actual cu and the broken 1 ensions are theoretical, basea $ ina 
hi al constant (time x temperature) om it differs 
shorter oblique curve » the SEAR curve, or the a $2; geg cy 
s for a by the combined broken and 
solid lines of the longer curve. It is a cl sg ine. The of h 
pr e continuation of the curve based on Verworn's ('99, p J 
irritability curve. on xis of abscissas are rees Centigrade. 
figures he ordinates represent 100 minutes for the hyperbola and 100 
divided by the time units for the reci (from data by Kro; 


procal h). 
FIG. ON the time-temperature and velocity curves for the time from 


- No. 614] PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 133 


ments and citations below are in support of this state- 
ment. 
(a) Temperature Threshold 

Very nearly at the time of the publication of Krogh’s 
work, Sanderson and Peairs announced that for a large 
series of insects the time-temperature curve for develop- 
ment is a hyperbola and the velocity of development 
curve is a straight line. Peairs concluded further that 
the ( cool relative velocity curve which is obtained 
by dividing unity (100 to avoid fractions) by the experi- 
mentally determined time periods, in days or other units, 
and plotting it against the temperature for which the time 
was observed, gives points for the different temperatures 
which fall in a straight line crossing the axis of tempera- 
ture at the zero of the curve, or the theoretical threshold 
of development (Fig.1). This theoretical threshold may be 
calculated also with two points accurately determined ex- 
perimentally. These authors conclude that with the zero 
determined, the thermal constant (temperature multiplied 

y time—a constant for an hyperbola) can be obtained. 
However, they failed to note the deviations from law 
which occur at both high and low temperatures and which 
require careful attention in practical work. 

These entomological workers appear to have over- 
looked the work of the fish culturists who have studied 
the subject of effects of temperature on development. 
Apstein (711), Dannevig (’94), Earll (78), Green (770), 
Johansen and Krogh (714), Reibisch (*02), and William- 
son (’08) all made contributions of greater or less im- 
portance. All called attention to the effect of tempera- 


birth to maturity of Toxoptera graminum (from Headlee after Sanderson and 
curves for the development of the sil of four species of marine tak yo 
figures on the axis of abscissas represent de 


grees Centigr: 
axis of ordinates are days for the hyperbola and 100 divided by days for its 
reciprocal, 


134 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


ture on the rate of fish development, particularly during 
the late embryonic stages. Reibisch (’02) showed that 
time temperature is a constant, using the hyperbola. 
He called the temperature at which development could be 
initiated by the slightest increase the ‘‘ threshold tempera- 
ture,” which is the same as the zero of development and 
physiological zero of other authors. He calculated this 
from the hyperbola formula, thus anticipating the work 
of Sanderson and Peairs by about eleven years. In fact, 
the idea of ineffective temperature below a minimum and 
a sum of temperatures which is the product of time X 
‘temperature dates from de Candolle’s 1830 article. 
Johansen and Krogh worked over the data of Danne- 
vig and showed that the velocity is different for different 
fishes (Fig. 2, 4, B,C). They note further that tempera- 
ture is not absorbed by the organism and that the constant 
is only a convenience. They call attention to the fact 
that the velocity-of-development curve is a straight line 
which, prolonged downward, crosses the axis of abscissas 
at a point mathematically corresponding to Reibisch's 
threshold temperature. The threshold of development 
would be where the velocity curve crosses the axis of ab- 
scissas if the straight-line velocity curve held good and 
the time-temperature curve were a true hyperbola. Krogh 
(714) showed that while 2.7 degrees is the mathematical 
threshold of development for cleavage of the frog’s egg, 
the first cleavage appeared at this temperature 1,844 min- 
utes after fertilization. If the curve were an hyperbola, 
at 2.7 degrees the development of the cleavage plane 
should have required an indefinitely long time; or, in 
other words, it should not have appeared at all. Also, at 
4.9 degrees the appearance of the cleavage plane should 
have required 1,100 minutes, while the observed time was 
approximately 730 minutes. Further, it required 138 
minutes for the cleavage furrow to appear at 22.1 degrees, 
which is more than at 20.7 degrees, showing a decrease in 
velocity at higher temperatures. Thus Krogh points out 
that the velocity curve is a straight line only between 7 


No. 614] PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 135 


and 21 degrees, while the limit of development is from 
less than 3 to 22.1. 

Thus comparing the velocity curves for Headlee’s de- 
velopment of Toxoptera (Fig. 1) and for the cleavage of 
the frog’s egg, we note that in the case of the frog’s egg 
the velocity is too great at the lower temperatures and 
falls off at the highest temperature. Also, in the case of 
Headlee’s curve for Toxoptera, the development was 
much too slow at the higher temperatures. Krogh (’14) 
further studied the development of pupe of Tenebrio 
molitor, carefully measuring the carbon dioxide given off. 
He found that the curve of velocity was a straight line 
between 18.5 and 28 degrees, but that it curved upward at 
lower temperatures. He tried incubating the pupe at 
13.45 degrees, which is the mathematical zero of his curve, 
and found that they developed in 1,116 hours, but with 
considerable mortality. At approximately 33 degrees 
the velocity was less than it should be if the curve were a 
true hyperbola. An interesting feature of these curves 
is that they approach so nearly to the curve published by 
Verworn showing the stimulation effect of heat on activ- 
ity. This curve is shown in Fig. 2 by the actual velocity 
curve and the dotted extensions which, when compared 
with the curve of Krogh for the development of Strongy- 
locentrotus, Arbacia, and Tenebrio, indicate the close re- 
lation between the amount and rate of activity and that 
of general metabolism and growth. 

Edwards ('02) made a careful study of the hen’s egg 
and established 20-21? C. as the point at which no devel- 
opment takes place. There is an optimum temperature 
and development is accelerated by slightly higher tem- 
peratures and retarded by lower temperatures. Thus 
even in a warm-blooded species there is a point at and 
below which development does not occur. 


(b) Prediction on the Basis of Temperature Laws 


Can we predict the time of appearance of any stage in 
the life cycle of an animal? Certainly, in so far as we 


136 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIL 


are concerned only with temperature and with tempera- 
tures within the straight-line limits of the velocity curve, 
we can predict with a high degree of accuracy the time at 
which any stage will be reached. Further, within the 
2 10 


0 12 1 13 


“Pig. 3. 

Fic. 3. Showing the total temperature curve for the oe of the first 
cleavage furrow in the egg of the European frog, as a continuous line from the 
data of Krogh. The small cross dashes show the te ies > which e 
ments were performed. The actual temperatures are given at the bottom of 

gure; at the top the actual degrees above the theoretical threshold of develop- 
«degr The at th 


ment, which is 2.7 Ç. Saree the left show the total minute- 
degr time x temperature, which range from zero 3200. be 
righ’ a different degrees of light; figures are added to 
illustrate a method hart-making only. 10 units of light are assumed 
give quickest development, and both increases and epoca to wt slower 
development and hence more e ge sbeebs r 


pion 
in the same manner as it slowed general at during an entire month 
in the experiments of Yung. For further explanation see 


No. 614] PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 137 


straight-line limits the effects of constant and variable 
temperatures should be the same. This is due to the fact 
that the product of time units X temperature above the 
threshold of development is a constant within the straight 
line limits. Where it is not a constant, the actual values 
may be plotted approximately for any temperature. 
Using the data of Krogh (Fig. 3), I have drawn an 
approximate total temperature curve for the development 
of the first cleavage plane for the egg of the frog. The 
number of degree-minutes required for completion of the 
cleavage furrow is the same for all temperatures between 
7° and 21° C. That is time X temperature is constant 
between 7° and 21° C., where it is about 2,475 time- 
temperature units or minute-degrees, and the curve is a 
straight line. Above 21 degrees the total temperature is 
greater than the constant, and below the lower limit of 
the constant it is less than the constant. At 2.7 degrees 
it should be infinity if the hyperbola held good, but is 
actually 1,844 minutes. The time-temperature units are 
not expressible at this point, so the actual time is given. 
If development takes place below the zero of the hyper- 
bola, the time-temperature units may be considered as 
having a negative value, but are expressible. From this 
curve it is possible to tell how long it takes for the cleav- 
age furrow to develop at any temperature shown; for ex- 
ample, take 6 degrees (bottom of chart=3.3 degrees at 
top). We find from the curve that the total temperature 
for this is approximately 2,200 degree-minutes. Thus, 
2,200 divided by 6.0 — 2.7 gives 666 minutes. It is true that 
the same result could be obtained by reading off the time 
on a time-temperature curve (near to hyperbola) with 
less labor, but the region in which the total temperature 
is a constant cannot be shown on such a curve; and the 
time for different temperatures is obtained with less sim- 
ple calculations from the reciprocal. The total tempera- 
ture curve exaggerates the straight-line limits, and brings 
out sharply the fact that high temperatures retard and 
low temperatures accelerate as compared with the veloci- 


138 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIL 


ties indicated by the reciprocal of the hyperbola to which 
the data partially conform. 

Factors other than temperature influence the rate of 
development. The work of Yung showed that in the case 
of the frog light is one of these. Unfortunately the light 
was not measured definitely in the work of either Krogh 
or Yung. Yung kept one lot of developing frogs in the 
dark and one in a window but where the sun actually 
never shone on them. Krogh’s work must have been done 
in similar light. Yung’s larve were reared under the 
light conditions which he used, for a month or two months, 
and thus his data are for older stages than those of Krogh, 
whose results relate to the appearance of the first cleavage 
furrow. Accordingly, any comparison of the two sets of 
data is essentially impossible. However, for the purpose 
of illustrating a principle which is indicated relative to de- 
velopment under the influence of various intensities of 
factors other than temperature, I have called the light con- 
dition under which Krogh’s work was done 10 units and 
have shown it on a scale at the right-hand side of the 
graph. It is probable that too strong light will retard 
development as well as too weak light. Hence the scale 
is shown double, 12-8, 14-6, etc.; either increases or de- 
creases in light intensity are assumed to increase the time 
required for development. The cross shown on the graph 
gives the approximate total temperature for darkness in- 
dicated by Yung’s work. This part of the chart is given 
merely to indicate a method of chart making—of showing 
the way in which variations of one other factor change the 
number of time-temperature units required for develop- 
ment. 

For practical prediction such a curve must be drawn 
for the shortest time for development at each tempera- 
ture. This will be under optimum light, chemical, etc., 
conditions for the temperature concerned. In establish- 
ing such a least-total temperature curve a few careful 
determinations within the straight-line limits with other 
factors optimum will suffice. Outside these limits the de- 


No. 614] PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 139 


terminations must be more numerous and especial care 
must be exercised to have the temperatures constant. In 
determining the optimum light for different temperature 
much more rapid progress can be made by running ex- 
periments under at least three conditions of this factor 
for each temperature. Deviations due to factors other 
than temperature should be shown on such a chart prob- 
ably in a manner indicated by the broken line on Fig. 3. 
If the main curve is drawn for shortest time, all devia- 
tions in light, ete., will increase the so-called total tem- 
perature, and lines may be drawn for these conditions 
above the main curve as the facts necessitate. 

Much investigation will be necessary to determine the 
corrections which must be made in determining mean tem- 
peratures which must be derived from conditions in which 
the temperature slowly rises and falls during several 
hours of each day, within the ranges of temperature 
where the velocity curve is not a straight line. Tempera- 
tures outside the straight-line limits should not be mixed 
with the temperatures of the straight line limits. These 
outside temperatures must be considered or estimated in 
terms of units sufficiently small to approach accuracy. 
In the case of daily temperature fluctuations the tempera- 
tures outside the straight-line limits must be considered 
by hours, and suitable corrections made before they can 
be included in the daily mean. The exact nature of this 
correction will have to be determined by careful inves- 
tigation. 

(d) Humidity Threshold 

The workers thus far cited have studied temperature 
alone, intending in a general way to keep other factors 
constant. There is undoubtedly a threshold of develop- 
ment with reference to each factor which influences devel- 
opment. Berger found that growth ceased in tenebrionid 
larve fed on bran dried at 105 degrees, and that they 
lived for months with a loss of weight; doubtless with a 
very small increase in moisture they could be maintained _ 
at the initial weight. More recently Pierce has found — 


ES 


140 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIL 


that the cotton boll-weevil has a different zero or threshold 
of development and’ different design optimum for 
each humidity. 


(e) Oxygen Threshold 


The development of various invertebrates is stopped by 
insufficient oxygen (Loeb, ’06, and citations). Johansen 
and Krogh found that if the oxygen pressure was reduced 
to one half by reducing the air pressure to 380 mm. of 
mercury development of plaice eggs was retarded. The 
oxygen pressure threshold of development lies below the 
amount which will go into solution from air at pressure 
of 230 mm. of mercury, but at this concentration much 
care was necessary to keep the eggs alive. Shull (711) 
determined the oxygen minimum for the germination of 
the seeds of Xanthium. 


(f) Light Threshold 


Loeb (711) states further that light is necessary to the 
regeneration of zoids in Eudendrium. Its absence is 
further known to slow development in larve of insects 
which normally live in the light (Bachmetjew, 692). Smith 
found that light accelerates the development of salmon. 
Johansen and Krogh found little difference between ma- 
rine fishes grown in light or in dark. Davenport (’99) 
summarized the literature to that date and showed on the 
authority of Yung that moderately strong light increased 
growth. 

(g) Food Threshold 


Recent work has shown that food may be either qualita- 


_ tively or quantitatively deficient and cause standstill in 


the development of mammals. Thus Osborne and Men- 
del (p. 101) show the following methods of producing it: 

(1) By under-feeding with rations of suitable qualita- 
tive make-up; (2) by the use of diets containing an ade- 
quate protein but with inorganic salts supplied in the form 
of a mixture of pure chemicals together with sucrose and 


_ starch as the carbohydrate component; (3) by restricting 


No. 614] PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 141 


the protein content of the dietary below the minimum re- 
quired for growth; (4) by furnishing as the exclusive 
source of nitrogenous intake proteins which lack some 
amino-acid group indispensable to growth. 

Thus the animals were maintained at practically the 
same weight and they retained their power to grow long 
past the age at which growth normally ceases (335 days) 
and for periods equal to half the normal life of the spe- 
cies, which is 1,000 days. 

Wodsedalek (717) has shown that certain tenebrionid 
larve can not only be maintained, but may be reduced 
from half-grown to hatching size several times by re- 
peated starving and feeding. This seems to leave little 
doubt as to the existence of a threshold of development 
for food. 


(h) Definite Amount of Development 


Krogh has shown that the total amount of carbon diox- 
ide given off by pupe of Tenebrio molitor is the same for 
all temperatures, showing that there is a definite amount 
of development to be attained. The rate appears to be 
different for different species where no considerable dif- 
ference in the total for passing the stage in question is to 
be expected, as in the case of fishes (see graphs by 
Krogh). Thus, difference in velocity and increase in 
velocity at different temperatures and moistures, etc., 
have an important bearing on the variable or unequal sea- 
sonal appearance of the different species. The accelera- 
tion of development under conditions of factors near the 
threshold is a further consideration (for a noteworthy 
instance see Bachmetjew’s (’07) retabulation of Mer- 
rifeld’s (’90) data) which leads to non-coincident appear- 
ance and peculiar modification of normal sequence in ab- 
normal seasons. 

It appears that the chief reason that there are not more 
generations in an annual cycle in the case of spiders or 
other animals is that the amount of energy which must 
be expended and the velocity of development are such 


142 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vote LIL 


that the completed sexually mature individual can not 
be produced oftener than usually obtains. There is, to 
be sute, much evidence that the tendency to hibernate 
is not very firmly established in some species and that 
under stimulation animals may be induced to repro- 
duce nearly continuously, at least for a number of gen- 
erations. Cessation of development in any given case is 
as much attributable to some factor falling below the 
threshold of development as to heredity. The environ- 
ment is extremely complex, and the number of factors 
which may cause cessation of development and which have 
been already established, are so numerous as to indicate 
that the number is very much greater than is commonly 
supposed, including temperature, moisture, light, oxygen, 
evaporation, quantity of food, or absence of any one of 
many necessary food constituents. These appear to 
operate in accordance with the law of toleration (Shel- 
ford, 13) and, with respect to food, in accord with Leibig’s 
law of minimum. Where dormant periods are well estab- 
lished, their occurrence with reference to the usual sea- 
sonal rhythm makes any modification of the usual life his- 
tory difficult or impossible. 
Variations from the ‘‘normal’’ seasonal weather, and 
weather changes are of especial interest as modifying the 
usual seasonal succession of adult animals or any area. 
In springs with unusually prolonged cool weather, the 
various pond species, such, for example, as those noted 
on page 146, are crowded together, and reach maturity 
much more nearly at the same time than in normal sea- 
sons. The same phenomenon has been observed by the 
writer in the case of the flowering of early spring plants 
of an area near Chicago. The differences in the response 
of different species to the same conditions show their dif- 
ferent physiological constitutions. This type of varia- 
tion indicates that such maladjustments as resulted in the 
depletion of the grain crop by the grain aphis in the 
southern part of the wheat belt, because the weather fa- 
vored them, may occur in undisturbed localities, though 


No. 614] PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 143 


probably not to the same degree. Seasonal succession 
and its variation involve, for the pure-science student, 
many of the problems which confront the economic 
zoologist. 

3. Length of Life and Fecundity.—One phenomenon 
which has been repeatedly noted in connection with this 
study—a matter of common observation—is the variation 
in numbers of individuals in different years. The length 
of life of individuals may have a pronounced effect on the 
population and succession of species on a given area. 
Loeb has stated that the great number of individuals in 
the plankton of the polar seas in, summer is due to the 
longer life of the individual at low temperature. Unless 
the low temperature slows the different processes un- 
equally this can hardly follow. For example, if a par- 
thenogenetic female aphid normally lives a week and pro- 
duces 1,000 offspring and then the temperature is lowered 
so as to prolong the life to three weeks, unless the differ- 
ent functions were unequally affected by the change, there 
would be at the end of three weeks but a thousand, while 
at the normal rate there would have been a billion possi- 
ble individuals. On the other hand, if the rate of repro- 
duction remains the same and the length of life of the 
individual after the reproductive period is increased, the 
results of lower temperature would be very different, 
perhaps much as Loeb assumes. Actual observations 
along this line are few. In the case of the San José scale, 
however, Glenn (*15) found that the number of offspring 
is greatest in the individuals breeding in the warmest 
weather. Turning to Table I we note (page 146) that 
Agelena nevea may live longer in the adult stage than 
Argiope aurantia, or the time of appearance may be more 
irregular, and hence the question is one for investigation. 

The velocity of development of different species is dif- 
ferent, and the relative velocity is measurable in some 
terms of the angle which the velocity curve makes with 
the axis of abscissas (Fig. 2). Thus when we compare 
the four species of fish given by Dannevig we note that 


144 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


. velocity of development increases more rapidly with in- 


creases of temperature for the flounder than for the 
plaice; the same difference exists between the whiting 
and the cod. Krogh showed that the velocities of the dif- 
ferent stages of the frog’s egg, Fig. 1, are the same; but. 
the different stages in the life history of the same animal 
may differ in velocity at the same temperature. 

4. Dormancy.— Dormancy is of much import among 
animals inhabiting the same area. Thus the eggs of Eu- 
branchipus and Diaptomus stagnalis require both summer 
drying and winter freezing before they will hatch. Dor- 

mancy is common in the eggs of grasshoppers (Thomas, 

79), walking sticks (Trouvelot), ete. Dormant periods 
are common, occurring even in deer and armadillo em- 
bryos (Palemon), and probably represent hereditary 
remnants of impressions made on former generations by 
seasonal rhythms. 

The causes of these rhythms often are simple. Con- 
cerning delayed germination or dormancy of seeds, 
Crocker and Davis (’14) have said: 


The work to date has shown that delayed germination of seeds is 
secured in a variety of ways: by almost absolute exclusion of water 
by seed coats (as in the hard-seeded legumes and species of several 
other families), by the limiting of the degree of swelling of the embryo, 

+ - by reduction of oxygen supply below the minimum for germina- 
tion . . .; and finally perhaps by deficiency in salts. To this must be 
added delays due to embryo characters. 


Dormancy has been overcome by drying in the case of 
several species of insects in the writer’s laboratory. 


III. SEASONAL SUCCESSION as ÍLLUSTRATED BY THE SPIDERS 
OF A SMALL ÁREA OF Grounp 


In the spring and summer of 1910, Mr. G. D. Allen un- 
dertook the study of the seasonal succession of the fauna 
of an area in a vacant lot at Eighty-first Street and Black- 
stone Avenue, Chicago, which is a pond in spring and low 
prairie in summer, but did not complete the work, though 
his collections were extensive and oa extending 


No. 614] PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS ` 145 


from the middle of June to November. Miss Katherine 
Norcross arranged the records in seasonal order, except 
those of the spiders. In the case of the insects which 
made up the vast majority of species on such an area, the 
question constantly arose as to where the insect had been 
previous to its appearance there. During the spring and 
summer of 1913, the writer undertook to collect and ob- 
serve the spiders of the plot studied by Allen. Spiders 
were selected for this study because they do not undergo 
a metamorphosis, and may often be found and identified 
in a juvenile condition while insects can not. Though in- 
complete, the data are adequate for a discussion of the 
physiological features of seasonal succession. 

The habitat from which the specimens were collected 
was about 25 X 50 ft., nearly all of it covered with water 
in early spring, usually drying during May, and contain- 
ing water thereafter only during and after especially 
heavy rains. In July Allen found the vegetation com- 
posed chiefly of Eleocharis, Spartina, Carex, Juncus, Lia- 
tris, Steironema, Cacalia, and several other composites. 
The plants taken together made up what is commonly 
called coarse grass and weeds. The writers collections 
in 1913 were made on or very near Allen’s dates for 1910. 
From these joint sources the data of the following table 
were obtained and arranged, but with some gaps where 
the spiders were probably too young to identify. The 
records marked **C”” are taken from Comstock (*11) and 
represent the conditions in which the spiders usually are 
at the dates indicated. The spiders were identified by 
Banks (*10) and the nomenclature is according to his list. 

1. Statement of Succession.—In the spring the area is 
a pond in which various Crustacea and worms succeed 
each other (see Shelford, 713, pp. 278). Sexually mature 
adults appeared in abundance about as follows: Ambly- 
stoma tigrinum, March 15; Eubranchipus, April 15; Pla- 
naria velata, May 1; Diaptomus stagnalis, May 1. Some 
of these animals have been studied sufficiently to show 
that they become dormant for the remainder of the year 


146 -THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIL 


as soon as the pond dries up. Amblystoma tigrinum de- 
posits its eggs and then burrows into the mud and re- 
mains ten months in estivation and hibernation. Eu- 
branchipus deposits eggs that must be both dried and 
frozen before hatching. Diaptomus stagnalis is similar 
in character. Planaria velata forms cysts which live over 
to the following spring. 
ABLE I 


SHOWING SEASONAL SUCCESSION OF ADULT SPIDERS ON A LOW PRAIRIE Sum- 
MER Dry POND 


The species are arranged in the order of the seasonal occurrence of adults. 

indicates adults; j, young; e, eggs; g, generic identification only. © in- 
dicates that the occurrence is As to Comstock and is not based upon 
the author’s observation. Dates are given at the heads of the columns in 
numerals only. 


gielalsis e| oe|3|8 e 3 
JERR ERERERRES 
| 1330 
ore rs ije | 7| 8| o|10/11| “6 

Pardosa modica Blck......... AETR | | 
Tetr tha laboriosa Htz mr. |. i ae op LAB 
Xysticus gulosus Key ........ BA Ras E E JA ela Ple AL coy ant 
Dictyna sublata Htz.......... saat Wi: BAE Pat oe A ieee 
ina undata Htz........ Me ea oe YFSF oa eae at 300 
Attus palustris Peck ......... Fk tans Geen be A Lee Rs ow Veet’ 
Pardosa canadensis Blek...... EEE A a RO, o a 
Lycosa heluo Wal. ........... e OM nay tod Mad ah gt Sr tl 
Phidippus podagrosus Htz FA E j 200 
Plectana stellata Htz. ........!... |. |ë Ke 25 
Epeira trivittata Key......... a es eat LA RE N Baa 
“Runcinia aleatoria Htz. ...... De Ta | FN, 160 
Mangora gibberosa Htz. ...... Pek RE TE been ten Le pal ceases 
Agelena nivéa Wal. .......... weitere £18 STP Le lee ee 
Aiweamesoks bhdr Hiss Ou ORC Ps | ea Ae TS 
Phidippus audaz Htz......... ¡OC |jO |jC|jOl|jO|jC! * |* \*7C\gGC jc! 80 
Argiope aurantia Luc......... SOIC FC LC VIC Ie Pee A TIE es 
Argiope trifasciata Forsk...... ii G1 G1 519) * 1) * | > beC i0425 

i 


At the time these appear, land animals begin to move 
about the pond margin, adult and juvenile spiders among 

em. The collection and arrangement of the entire 
fauna showed the same thing as the spiders, but proved 
much less satisfactory in the other cases than was ex- 
pected, owing to a lack of knowledge of life histories and 
an inability to identify young stages. Turning to Table 
I and following out the stars which indicate the occur- 


No. 614] PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 147 


rence of adults, and noting that the species have been ar- 
ranged in the seasonal order, starting with Pardosa mod- 
ica Beck, which was taken only in April, we end the 
season with adult Argiope trifasciata, which appeared as 
adults late in the season only. 

We note that when the collection proved at all complete 
the juvenile individuals follow the adults of the early 
spring species, and that they both precede and follow the 
species which mature late in the season. The collections 
proved to have been made with insufficient detail, and 
many young spiders could be identified only to the genus 
and are usually omitted entirely. However, the tables 
show a sufficient general arrangement of the species 
throughout a season to furnish an adequate basis for a 
discussion of the problems involved in the phenomenon 
of seasonal succession—the problems presented by a com- 
parison of the few species whose life histories are known 
quite completely. 

IV. Discussion 

Nearly all species are adjusted to the seasonal rhythm 
of the habitat in which they live. Thus Dyctina sublata 
appears as adult in May and June, when, as it seems, eggs 
must be laid, and juvenile forms characterize the late 
summer and autumn. Argiope trifasciata deposit eggs in 
October and passes the winter in the juvenile form. Phi- 
dippus podagrosus reaches maturity in July, when eggs 
must be deposited, and young occur in both fall and 
spring. These differences generally represent an innate 
adjustment of the life cycle to seasonal rhythm, not read- 
ily broken up. It is to be expected, then, that Dictyna 
will deposit eggs to better advantage and that the young 
hatch better in May than in November, as is the case of 
Agelena nivea. It is further to be expected that the 
young stages of some spiders will not go on with develop- 
ment until cooled for a considerable period. Perhaps one 
of the most interesting questions concerning the whole 
matter of succession of spiders is to be found in the fact 
that from what is known about them, they are all active 


148 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


for about the same period of time; i. e., all life histories 
involve about the same period of activity and rest. 

An inspection of the table shows that the time of reach- 
ing the adult stage varies for the different species, so that 
there is a general change of spiders in the adult stage as 
the season progresses. This is all that seasonal succes- 
sion can mean under any conditions; the fact that the eggs 
or other young stages can not be identified or their loca- 
tion is unknown does not change the character of phenom- 
enon in any locality where the species are resident. 

The causes of the succession of species may be roughly 
summarized as follows: Species differ in the time in the 
annual climatic rhythm at which development begins, in 
the time of occurrence of dormancy and in the conditions 
necessary to break it up, in threshold of development rela- 
tive to several climatic factors, in velocity of development 
relative to several climatic factors, food, etc., and in size 
and total energy expended. These may be taken up one 
at a time. 

Considering differences in the time in the annual cycle 
at which development begins, as a factor in seasonal suc- 
cession, we must notice first that this can be a controlling 
factor only where there is no dormancy in the life history 
or where the available total of temperature, moisture, 
light, etc., above the thresholds is just enough to produce 
one generation per year and not to permit of a gradual 
moving of the time of appearance to an earlier date each 
season, during several successive long seasons. The test 
of this would come in the migration of agricultural pests 
which are arrivals in localities where the growing season 
is longer. There appear to be no easily available facts, 
and. for the present this type of maintaining a definite 
time of appearance is to be regarded as a theoretical pos- 
sibility. The fact that the life histories of various ani- 
mals which have been known to migrate extensively into 
new territory appear not to be accelerated indicates that 
dormancy may control appearance and thus time of be- 
ginning development may be a secondary consideration. 


No. 614] PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 149 


Thus we come to the time of occurrence of dormancy 
and the conditions necessary to break it up, which result 
in the rhythmic tendency of the species fitting into the 
rhythm of the climate in which it lives. In many insect 
species it appears that drying may be substituted for 
freezing. Such species may migrate into climates in 
which there is a dry season, instead of a cold one, and 
with a longer growing season, and continue with the usual 
annual life-history rhythm. Under these conditions in 
each growing season the development is stopped by dor- 
mancy and proceeds no further until the drying breaks up 
dormancy. The development of Eubranchipus, once ini- 
tiated, proceeds until the mature individual has produced 
eggs. Here dormancy stops all further progress until the 
eggs are first dried and then frozen and warmed above 
0°: C. Crustacea without dormant periods go on devel- 
oping and produce several generations in one summer. 
After the conditions necessary for the overcoming of the 
dormancy have been fulfilled, or where there is no dor- 
mancy, species differ in the threshold conditions for de- 
velopment. The thresholds for development are hardly 
the same for any two species in which thresholds have 
been determined. Thus species will differ in the time at 
which development is initiated in the spring. Further, 
the increase in velocity with increase in temperature is 
different for different species, as indicated by the differ- 
ences in the angle which their velocity curves make with 
the axis of abscissas (see Krogh, 714, velocity curves 
of several species of fish, also Fig. 2). This fact alone 
makes it possible for a given set of conditions out of the 
ordinary to give a peculiar and irregular occurrence of the 
different species of a community. 

The total energy as illustrated by the CO, given off by 
a species is the same for all conditions in which develop- 
ment can occur at all, as shown by Krogh. It is probable, 
accordingly, that the total energy expended in develop- 
ment is different for each different species. This may 
bear some relation to size and weight, though alcoholic 


150 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


specimens of full-grown females of several species of 
spiders were weighed and no conclusion could be drawn. 
Hither the method of obtaining the data or the fact that 
the spiders are all annual is the cause. Krogh found that 
the velocity of development is the same at the same tem- 
perature in the different stages of the frog, though the 
thresholds are different. But there is no reason to as- 
sume that this is true of other animals, especially where 
there is a metamorphosis. 

1. Conclusions.—The preceding pages indicate the in- 
tricacy of the problems involved in explaining the sim- 
plest life history of annual animals. The physiological 
life histories of animals which have two or more genera- 
tions per year, and of those whose life cycle extends over 
more than one year, are still more difficult to deal with. 
The problems involved have of late attracted the interest 
of biologists generally, of geneticists, of economic ento- 
mologists, of fish culturists, and others, and they consti- 
tute a central group of problems for the ecologist. All 
these various interests are being focused on the problems 
of physiological life histories as the next step in the at- 
tempt to advance the science of biology. In all these 
lines, the day of the naturalist taxonomist as a central 
figure is all but past, and the day of the naturalist physi- 
ologist is at hand. 

This interest has arisen in the various groups for dif- 
ferent causes, but one of them is the variation which oe- 
curs in the succession of species and their interaction in 
different years, due to peculiar weather conditions. The 
green bugs destroyed the wheat crop in 1907 because of 
differences in thresholds of development of the aphid 
pests and their enemies; the fruit growers do not spray 
at the right time in many cases because the insect pests 
do not appear at the usual time. This is not to be ered- 
ited to the effects of one factor alone; as, for example, 
enough work with temperature has been done to show 
that, while it is important, the influence of other factors 
is sufficient to make prediction on the basis of tempera- 
ture alone quite unreliable. 


No. 614] PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 151 


The animal geographer is interested in the same prob- 
lems. We note that the animal community illustrated by 
the spiders contained animals maturing at every season 
of the year. There is a noticeable early spring or vernal 
group which the geographer has assumed is montane in 
origin (Adams, ’09); and the group of land species which 
appears through the summer is traced into different sit- 
uations according to specific affinities. It is evident that 
successful species are those that fit into the seasonal 
rhythm with respect to physical conditions, food, and nu- 
merous other relations. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


No attempt to make this list of literature complete has been made; asd 
` such papers as were actually used are cited. 
Allee, W. C. 
1911. Seasonal Succession in Old Forest Ponds. Trans. Ill. State 
Acad. Sci., 4: 126-131. 


1909. Die Bestimmung des Alters pelagisch lebender Fischeier. Mitt. 
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Beltsee und den angrenzenden Meeresteilen.  Wissensch. 
Sey AEN N. F., Kiel, 13: 227-280. 
Aron, H. 
1911. dá ae and Growth. Phillip. Jour. Sci., 6: 1-52. 
Babcock, 8. 
1912, Meat Water: its Production and Róle in der Phenomena. 
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Bachmetjew, P. 
1907. Pipeeimentette Entomologische Studien, Bd. II. Sophia. 
Banks, Nathan. 
1910. Catalogue of Nearctic Spiders, U. S. N. M. Bull. 72. 
Baumberger, J. | 
1917. Studies in the Longevity of Insects, Ann, Ent. Soc. Am., T: 
323-54. (Good bibliography.) 
Berger, B. 
1907. Ueber die a oe der Tenebrio Larven gege: 
Austrocknung. Arch. te d. Gesammte Phys. (Pfliiger’s Arch. a 
118: 607-612. 
Bream, F. E 
1890. se o ueber die Bryozoen des Wassers Siissen. Bib. 
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Child, C. M. 
1913. The Asexual Cycle in Planaria velata in y to Senescence 
and Rejuvenescence. Biol. Bull., 25: 202. 


1915. acid and Rejuvenescence. eae Chapters X and XI. 
Comstock, J. H. 

1911. The Spider Book. New York. 
Crocker, W. 


1906. Róle of Seed Coats in Delayed Germination. Bot. Gaz., 42: 
265-290. 


Crocker, Wm. and Davis, W. E. 
1914. Delayed Germination in Seeds of Alisma plantago. Bot. Gaz., 
58: 285-321. 


Dannevig, H 
1894. The Influence of Temperature on the Development of the Eggs 
of Fishes. ee Ann. Rept. of the Fisheries Board for Scot- 
land, pp. 147-1 
Dareste, C 
1892. Earp: sur la production artificielle des monstruosités, ou 
s tératogénie expérimentale. Second ed., p. 129, Paris. 
oe C. 
—*99. p A Morphology, Parts I and II. 
ji: wt E. 
1878. A Report on the History and Present Conditions of the Shore 
Cod Fisheries. U. S. Fish Com. Rept., Pt. IV, 685-731 
Edwards, C. L. 
Physiological Zero and the Index of hg! ri of the Egg 
of the Domestic Fowl. Am. Jour. Phys., : 35l- 
bis S. A. 
1916. A General Survey of the May-beetles ua a of Illinois. 
Twenty-ninth Rep. State Ent., III, pp. 
Glenn, P. A, 
1915. The San José Scale. Twenty-eighth Rep. State Ent. TL, 
87-106. 
Green, Seth. 
870. Trout Culture. Rochester, N. Y. 
Greeley, A. W. 
1901. On Analogy between the Effects of Loss of Water and Lower- 
ing of Temperature. Am. Jour. Phys., 6, No. 2. 
Harvey, L. H. 
1908. Floral Succession in the Prairie Grass Formation of South 
ota. Bot, Gaz., 46; 81-108, 277-298. 
Headlee, T. J. 
1917. Some Facts Relative to the Influence of woe Humidity 
Moa Insect Metabolism. Jour. Ec. Ent., 10: 
an 


64, beeen upon Periodic Phenomena in Plants and Ani- 
mal: 


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Johansen, A. C., and Krogh, A 
1914 The ra of Raumpbraturs and Certain Other Factors on 
the Rate of Development of Fishes. Conseil Internat. p. 
l’expl. de x mer. Pub. de Circumstance, No. 68 (Copen- 
en). 


hag 
Johnstone, J. 
1908. Conditions of Life in the Sea. Cambridge. 
Krogh, A. 


1914, On the Influence of the Temperature on the Rate of Embryonic 
Development. Zeit. f. Allg. Phys., 16: 163-177. 
1914a. On the Rate of Development and CO, Production of podr 
of Tenebrio molitor at Different Temperatures, Zeit. f. Al 
Phys., 16: 178-190. 
Leeuwenhoek 
1719; Epistolae ad societatum. regiam Anglicam et alios illustres viros 
seu continuatio mirandorum arcanorum naturae detectorum, 
Lugdun Batav. (Fride Verworn.) 
Loeb, J. 
1906. Dynamics of Living Matter. New Yor 
1912. The Mechanistic Conception of Life. Chicago. 
Masterman, A. T. 
1894, ee beg Rate of Growth of the Marine Food Fishes, 13th 
Rept. of the Fisheries Board for Scotland, pp. 289-96. 
Mendel, L. B. 
1914. Viewpoints in the Study of Growth. Biochem. Bull., 3: 156- 
176. 
Merrifield, F. 
1890. Systematic ie epee Experiments on Some mor in 
All their Stages. Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1890, 131-160. 
Osborne, T. B., and Mendel, L. Be 
1914. py a Growth and the Capacity to Grow. Jour. Biol. 


Peairs, L. 
1914. pc Relation of Temperature to Insect Development. Jour. Ec. 
Ent., 7: 174-179. 
Pierce, W. D. 
1916. A New miei of the Relationships of Temperature aaa 
‘Humidity Insect Development. Jour. Agr. Research, 5: 
sprog, o 
Reibisch, J. 
1902. Ueber den Einfluss der Temperatur auf die entered be 
Fischeiern. Wiss, Meeresuntersuch., N. F., Abt, Kiel, 6: 


1908. Belntion of Temperature to the Hibernation of Insects, Jour. 
nt., 1: 56-6: 


é. : > 
19084. Distribution of Insects. Jour. Ec. Ent., 1: 245-262 
1910. Relation en eae pape to the Growth of Insects. Jod. Ec. 
Ent., 3: 113-140. 


Sanderson, E. D., end praia L. M. 
1913. Relation of Temperature to Insect Life. Tech. Bull. N. H. 


154 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST - [ Von. LIT 


Shelford, V. E. 
1911. Ecological Succession. I. Stream Fishes. Biol. Bull., 21: 8-35, 
1913, Animal Communities in Temperate America. Chicago. 
1915. Principles and Problems of Ecology as Illustrated by Animals. 
(British) Jour. of Ecology, 3: 1-23 
Semper, K. i ; 
1881. Animal Life, pp. 174-177; 444, New York. 
Shull, C. A 
1911; ‘The ae Minimum and the Germination of Xanthiwm Seeds. 
- Gaz., 52: 453-477. 


po C. = 
908. A’Comparative Study of the Temperature papas of the 
Velocities of Various Physiological Actions. Am. Jou r. Phys., 
9-334, 


1911. On the Meaning and Magnitude of Temperature Coefficients of 
hysiological Processes. Am. Jour. Phys., 28: 167-175, 
Good bibliography appended. 


Thomas, © 
1878-79. Influence of Meteorological Conditions on the rey et cng 
and Migration of Locusts. Second Rept. U. S. Ent. 
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Trouvelot, R 
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Yung, E 
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Williamson, Chas. 
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Fisheries Seu of Scotland, 27th Rept. for 


THE USES OF INSECT GALLS 
MARGARET M. FAGAN 


BrancH or Forest Insects, BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY, 
ASHINGTON, D. C. 


INTRODUCTION 


Tis paper, which is a contribution from the Branch 
of Forest Insects, Bureau of Entomology, is a summary of 
an extensive study of the literature dealing with the uses 
of insect galls. It was made primarily to obtain a his- 
tory of the use of the Aleppo gall in the dyeing industry. 
In the preparation of this paper I have been assisted by 
Mr. S. A. Rohwer under whose direction the research of 
the literature was made. 

For centuries before the real origin of insect galls was 
known, they were noted and given a place, like most other 
vegetable substances, among remedies for diseases. The 
ignorance of their origin gave rise to queer superstitions 
and practises even among scholars, especially in the 
Middle Ages, when they were gravely recorded as super- 
natural growths and employed as a means of foretelling 
the events of the coming year. The gall was supposed to 
contain a maggot, a fly, or a spider, each of which be- 
tokened some misfortune. If the inhabitant were a mag- 
got the coming year would bring famine, if a fly, war, or 
if a spider, pestilence. This belief was recorded and 
practised for several centuries, even after the time of 
Malpighi, who was the first in the Western World to dis- 
cover and make known the true origin of insect galls. 

The record of the practical use of galls has come down 
from the old physicians and naturalists of Greece and 
Rome. Their observations were confined chiefly to the 
Aleppo gall and the Bedeguar of the rose, but an interest- 
ing statement is found concerning two galls which were 
used by the Greeks to burn without oil in their lamps. 

155 


156 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIT 


These were Cynips theophrastea and an undetermined 
gall called by Pliny the black gall-nut. 

Until very recently in all histories of drugs, tanning, 
and dyeing, galls have been considered as of great im- 
portance, and at the present time are among the most 
valued ingredients of ink. The first use of galls was in 
medicine and many besides those discussed below have 
been listed as drugs. 

Among the Cynipids is the gall of field cirsium pro- 
duced by Cynips species (determined by Cuvier) which 
was formerly considered, if merely carried in the pocket, 
as a very efficacious remedy for hemorrhages. Others 
merely mentioned are (Cynips quercus-terminalis) = 
Biorhiza pallida, Cynips polycera, Cynips quercus-toze, 
Dryophanta quercus-folii, Andricus fecundatrix, and the 
undetermined galls called by Guibort, galle corniculée, 
galle marmorine, and galle d'Istrie. This last, according 
to Trimble, yields 24 per cent. tannic acid. 

Besides the Cynipid galls there is a gall on Pistachia 
khinjuk, called Gúl-i-pista, produced by Pemphigus pal- 
lidus, which enters into the materia medica of India. 
Two other Indian galls used in medicine are found. on 
Tamarix. One, called Bara-Mai, occurs on Tamariz gal- 
ica, and the other, Chota-Mai, occurs on Tamarix orien- 
talis. Another Tamarix gall said to have been used by 
the Egyptians in medicine is one called by them Cher- 
samel, and by the Turks, according to Fockeu, Bazgendge. 

To the Cynipids useful in tanning Kieffer has added 
Cynips lignicola and Cynips hungarica; and to those used 
in dyeing, (Cynips tinctoria-nostra) = Cynips infectoria 
Hartig. Cynips quercus-petioli Linneus, according to 
the Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1854, is also capable of form- 
ing a strong black dye, ) 

Burton in his journeys in East Africa noted a gall-nut 
which was used by the Somali women as the basis of their 
tattooing dye. This gall has not been determined, but 
the record is of interest as being the only one encoun- 
tered of a savage people’s making use of galls. 


No. 614] THE USES OF INSECT GALLS 157 


Another undetermined gall is that called by Pomet 
““Bazdyendge”” and described by him as a reddish gall 
on a species of oak in Turkey, which was used with cochi- 
neal and tartar to make a very fine scarlet. 

So far as can be ascertained no American galls were 
ever used for any practical purpose by the Indian (state- 
ment of Dr. Hough, U. S. National Museum), and but 
few by the white man. No interest appears to have been 
taken in this phase of gall history in America until 
Trimble, through his interest in the history of tannins, 
took up the question of tannic acid in galls and analyzed 
a few North American galls. He found that many of 
these galls contained relatively large amounts of tannin. 
He stated that there are more oaks in the United States 
than in Europe which are available for tanning, and that 
as the gall partakes of the character of its host-plant then 
there must necessarily be more oak galls in this country 
suitable for tanning. He also remarks that it is not 
known that all species of oak yield the same tannin, there- 
fore we may look for a variation in the properties and 
composition of the tannins from different species. 

Of the Cynipid galls examined by Trimble the richest | 
in tannin is one from Texas, on Quercus virens, closely 
resembling the Aleppo gall and containing 40 per cent. 
tannic acid. This has been identified by Mr. S. A. Rohwer 
as Disholcaspis cinerosa. Acraspis erinacei (determined 
by L. O. Howard) was found to contain 17.89 per cent. 
tannic acid and Disholcaspis globulus Fitch, 3.91 per cent. 

_A Dipterous gall on Quercus alba, determined by L. O. 
Howard as Cecidomyia or Diplosis species, contains, ac- 
cording to Trimble, 9.24 per cent. tannic when air-dried, 
and 31.68 per cent. when quickly dried by artificial heat 
at 80 degrees. 

A gall occurring on Rhus glabra, in many ways the 
counterpart of the Chinese gall, was found by Trimble 
to yield, when air-dried, 61.70 per cent. tannic acid which 
is about 8.3 per cent. less than the Chinese galls yield and 
about 3 per cent. less than the Aleppo. This has been 


158 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


identified by Mr. A. C. Baker as Melaphis rhois Fitch. 

Besides the American galls suggested by Trimble as 
being of possible use in the industries, a few have been 
recorded as food. 

The galls of Disholcaspis weldi (Beutenmiiller) which 
occur on Quercus reticulata in Mexico were purchased at 
a fruit stand in Mexico City. 

Oak-apple galls produced by Cynips spp. are eaten by 
school children, and some of them are said to be sweeter 
than sugar. 

The most important record on the use of American galls 
is a note by Dr. A. D. Hopkins on a black oak gall pro- 
duced possibly by Callirhytis sp. This gall, because of 
its resemblance to wheat, is called ‘‘black oak wheat’? 
and ‘‘wheat mass” (typographical error for mast!). 
Specimens of this gall were received from Westcott, Mo., 
with the information that they were very abundant intl 
had been fed to cattle, hogs, sheep, turkeys and chickens 
all of which were fond of them and were getting fat on 
them. These galls were also received from Texarkana, 
Ark., where they were used to fatten hogs. 

The following food analysis and report were made on 
these galls in the old Dendro-Chemical Laboratory, 
Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
under the direction of the late Dr. W. H. Krug: 


Per Cent. 


UR ed saa es be Is vasa ds eek Venue 12.24 
AE iE O A ays vee us Sau, 3.37 
Crude Eg o O e laces 9.34 
PA NI Oo rok 8.56 
hii AN 2.89 
alabiratal (Siaroh,. CHOY) cien des dde 63.60 


Relative food value = 93.43 
Nutritive ratio 4 


_ The relative food value is high and the nutritive ratio i is wide; showing 
that this material is especially adapted for fattening animals. 

1 Mast is used for nuts collectively, acorns, chestnuts, beechnuts, ete., 
- especially when used as food for hogs and other animals, 


No. 614] THE USES OF INSECT GALLS 159 


CyYNIPS GALLA-TINCTORIA Olivier 


The gall of Cynips galle-tinctorié Olivier, known in 
commerce as the Aleppo gall, Turkey gall, Levant gall, 
gall-nut, gall of commerce and ink marble, is found in 
eastern Europe, that is, in Hungary, Turkey and Greece, 
and in western Asia, on Quercus egilops, Quercus infec- 
toria, Quercus pedunculata and possibly Quercus humilis. 
This gall as an article of commerce has had the longest 
history, having been used from the time of the ancient 
Greeks to the present; has been used for the greatest va- 
riety of purposes; and has been considered as the richest 
of all the galls known to the Western World. 

Medicine.—The earliest use of this gall was in medicine 
in which capacity it was known to the Greeks and to the 
Romans. In Greece it was recorded as of medical value 
by Hippocrates in the fifth century B.c. and then by Theo- 
phrastus, third century B.c. Its use by the Romans was 
treated at some length by Pliny, who stated that twenty- 
three remedies were compounded of gall-nuts, and that 
among the diseases for which they were used were ulcera- 
tions of the mouth, affections of the gums and uvula, 
malformed nails, hang nails, etc., and that for the relief 
of toothache and burns the inner part of the gall should 
be chewed. 

From these early days until very recent times authors 
of Materia Medica have included this gall-nut as a drug, 
designating it as ‘‘the most powerful of vegetable strin- 
- gents.” In modern times it has been used in Europe as 
a cure for fevers and was especially popular in France 
early in the eighteenth century. At that time Poupart in 
Mem. Ac. Sci., 1702, made a report on it which proved it 
to be of doubtful efficacy. Nevertheless its use was con- 
tinued and as late as 1849 Pereira, in London, listed it as 
useful for medical purposes, recommending it as a tonic 
‘in intermittents, an astringent in hemorrhages, a chemical 
antidote, a topical astringent and giving a list of six 
medicines concocted from it. At the present time gall 


160 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


products are found in the British Pharmacopeia as as- 
tringent ointments and in the U. S. Pharmacopeia, 1916, 
ninth revision, the Aleppo gall still appears as the source 
of tannic acid and as the principal ingredient in the prep- 
aration Unguentum galle. Itis now used only externally. 

Ink.—In the manufacture of ink the Aleppo gall was 
long considered as a necessary ingredient, especially 
where a durable ink was required, as in court records. 
In some places the law required that records be made 
with ink compounded of gall-nuts. 

This use of the gall is not of such ancient origin as the 
medical use, for Pliny, who quotes the older authorities 
on other matters, has made mention only of the ink com- 
pounded of lampblack, which was used also by the 
Chinese. Hoefer in his ‘‘Histoire de la Chimie’’ spoke 
of an ink used in the third and fourth centuries a.D., com- 
pounded of acid and metal solution but failed to say that 
this acid was obtained from gall-nuts. The ink made 
from gall apple was, however, well known to the monks 
of the ninth and tenth centuries, who used it in copying 
their manuscripts. An interesting reference to the ink 
made from gall-nuts occurs in Scheffel’s ‘‘Ekkehard,’’ a 
romance of the tenth century, in which the monk Ekkehard 
says *. . . all ink comes from gall apples and all gall 
apples from a wicked wasp’s sting.” Of course, this is 
of interest only if the knowledge of the origin of the gall 
apple were part of the experience of the tenth-century 
monk and not supplied from the knowledge of the nine- 
teenth-century author. As the search to clear up this 
point would be long and arduous and the result of no real 
value it has not been made. 

From the ninth century down to the present day, gall- 
nuts have been included in practically every good ink 
recipe for black writing and record inks. The Aleppo 
gall is considered as the best for ink-making, but other 
important ones are the Morea gall, the Smyrna gall, Mar- 
mora gall and Istrian gall, and other good quality galls 


a 


No. 614] THE USES OF INSECT GALLS ‘161 


from France, Hungary, Italy, Senegal and Barbary. The 
Chinese and Japanese galls are also sometimes mentioned 
in recipes. The Japanese gall has been used in making 
school and other cheap inks. 

The Massachusetts Record Commission in 1891 made a 
Report on Record Inks and Paper in which the superiority 
of gall-nut ink was attested, The ink made from gall- 
nuts was said to be permanent, if properly made, and to 
have the advantage that if the writing should fade it 
could be repeatedly restored by a solution of nut-gall or 
tannin. Any other coloring matter substituted in whole 
or in part for gall-nut and iron solution impairs the qual- 
ity of the ink. 

In 1912, Oyster in the ‘‘Spatula Ink Formulary”” gives 
as the basis of the best black writing and record inks, gall- 
nuts. In the recipes for inks used by the United States 
Treasury, Bank of England, the German Chancellory, 
and the Danish Government the Aleppo gall is specified. 

Lehnen also states that nut-gall extract forms an ex- 
cellent material for the preparation of ink, especially 
where manufacturers can not keep large stocks of the 
nut-gall itself. According to the 1917 annual report of 
the Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter, large quantities of 
gall-nut extracts are imported into the United States. 
Of course, all of it may not be used for ink manufacture. 

Tanning.—Among tanning materials this gall-nut is the 
richest of all in the tanning principle and has been used, 
for tanning purposes, in the preparation of hides and 
skins, but because of its expense and its value to the tex- 
tile colorist it has not been extensively used. Experi- 
ments and analyses of these galls were undertaken, how- 
ever, with a view to discovering the tanning principle 
in vegetable matter. Pliny mentioned the preparation of 
leather as being one of the uses of gall-nuts, Bose re- 
corded galls as being used in the tanning of hides and 
Davis in 1897 spoke of them as being the richest in tannin 
of all tanning materials, but made no further mention of 


162 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


them in his descriptions of the processes of tanning. 
Other more recent writers on tanning materials have also 
listed oak galls, 

Dyeing.—In the history of the art of dyeing, the Aleppo 
gall figures largely from the earliest mention of the art 
in literature up to the very present. According to Theo- 
phrastus it was used by the Greeks in dyeing wool and 
woolen goods and Pliny mentioned it as being used to 
stain the hair black and as the best adapted for the prep- 
aration of leather and the dyeing of skins. As the an-. 
cients could not conceive of a scholar’s taking an active 
interest in the technical arts there is no record of how 
these galls were used, merely the statements that they 
were so used; and it was not until the end of the eighteenth 
century that any definite knowledge of these galls was 
sought. 

It was at that time, when science invaded nearly every 
field of endeavor, that the chemists made an earnest effort 
to determine the chemical contents and action of gall- 
nuts, so as to place the arts of dyeing and tanning on a 
firmer and more scientific basis. Déyeux in 1793 was the 
first to separate the tannin in the gall-nuts and his ex- 
periments were followed up by Scheele, to whom is ac- 
credited the discovery of gallic acid. Berthollet and 
Fourcroy made more detailed analyses of the gall-nuts 
and gave more positive knowledge of the various proper- 
ties and their chemical value. 

Berthollet in ‘‘The Elements of the Art of Dyeing”” 
gave perhaps the first scientific account of the art of dye- 
ing with full explanations of methods and materials. Ac- 
cording to his idea the great value of the Aleppo gall lay 
in its astringency and as it is most astringent before the 
insect escapes, the immature galls, or as they are called, 
the blue galls, are of the most value and are the ones used 
in dyeing black, while the white galls, or those from which 
the insect has escaped, are used in dyeing light linens. 
For the dyeing of black Berthollet considered that no 


No. 614] THE USES OF INSECT GALLS 163 


other astringent than an infusion of gall-nuts could be 
used in the dyeing bath, as too large a quantity of any 
other material would be necessary to obtain the same 
results. 

Bancroft, however, in his ‘‘Philosophy of Permanent 
Color,’’ 1813, opposed the idea that the astringency was 
the important property of the gall-nut and set forth the 
idea that it should be considered merely as a coloring 
matter. In defense of his theory he showed that tannin 
procured from different vegetable matter and combined 
with iron will not produce black, and gallice acid alone will 
not blacken solutions of iron, while either tannin or gallic 
acid from galls combined with iron forms a black dye 
or ink. 

At the present time both these theories are known to be 
true for the Aleppo gall may be used as a fixing agent in 
dyeing or may be used as the basis of a good black dye. 
As a dye its use appears to be confined to the dyeing of 
leather and of sealskin fur. 

In the dyeing of leathers and skins the Aleppo gall is 
used in small quantities with other dyeing materials to 
obtain the best and most permanent black. That the suc- 
cessful dyeing of leathers, however, is not dependent en- 
tirely upon a good dye is evident from the following state- 
ment on leather dyeing by Bennett, ‘‘Manufacture of 
Leather,’’ 1909: 


The absorption of the dye by the fiber has been considered a case of 
chemical action, of physical action and even as a case of “solid solu- 
tion,” but it is ibi probable that more than one type of action comes 
into play and that possibly all these theories may be true to a certain 
extent. It would, however, appear that with vegetable tannages the 
determining factor is the formation of color lakes with the tannin on the 
fiber. The tannins are of an acid nature and fix the basic dyes with 
great readiness, but the basic chrome-tanned leathers fix the basic dyes 
much less readily than the acid dyes, so it is clear that the nature of the 
tannage has considerable influence in the matter. 


For the dressing and dyeing of sealskin furs, large 
quantities of the Aleppo galls were formerly shipped to 


164 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


London, where all of our American sealskins were dressed 
and dyed for the market. Now, however, this industry 
has been established in the United States, and in 1914 
gall-nuts worth $17,174 were imported from Bagdad for 
this purpose. As the method of dyeing sealskins is a 
very jealously guarded trade secret the American firm 
engaged in this enterprise has had to work out its own 
processes, and according to the Commerce Reports this 
has been successfully accomplished and one sale of Amer- 
ican sealskins dressed and dyed in America has taken 
place, in St. Louis, in September, 1916. 

- Analysis.—A: gall so widely known and of such great 
value has of course been analyzed many times and is the 
standard for the analysis of others. According to Trimble 
the most generally accepted analysis is that made by 
Guibort, which is as follows: 


Per Cent. 


AS Te MMR ean i a ds mola bli Uat E 

CIMA GORE oe) oss y ee cee ew Sena eos eres 2 

Ellagic acid > 

Jem Pio das 

Chlorophyll and volatile oll .......ocomommomomonso 0.7 

Pronn ACTO. MAOT «re. be ey EUs uae + bees 2.5 

CE o ev eee een ween 2.5 

E sos oe tee ee. VEE T Leet 2 

Woods A A on a 10.5 

Sugar 7 Q 

Albumen 

Potassium sulphate 

Potassium gallate L............. Sy ere eee ee 1.3 

Gallate of lime 

Oxalate of lime 

Phosphate 

DÍLAR as be eee as n.5 
100.00 


Cynips Insana Westwood 
A gall somewhat resembling the Aleppo gall and often 
confused with it is that produced by Cynips insana West- 
wood. It is better known as the mad apple of Sodom, 
Dead Sea fruit, or Mecca or Bussorah gall, and is found 
in Palestine, Asia Minor, Albania and Italy on Quercus 


No. 614] THE USES OF INSECT GALLS 165 


infectoria, Quercus tauricola and Quercus farnetto (con- 
ferta). Its use is confined to the locality from which it 
takes one of its names, Bussorah or Basra. 

This gall has furnished an interesting and somewhat 
mystifying theme to poets and has been often discussed 
by old writers who have tried to connect this so-called 
fruit with some of the unknown fruits mentioned in the 
Bible. 

In Bussorah or Basra in Asia Minor, probably its native 
heath, this gall is used by the inhabitants in dyeing Tur- 
key red, and it is more esteemed by them than the Aleppo 
gall. 

Analysis.—The following analysis of this gall was made 
by Bley in 1853: 


Per Cent. 


Pantie Aoi led lice pias wie ture us ture gkko 26.00 
GRE ded or ee A ee 1.60 
VAL OU ec, aN Oe ee ee ee 0.60 
BOR is AA ee Le IEA ee Oe 3.40 
Extractive and sat Ce hel stoke re ee Ee! Bing 2.00 
EEE ep ERG o oe Ae O eae aie de 8.40 
TWO ORS A pale di ee ches Cue Cs ee 46.00 
Montte Ls ie AR ee Se Pei 12.00 
100.00 


CYNIPS QUERCUS-CALYCIS Burgsdorf 


The knoppern or acorn gall, also called the Piedmon- 
tese gall, and gall of Hungary, which is produced on 
Quercus egilops, Quercus pedunculata and occasionally 
on Quercus pubescens and Quercus sessiliflora, occurs in 
Austria, Hungary, Slavonia, Bosnia, Serbia, Greece, Asia 
Minor and less abundantly in Germany, Holland, France 
and Italy. Among the Cynipid galls it ranks next in im- 
portance to the Aleppo gall and has been almost as fre- 


quently discussed. 


In Austria it has been used chiefly by the tanners, but 
has also been substituted by dyers for the Aleppo gall. | 
This gall, like the Aleppo, is at its best before maturity 


‘and should be collected from August to October. 


166 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


At its height the Knoppern yields from 45 to 50 per 
cent. of tannin. 


Cynips KOLLARI Hartig 


The Devonshire gall is produced by Cynips kollari on 
Quercus avellane-formis, Quercus fastigiata, Quercus 
humilis, Quercus ilex, Quercus lusitanica and varieties, 
Quercus mirbeckii, Quercus mongolica, Quercus peduncu- 
lata and varieties, Quercus pubescens, Quercus pseudoegi- 
lops, Quercus rubra, Quercus sessiliflora, Quercus suber 
and Quercus toza. It occurs in middle and southern 
Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, and was introduced 
into England from the continent early in the nineteenth 
century. It attracted much attention because of its rapid 
spread, but the interest in it seems to have been confined 
to England, as no important reference to it has been found 
elsewhere. 

Attention was first drawn to this gall in England, when 
it became so abundant that the extermination of the oak 
forests seemed threatened by it. At that time, about 
1858, many notices concerning it appeared in which fear 
was expressed that it would do irreparable injury to the 
oaks. But the damage done by it was of no great moment 
and when the gall was studied it was found to have some 
tanning and dyeing properties, and to be useful in making 
an excellent ink. 

Many analyses were made of this gall in which varying 
amounts of tannin were accredited to it. The following 
was made in 1869 by Watson Smith: 


Per Cent 

TIM MU TI ie, 26.71 
Hale MOa A ol ea eee ee Traces only 

IOS GE A e ea es cos ee 47.88 

obaro ek eee A eee ees 20.61 

Coloring and TOM... cent cc et 4.80 

100.00 


RHopITES ROSA Linneus 
The Bedeguar of the rose, the gall produced by Rhodites 
rose Linnæus, occurs throughout Europe and in western 


No. 614] THE USES OF INSECT GALLS 167 


Asia on eighteen species of Rosa, and in North America 
on Rosa canina only. It was highly esteemed by the an- 
cients, but has received very little mention in more mod- 
ern times as being of any particular use to man. 

This gall was mentioned by Pliny as being among the 
most successful applications for the restoration of hair. 
For this purpose it had to be powdered and mixed with 
honey. In Italy it has been used, when powdered and 
laid on the affected parts, to cure the bite of venomous 
creatures. This use by the Italians may have grown out 
of the story related by Pliny that the mother of one of 
the pretorian guard had a dream, after her son had been 
bitten by a mad dog, in which she was directed to procure 
the little round balls at the root of the wild rose and apply 
them to the affected part. Cuvier has recorded the Bede- 
guar of the rose as among the remedies successfully used 
against diarrhea, dysentery, and cases of stones, scurvy 
and worms, and as late as 1868 the farmers near Harro- 
gate were known to gather the mossy galls of the rose to 
make an infusion for diarrhea in cows, for which they 
claimed to find it very successful. 


AuzLax sp. Riibsaamen 


The gall of the sage or ‘‘ Pomme de sauge”’ is produced 
by Aulas sp. Riibsaamen on Salvia pomifera and other 
species of Salvia in the Isle of Crete. 

The earliest available record of the use of these galls 
is that by Belon in 1558 in which he described them as 
being large as galls, covered with hair and sweet and 
pleasant to the taste. They were collected at the be- 
ginning of May and sold by the people of Candie to neigh- 
boring villagers. Olivier stated that ‘‘they are esteemed 
in the Levant for their aromatic and acid flavor, espe- 
cially when prepared with honey and sugar, and form a 
considerable article of commerce from Scio to Constanti- 
nople, where they are regularly exposed in the market.’’ 


168 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


Fockeu in 1897 mentions having found these galls in 
the East but states that to-day the old common name, 
Baisonge, is unknown and that the people of the country 
when questioned concerning them said that they had never 
noticed their existence and expressed doubt of their ever 
having been used for food, or in making confections. 

This name ‘‘ Baisonge’’ was not used by either Belon or 
Olivier for the gall of the sage, but has been used by 
Cuvier to designate a terebinthe gall from Syria. 


AULAX GLECHOMZ Linnzeus 


Another Cynipid gall which has been used as food is 
the gall of the ground ivy made by 4Aulax glechome on 
Glechoma hederacea L. It occurs in Lorraine and 
Sweden. 

This gall was used in France as food and is said to have 
an agreeable taste and the sweet odor of the host-plant. 


CHINESE Oak GALL 


An unidentified oak gall, said to closely resemble the 
European gall, is one which was recorded in Pen T*Sau 
as Woo-shih-tsze. 

The following translation of the note concerning it has 
been published by Pereira (Pharm. Journ., Vol. 3, 1844, 
pp. 384-7): 


Woo-shih-tsze also comes from the West, and from India. The tree 
is said to be sixty or seventy eubits high and eight or nine cubits in 
circumference, and grows in sandy and stony places. It is compared 

. to the camphire tree. It flowers in the third moon; the flower is 
white: and rather red in the center. The bud formed is round like a 
ball; at first green—when ripe, yellowish. An insect eats into it and 
forms a hole in it. They say that the tree one year produces the Woo- 
shih-tsze, and another year produces something which resembles a 
ehestnut. 

Another name is Whi-ztsip-tsze. It has various medicinal properties. 
‘It is used with some other ingredients for dyeing beards black. 

The taste of the Woo-pei-tsze is, according to them, a sour, saltish 
taste—of the Woo-shih-tsze, a bitter taste. 


No. 614] THE USES OF INSECT GALLS 169 


In the Materia Medica of China (Smith, 1871, p. 100) 
it is called ‘‘food for the foodless’’ and is recommended 
for medicinal use. It is said to differ little from those of 
the European market and to have been used formerly in 
making ink and in dyeing hair. 

As this gall is described by the Chinese as coming from 
the ‘‘ West’’ could it possibly be the Aleppo gall, the dis- 
tribution of which is eastern Europe and western Asia? 


SCHLECHTENDALIA CHINENSIS (Bell) 


Besides the Cynipid galls many others have been re- 
corded as of use to man. Most of them are merely in- 
cluded in the native Materia Medica of China and India, 
but a few have had other uses. 

The most important of these galls is the Chinese gall or 
Woo-pei-tsze, produced by Schlechtendalia chinensis on 
Rhus semialata, in northern India, China and Japan. It 
has been known and used by the Chinese for many cen- 
turies, perhaps even longer than the Aleppo gall has been 
known in the West. It rivals the Aleppo gall in im- 
portance and like the latter is still an important article 
of commerce. 

The Chinese gall has been used in medicine, tanning, 
and dyeing, and is now imported into Germany and the 
United States for the manufacture of tannic acid, of 
which it yields about 70 per cent. As this gall has been 
fully treated in a paper by A. C. Baker, which has been 
submitted for publication it is unnecessary to give details 
here. 

Cuermes sp. (Baker) 


The gall identified by Kirby and Spence as that of 
Aphis pini has been identified by Mr. A. C. Baker as 
Chermes sp., possibly Chermes lapponicus Chol, possibly 
some other. It occurs on spruce-fir in Lapland. 

Linneus states that this gall was used as food, and 


170 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vor. LIL 


ha $ » 
Kirby and Spence suggested it as a possible dyeing ma- 
terial. Linnweus's description of it is as follows: 
The extremities of the branches of the spruce-fir bear small yellow 


cones. . . . When arrived at maturity they burst asunder and discharge 
an orange-colored powder which stains the clothes of those who ap- 


` proach the tree. I conceive these exerescences to be caused by some 


minute insects. The common people eat them raw as a dainty, like 
berries. 

It was probably the reference to the orange-colored 
powder staining the clothes which led Kirby and Spence 
to suggest that this gall might be placed among dyeing 
materials. 


PEMPHIGUS CORNICULARIS 


The gall of Pemphigus cornicularis, called in India, 
Kakra-Singhee, in Syria, Baizonge, and in Europe, gall 
of the terebinth, occurs in southern Europe and Turkey, 
in Spain, Syria, China and India. 

In India this gall is used in medicine by the natives who 
assign to it great astringent and tonic properties. 

The Hindus have also used it, to a limited extent, in 
dyeing. 

In Thrace and Macedonia Belon recorded it as being 
collected at the end of June, while still immature, and 
sold at high prices to the inhabitants of Bource, who used 
it in coloring fine silks. In Spain, Syria and China it 
was used as an ingredient in making scarlet dye. 


ALDACAY GALLS 


Galls called Aldacay or Caducay galls were recorded 
by Roxburgh in 1805 as occurring on the leaves of Mimosa 
arabica on the coast of Coromandel. Kirby and, Spence 
in speaking of this gall called the host-plant Terminalia 
citrina. 

These galls were said to have been among the most 
valued of the native dyeing materials and to have been 
sold in every market. The natives dyed their best and 


No. 614] THE USES OF INSECT GALLS 171 


most durable yellow with them, and they were also used 
by the chintz painters for their yellows. When mixed 
with ferruginous mud a strong black dye was obtained. 

The astringent properties of these galls were evidently 
stronger than those of the fruit of the tree, as an ink made 
from the galls resisted the weather longer than that 
made from the fruit. — 

Roxburgh did not identify these galls, but suggested 
that they might be the ‘‘Faba bengalensis” of the old 
Materia Medica writers. The ‘‘Faba bengalensis’’ ac- 
cording to Bosc is the fruit of the Myrobolan citrin altered 
in its form by the puncture of an insect, but no dyeing 
properties are ascribed to it. As no further reference 
to these galls has been found they are still undetermined. 


SuMMARY 


The important uses of galls have been in medicine, the 
manufacture of ink, tanning and dyeing, with a few ref- 
erences to their use as food, and one to their use as fuel. 

In medicine the following galls have been used: An- 
dricus fecundatrix Hartig, Cynips sp. Cuvier on field 
cirsium, Cynips galle-tinctorie Olivier, Cynips polycera 
Giraud, Cynips quercus-foliíi Linneus (Cynips quercus- 
terminalis) = Biorhiza pallida Olivier, Cynips quercus- 
toze Bose, Pemphigus cornicularis, Pemphigus pallidus, 
Rhodites rose Linneus, Schlechtendalia chinensis (Bell) 
and the undetermined ones: Chinese oak gall, Istrian gall, 
Marmora gall, galle corniculée, and Bazgendge (Fockeu) 
or Chersamel on Tamariz. 

In the manufacture of ink the galls used are: Cynips 
galle-tinctorie Olivier, Cynips kollari Hartig, Schlechten- 
dalia chinensis (Bell), the Aldacay or Caducay galls, the 
Istrian, Marmora, Morea and Smyrna galls and others 
from France, Italy, Hungary, Senegal and Barbary. 

For tanning the following have been found useful: 
Cynips galle-tinctoria Olivier, Cynips hungarica Hartig, 
Cynips insana Westwood, Cynips kollari Hartig, Cynips 


172 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


lignicola Hartig, Cynips quercus-calycis Burgsdorf and 
Schlechtendalia chinensis (Bell). 

For use in dyeing have been recorded: Cynips galle- 
tinctorie Olivier (Cymips tinctoria-nostra) = Cynips in- 
fectoria Hartig, Cynips insana Westwood, Cynips kollari 
Hartig, Cynips quercus-calycis Burgsdorf, Cynips quer- 
cus-petioli Linneus, Pemphigus cornicularis, Schlechten- 
dalia chinensis, possibly Chermes sp. Baker, and the un- 
determined galls, Aldacay or Caducay galls, the gall-nut 
used by the Somali women for a tattooing dye, Baizonge 
Cuvier and Bazdyendge Pomet. 

As food, only a few galls have been used: Aulax sp. 
Rúbsaamen or Baisonge Fockeu, Aulas glechome, Cynips 
spp. Girault, Disholcaspis weldi (Beutenmiiller), Cal- 
lirhytis sp.? Hopkins, Chermes sp. Baker and Schlechten- 
dalia chinensis. In the case of the last named the gall 
itself is not eaten but the powder found on the outside is 
used for seasoning soup. 

As fuel for lamps the Greeks used Cynips theophrastea 
and an undetermined gall called by Pliny the eae 
nut. 


Common Names or Insect GaLLs 


In the following list of the common names of the insect 
galls which have been of any practical use, will be found 
a number of names for the gall of Cynips galle-tinctorie 
and several for that of Schlechtendalia chinensis. To 
avoid confusion I would suggest that for the former the 
name Aleppo gall be adopted, and for the latter the 
name Chinese gall, as it is under these names that they 
are designated in the commerce reports, in some of the 
trade journals and in the technical works on dyeing, tan- 
ning and ink manufacture. 


eoru alt, eo Cynips quercus-calycis Burgsdorf 
Aloppo WAU a cla. cok ce nN Cynips galle-tinctoria Olivier 
Baisonge Foekeu ..... avi.. o.. Aulaz sp. Rübsaamen 

Haizonge OCavier 0 apiu.. Pemphigus cornicularis 


Bara Mai ... : Hindu name of a gall on Tamariz gallica 


t 


No. 614] THE USES OF INSECT GALLS 173 


Bazdyendge Pomet ...........ooo Turkish name for a gall on oak 
Bazgendge Fockeu ............. ide name for a gall on Tamariz 
entalis 
Bedequar of the rose ........... odias rose nS ame 
Black gall-nut Pliny ............ Undeter 
DCR ORR WHERE n.n. RESTA, Canivnytie ts Hopkins 
DUDA gal: pes i ae Cynips insana Westwood 
Reread Sy ee ee. os. a Egyptian name for nese, jo (q.v.) 
Chines palace A Schlechtendalia chinensis Bel 
goleo (pear gallo ¿Ei oi pea pao ball 
Gho MAP. A du a gall on Tamariz ori- 
ntalis 
WOME TOR SPO MOS ON, cee Culpa de insana Westwood 
Devonshire... gal evi dd ssw spans Cynips kollari Hartig 
Fruits for the foodless .......... A Chinese oak 
Faba Dengatensta® cock. Es A gall on Terminalia chebula 
prob pia ve Cynips galle-tinctorie Olivier 
Gall a field eirsium ....o...o.oo. Cynips - Cuvier 
Gall of wage A ee AO Aulax sp. Riibsaamen 
Gall = Mimosa arabica Roxburgh . sae schol is 
Gallapo -o i ova ks Rare ee are s galle- eia Olivier 
Gai-nnt Borton oaeee Pc ithe e abl 
Galle PLATO 00% Fa ok Cynips kollari 
Palle’ OW APURADO S00 fo ee ndricus fecundatriz Hartig 
ENA corniculée Guibort ........ Undeterminable 
PRR oes ic eae bea ves ow emphigus pallidus 
hort A A Cynips quercus-calycis ae age 
TOE MANOS Ee ees Cynips mas gaara Olivi 
IA UL a a SS ndeter 
Japanese pall ii ri Schle chtendalia chinensis Bell 
togha PO oo ee emphigus culari 
eet ECT es Cue ee aes nips rcus- ous calycia ag 
Levant palb o.oo. eH e Cynips galle-tinct 
Mad pla Or Sodom La. o. Cynips insana Westwoo 
Marmora ME E o Undetermina 
ecca a ower ys na Westwood 
NUM Fes ue ck, eed en ee ue es Cynips galle-tinctorie Olivier 
Nntgal ERA PATS Schlechtendalia chinensis Bell 
Oak aprio, uc rr Andricus quercus-californicus 
Dulcapple galls i. ccs .Cynips spp. Girault 
Oriental Gall A Cynips galle-tinctorie Olivier 
Piedmontese gall ............... Cynips quercus-calycis Burgsdorf 
omme de chene Guibort ........ Undeterminable 
Small crown gall of Aleppo ...... Cynips polycera Giraud 
Bomrät-úlanl Lu Arabic name for Chota Mai (q.v.) 
a A ne name for Bara Mai (q.v.) 
Turkey, gall ... ces coe beeen ene Cyn alle-tinctorie Olivi 
Wheat mass [Mast] ...........- cary sp.? Hopkins 


[Mast] 
Whip-ztsip-tze and Woo-shih-tsze .. A Chinese gall on 
Wü-peitssó ads bees eee okas chinensis (Bell) 


174 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


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Supplement to Commerce Reports, 1915, U. S. 
Toothaker, C. R. Commercial Raw Materials. Philadelphia, 1905. 
Trimble, Henry. Some American Galls. Am. Journ. Pharm., 1890, p. 563. 


176 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


ip Henry. The Tannins. Philadelphia, 1892. 
U.S armacopoeia, 9th Revision, 1916. 
Dai English Ink Galls. Pharm. Journ., 2d ser., Vol. 4, London, 
862-3, 20. 
Virey, J. J. Histoire Naturelle des galles des végétaux, et des insectes qui 
les produisent. Journ. Pharm. et Sci. Access., Vol. 6, Paris, 1820, pp 
161-169, 


Vogl, A. Ueber Tamarisken-Gallen. Lotos, Prag, Vol. 25, 1875, pp. 133- 
136. 


Waring, E. J. Pharmacopeia of India. London, 1868, pp. 209-213; Ap- 
pendix, p. 463. 
Waring, E. J. Remarks on Some of the Use . Bazaar Medicines and 
Common Medical Plants of India. London, 1874, p. 51. 


THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST 


Vor. LIT. April-May, 1918 Nos. 616-617 


CONTINUOUS AND DISCONTINUOUS VARIA- 
TIONS AND THEIR INHERITANCE IN 
PEROMYSCUS 


DR. F. B. SUMNER 


SCRIPPS INSTITUTION, La JOLLA, CALIF. 


I. [INTRODUCTION 


Many of the views which we are now accustomed to 
associate with the names of Weismann, Bateson, DeVries, 
Nilsson-Ehle and others were either foreshadowed or 
clearly formulated by Francis Galton, many years earlier. 
Galton’s polygon, by which he illustrated the difference 
between continuous and discontinuous variations, is 
doubtless known to most readers; as is also his distine- 
tion between ‘‘blended’’ and ‘‘particulate’’ inheritance. 
It is less familiar, perhaps, that Galton regarded all in- 
heritance as ‘‘largely, if not wholly, ‘particulate.’ ’’ Even 
skin color, the classic example of blended inheritance in 
man, is presumably ‘‘none the less ‘particulate’ in its 
origin, but the result may be regarded as a fine mosaic 
too minute for its elements to be distinguished in a gen- 
eral view.” Again, ‘‘the blending in stature is due to 
its being the aggregate of the quasi-independent inheri- 
tances of many separate parts’’ (1889, p. 139). 

Galton did not deny all heritability to those variations 
which were represented by the minor oscillations of his 
polygon, although he refers to such variations as ‘‘un- 
stable.’’ 

With the modern revival of Mendel’s principles of 

177 


178 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


heredity and the definite formulation of a ‘‘mutation 
theory” of evolution, some of Galton’s more or less tenta- 
tive views have crystallized into dogmas. Along with the 
two just mentioned, there has been incorporated the prin- 
ciple of the ‘‘continuity of the germ-plasm,’’ a conception 
which was likewise first clearly formulated by the great 
English geneticist, though its modern expression we owe 
to Weismann. 

These various hypotheses have been woven together 
into a single fabric and made to reinforce one another. 
It will hardly be denied that some rather flimsy reason- 
ing has been employed at times by those here concerned. 
Thus one familiar syllogism runs somewhat as follows: 
Somatic modifications are not inherited; fluctuating varia- 
tions are not inherited; therefore fluctuating variations 
are somatic modifications. Indeed, ‘‘somatie’’ and ‘‘non- 
hereditary’? have come to be used interchangeably by 
many writers. Whether or not somatic modifications 
ever become germinal is a matter to be settled by evi- 
dence. But I must confess that I have never regarded 
as self-evident the contention that because characters are 
found to be ‘‘non-hereditary’’ they are, ipso facto, ‘‘so- 
matic’’ in origin. 

A certain sanctity and inviolability has come to be at- 
tached to the units of heredity or ‘‘genes,’’ according to 
the neo-Mendelian creed. Not only do these units refrain 
from any degree of blending, but—save for occasional 
mysterious ‘‘mutations’’—they are quantitatively and 
qualitatively unchangeable. Thus, the only differences 
upon which selection, natural or artificial, can act are dif- 
ferences due to the presence or absence of different 
genetic factors. ‘‘We know,” say the Hagedoorns, in an 
article (1917) which is typical of much of the recent lit- 
erature of heredity, ‘‘that all the different genes, all the 
different inherited factors ... are each in themselves 
invariable. . . . Liability to chasse by selection is synon- 
ymous with genotypic variability, and this true variability 
o synonymous with impurity.” < 


No. 615] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 179 


Much dialectic skill has been displayed in maintaining 
this set of opinions against the many facts which seem 
directly to refute them. Indeed, it must be conceded that - 
a fairly consistent and logical edifice has been erected 
upon these foundations. Strictly logical, though often- 
times improbable interpretations have been given to each 
new volley of hostile data, until the fortress has begun 
to seem impregnable—at least to a frontal attack. 

But perhaps, of late, another metaphor has come to suit 
the situation better—that of the two knights fighting on 
opposite sides of the same shield. The Mendelians have~ 
recently had recourse to more and more minute factorial 
differences in explaining certain lesser gradations of 
color in some of their material, until at length the dis- 
tinction between their opponent’s s ““contimuity” and their 
own ‘discontinuity ”’ is more imaginary than real. 
Water is a continuous medium for all the ordinary pur- 
poses of life, and solutions of different substances may 
be completely ‘‘blended’’ therein. Its resolution into 
hypothetical molecules, atoms, electrons and the like does 
not in the least affect these fundamental facts. 

The publication of the data which I offer in the present 
paper confessedly does not constitute a ‘‘frontal attack” 
upon the multiple factor hypothesis. My results belong 
to a class of facts which have already figured extensively 
in this controversy, and which have been met by ingeni- 
ous and plausible counter-arguments. As I have stated 
elsewhere, I am led to doubt very seriously whether any 
concewable evidence could be brought forward which 
would be admitted by the more extreme neo-Mendelians 
to be really damaging to their position. As in so many 
other cases, the victory is to be won, if at all, through 
a process of ‘‘attrition.’’ Positions are gradually aban- 
doned which are never disproved in a logical sense. In- 
deed, as hinted, above, there are clear signs that the 
defenders of the ‘‘multiple factor’’ explanation of selec- 
tion and blended inheritance are already retiring from 
their main positions. 


‘ome 


180 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


Il. The DISTRIBUTION OF SUBSPECIES 


The term subspecies, as here employed, is nearly equiva- 
` lent to geographic race. These subdivisions of a species 
occupy different, though often contiguous areas. When 
contiguous, they are said to intergrade completely with 
one another along the boundaries of their respective 
territories; and in any case, their ranges of variation 
overlap broadly. It is this fact, indeed, which leads to 
their being ranked as subspecies, rather than as distinct 
species, since the differences between some of the more 
widely separated among them would be quite sufficient. 
to give them specific rank were there no connecting forms. 
In such reports as those of Osgood on Peromyscus 
(1909), Nelson on the rabbits (1909), or Goldman on Neo- 
toma (1910), the geographic ranges of certain species are 
seen to be divided up into what look like quite arbitrary 
subdivisions, corresponding to the ranges of the compo- 
nent subspecies. The boundaries between these subdi- 
visions oftentimes follow certain natural barriers, but in 
some instances this does not appear to be true. And, in 
any case, it is doubtful whether any geographic barrier, 
save a continuous body of water or a lofty and unbroken 
range of mountains could prevent the free diffusion of such 
rodents. These minor areas, furthermore, frequently com- 
prise territory having a very wide diversity of physical 
conditions. For example, Peromyscus maniculatus gam- 
beli is represented as ranging from the foggy coastal area 
of central and southern California across the hot, semi- 
arid San Joaquin Valley to the snowy heights of the 
. Sierra Nevada. And in latitude, its range is said to ex- 
- tend roughly from the 31st to the 48th parallel. 
According to Osgood, 
Specimens from Monterey, the type locality, are absolutely identical 
with those from San Diego and the northeast coast of Lower California, 
and the intervening region is inhabited exactly the same form. 
These, moreover, are like specimens from . . . the west slope of the 
Sierra (p. 69). 


We might well be puzzled to discover any common ele- 


= 


No. 615] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 181 


ments of the physical environment which were responsi- 
ble for the presence of the same subspecies under such 
widely divergent conditions of life. Particularly is this 
true when the environmental differences, as in the present 
case, far exceed those between the habitats of certain 
quite distinct subspecies. 

Nor does the contention seem justified that- such ex- 
tensity in the distribution of a single subspecies is fully 
accounted for by the absence of any insurmountable bar- 
riers to its dispersal. So far as geographic features are 
concerned, the barriers between the range of gambeli and 
the ranges of certain neighboring subspecies seem to be 
no greater than some of those which traverse the terri- 
tory of gambeli itself. Looking at the distribution maps | 
in such publications as those just mentioned, one is im- 
pressed by a seeming analogy between the boundaries of 
these various subspecific ranges and those of the political 
subdivisions of the earth’s surface. In considerable de- 
gree these last are bounded by geographic features, but to 
a large extent, also, the lines of demarcation seem to be 
drawn quite arbitrarily—the territories merely bound 
one another. 

While great weight must be given to the findings of 
these taxonomic experts, I think it is our duty at present 
to accept certain of their conclusions with considerable 
reservation. This is particularly true of assertions as 
to the absolute identity of the characters of specimens 
from widely different parts of a given range. The pub- 
lished data make it plain that the authors are in no posi- 
tion to detect minor differences of a statistical nature. A 
small number of specimens from each locality are com- 
monly compared, the measurements ‘‘in the flesh’’ of the 
various specimens necessarily having been made by a 
number of different collectors. It will be evident from 
the ensuing pages that the differences with which we are 
dealing are often of such a nature as to be revealed only 
by the comparison of large numbers of individuals, meas- 
ured according to uniform standards. As regards the 


182 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


latter point, tests which I have made of the standards of 
measurement employed by several competent collectors 
show clearly that the differences due to ‘‘personal equa- 
tion’’ are sometimes at least as great as those which char- 
acterize quite distinct local races. _ 

Accordingly, we might feel justified a priori in enter- 
taining some skepticism as to the homogeneity of these 
races of animals throughout such great areas. Further- 
more, I already have a certain amount of direct evidence 
which renders this contention improbable. Such evidence 
will be considered later. 

-An extremely desirable undertaking would be to run a 
series of trapping stations through the territories of two 


A B 
= E 7 
E a 


Fie. 1. 


adjacent subspecies, at right angles to the supposed line 
of demarcation. This the author hopes to do in the 
course of time, though the task is not as simple as might 
perhaps be anticipated. Theoretically, a number of pos- 
sible conditions might be revealed by such an investi- 
gation. 

| In the first place, it might be found (Fig. 1) that each 
of the two races was, in reality, ‘‘absolutely identical’’ 


A B 


Sars a A a 


Fie. 2. 


throughout its own range, while the transition between 
the two might be fairly abrupt. 

| Secondly, there might be an unbroken intergradation, 
in respect to the differential characters, throughout the 


No. 615] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 183 


entire ranges of both the races (Fig. 2). In this case 
there would be no real boundary between the two groups, 
and indeed the recognition of two subspecies, rather than 
one or three, would be quite an arbitrary procedure. 

Finally, there might be a condition, less easy to repre- | 
sent by diagrams, in which neither race was completely 
homogeneous, each being subject to considerable local 
variation within its own territory. Such local differences 
might or might not tend to be graduated as indicated in 
Fig. 2. Or, there might be some degree of gradation with 
respect to certain characters (e. g., pigmentation), but 
not with respect to others (e. g., length of appendages). 
In such circumstances, the recognition of two ‘‘subspe- 
cies’’ would depend upon the fact that the population of 
each of the respective territories was relatively uniform, 
and the changes encountered at the boundary relatively 
abrupt. á 

I am not yet in a position to say with certainty which of 
these possibilities is realized in the case of the species with 
which I am dealing (Peromyscus maniculatus), but I 
already have some strong evidence that the third one most 
nearly represents the actual state of arairs. As regards 
depth of pigmentation, we certainly find something -ap- 
proaching a graded series as we pass from the interior 
desert regions of California toward the coast, or as we 
pass from the coast of southern California, northward 
into successively more humid regions, as far as Alaska. 
But here we are dealing with a number of ‘‘subspecies.”’’ 
I have grounds for believing, however, that similar gra- 
dations occur within areas conventionally assigned to 
single subspecies. 

Other questions of high theoretic importance relate to 
the nature of the animals inhabiting the so-called ‘‘areas 
of intergradation.’’ Does this intermediate population 
manifest a complete blending of all the subspecific char- 
acters, or does it consist of a mixture of individuals, sev- 
erally exhibiting the respective racial characters in a 
fairly pure state, or may there be a mosaic condition more 


184 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vor. LIT 


directly suggestive of Mendelian segregation? <A defi- 
nite answer to these questions I am likewise obliged to 
defer for the present. 

Truly representative collections have been made by me 
thus far at only four stations within the State of Cali- 
fornia, though various other points have been visited 
and considerable numbers of the mice have been trapped 
there. My four principal collecting stations are located 
near Eureka, Berkeley, La Jolla and Victorville.! Me- 
teorological records were kept for about two years at 
each of these points. These records have not thus far 
been carefully analyzed, however, so that their publica- 
tion must be postponed. A preliminary comparison of 
climatic conditions at these four points has already been 
made (Sumner, 1915a). It will suffice, for present pur- 
poses, to state that, as regards both atmospheric humid- 
ity and rainfall, these stations rank (from highest to low- 
est) in the order given above, t. e., Eureka, Berkeley, La 
Jolla and Victorville; while as regards mean annual tem- 
perature the reverse order holds. 

The distribution of the three subspecies of Peromyscus 
maniculatus, recognized by Osgood as occurring within 
the limits of California, is represented in Fig. 3. It will 
be seen that one of my stations (Eureka) lies within the 
range of rubidus, another (Victorville) within the range 
of sonoriensis, while the other two (Berkeley and La 
Jolla) lie within the range attributed to gambeli. 

In the ensuing pages, I am not in the least concerned 
with characterizing and defining those taxonomic groups 
which have been called Peromyscus maniculatus gambeli, 
rubidus and sonoriensis. I shall merely discuss the dif- 
ferences between (and within) four representative collec- 
tions taken by me in widely separated and elimatically 
different regions of the state. The question as to what 
“subspecies”? a given mouse ‘‘belongs to’’ is pior my pur- 
poses a distinctly minor consideration. 


1 Four other stations have been added since the present paper was writ- 
ten, but the data derived from these can not be included here. 


No. 615] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 185 


DISTRIBUTION MAP 
MUSEUM OF VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 


sam 
ing that of poser the Nentes st that of s onortensie. Supposed areas of inter- 
gradation between two races are indicated > dotted lines. 


186 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


III. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE Four Loca Races UNDER 
CONSIDERATION? 


These differences may be divided, for the sake of con- 
venience, into pigmental and structural ones. Since the 
former are the most obvious, they will be discussed first. 


1. Pigmental Differences 

The pigmental differences relate to (1) the hair, (2) 
the skin. 

Hair.—Like the other members of the genus Peromys- 
cus, the mice of the present group are covered with pig- 
mented hairs upon the dorsal and lateral surfaces, while 
the ventral surface and to a large extent the feet are cov- 
ered with white hair. Upon the trunk these white hairs 
are, to be sure, devoid of pigment only at the distal ends. 
Parting the pelage at any point, dorsal, ventral or lateral, 
_ reveals the presence of a slate-colored basal zone in each 
hair. 

The most obvious differences between the races under 
consideration relate to the dorsal coat color (Fig. 4). 
This is darkest in the animals from the humid redwood 
district (Eureka), palest in those from the Mojave Desert 
(Victorville), and of an intermediate hue in the collec- 
tions from Berkeley and La Jolla. These last two races 
likewise differ from one another, the former being darker 
than the latter. Thus we have a series of four grada- 
tions, which are correlated directly with gradations in 
the rainfall and atmospheric humidity of their respective 
habitats. 

It is important to notice, however, that these differences 
of shade relate rather to averages than to individual cases. 
All of the Eureka mice are not darker than all of the 
Berkeley mice. Nor are all of the Berkeley mice darker 
than all of the La Jolla mice, nor all of the latter darker 
than all of those from Victorville. In comparing repre- 
2] here use the word “race”? as being a non-committal term, elastic 
enough to cover r two collections of individuals which show significant 


x differences of type 


Wie. 4, Skins of male adult wild specimens of the Eureka, Berkeley, La Jolla and Victorville races 
‘named. The skins have been selected with a view to showing the average shade of each series 


of Peromyscus maniculatus, in 


order 


[ST9 ‘ON 


SAISAWOUAd NI AONVITIAAHNI 


LST 


188 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIL 


sentative collections of any two adjacent races belonging 
to this series, there is found to be a broad zone of over- 
lapping. That is to say, there are many individuals in 
each set which, so far as color goes, could be equally well 
placed in either. I have, for example, laid out in par- 
allel rows considerable numbers of sonoriensis and the 
La Jolla form of gambeli, and found that the darker half 
of the former set completely overlapped the paler half of 
the latter. While no confusion would be possible between 
the paler sonoriensis and the darker gambeli, there were 
a large number of specimens which could only arbitrarily 
be assigned to either ‘‘subspecies.’’ Indeed, it is freely 
admitted by systematists that in many cases they can 
assign a given specimen to its proper subspecies only if 
they know the locality at which it was trapped. No such 
confusion would be possible, however, between the more 
divergent races of our series, e. g., those from Eureka 
and the desert. I have never seen a rubidus which could 
not, by color alone, be readily distinguished from sonori- 
ensis and vice versa. 

Any attempt to give verbal equivalents for these color 
differences is highly unsatisfactory. In a later report I 
expect to undertake the analysis of these shades by means 
of a color wheel. For the present I will content myself 
— with a very brief statement. The dorsal darker stripe 
of the Eureka mice is of a shade lying somewhere be- 
tween Ridgway’s ‘‘sepia’’ and black, the paler lateral 
region lying between ‘‘Saccardo’s umber’’ and ‘‘sepia.’’* 

3 The ensuing remarks apply only to the mature pelage. These mice pass 
through three distinct pelage phases: (1) the juvenal, which, in all races, is 
neutral gray in hue, and considerably darker than the adult shade; (2) the 
post-juvenal or adolescent, commonly paler and yellower than the last; (3) 
the mature or adult pelage, which is still more highly colored and frequently 
of still paler shade. The first molt occurs some time durin ng fee second 
month after birth, the second some time between the age of six months and 
a year. The various races of mice here considered, and even ng mutants, 
are probably as clearly distinguishable in the immature pelages as they are 


4 See o. 1912, ‘‘Dresden brown’’ and ‘‘mummy brown’’ perhaps 
approximate the shades in question as well as the last two mentioned. 


No. 615] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 189 


Since the coat color is at no point homogeneous, any such 
comparison with nd tinted paper is of course very 
crude. 

The desert mice are of a hue which can not even ap- 
proximately be represented by reference to Ridgway’s 
‘<color standards.’’ The effect is probably not far from 
that which would result from a mixture of fine streaks of 
black and of ‘‘ochraceous buff’’ or ‘‘cinnamon buff,’’ so 
proportioned as to approximate the general hue of the 
barren soil. As in all of these races, the mid-dorsal pel- 
age is commonly darker than the lateral. All that need 
be said of the two collections of ‘‘gambeli’’ is that they 
are intermediate between the extreme types just re- 
ferred to. 

As a special case of the general hair color of the body, 
though not entirely correlated with this, is to be men- 
tioned the color of the ‘‘ankle’’ region. The latter, par- 
ticularly on its ectal surface, is covered with very short 
pigmented hairs, whose depth of shade affords another 
feature distinguishing the average condition of these four 
races. 

I have given considerable attention to a microscopical 
examination of the hairs of these various mice. In posi- 
tion the pigment is of two different sorts, axial and super- 
ficial, located in the medulla and cortex respectively. 
A series of more or less disc-shaped, black pigment 
bodies extend from the base of each hair throughout 
the whole, or a considerable part, of its length. In the 
stouter hairs, there are, in the expanded region, two to 
four longitudinal rows of these bodies. In all cases, they 
alternate regularly with air spaces. 

Tn the all-black hairs, the black pigment extends very 
nearly to the extreme tip. In the banded hairs, a region 
of varying length occurs in the distal half, in which the 
black pigment gives place to yellow. The dark pigment 
does not end abruptly, however. The dense black bodies 
become fragmented into their component rounded gran- 
ules, as we pass from one segment to another, first giving 


190 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vor. LIT 


way to scattered collections of these granules (which are 
dark brown when seen singly) and later disappearing 
altogether. In the transitional region, black and yellow 
pigment may frequently be found in the same segment. 
In most hairs, the dark bodies again replace the yellow 
ones as we pass toward the tip; occasionally the yellow 
continues as far as any axial region is distinguishable. 

The yellow pigment seems to be restricted to the axial 
part of the hair. To some extent, it occurs in the form 
of granules, but, unlike the black, it is largely present in 
a diffuse condition. This pigment is not all of the same 
tint, but varies in shade from a pale yellow to an orange 
or even a very pale brown. 

For a varying length, on the distal, tapering ends of 
nearly all the hairs of the colored parts of the body, there 
is a very dark, granular pigment, lying close beneath the 
surface of the hair. This overlies and reinforces the ax- 
ial pigment, so that the distal end is frequently darker 
than any other part of the hair. The superficial pigment, 
where dense, commonly looks almost black, but when seen 
in a thin layer the single granules appear brown. As 
already stated, this is likewise true, though in lesser 
degree, of the ‘‘black’’ axial pigment. In one of the 
““mutants,”” to be described later, this distal dark zone is 
nearly or quite lacking, and the same is true of certain ex- 
ceptional samples of hair taken from normal individuals. 

The yellow pigment is readily soluble in even fairly 
dilute potassium hydrate solutions, whereas the dark pig- 
ment is very much more resistant to this reagent, and 
may remain unchanged, even after the complete disinte- 
gration of the hair.” 

Most students of this subject seem to follow Miss Dur- 
ham (Bateson, 1903) in recognizing three pigments in the 
hair of Mus musculus—the black, the brown or chocolate, 
and the yellow. After considerable examination of the 

5 I have, however, observed preparations in which even the densest black 


pigment bodies assumed a reddish brown color, especially near the margin 
of the cover-glass. 


No. 615] “INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 191 


hair both of Mus and Peromyscus, I can not feel sure of 
any sharp distinction between the black and the brown 
pigments. It is true that the axial pigment bodies of the 
basal portions of the hair are nearly dead black, while 
most of the superficial pigment at the distal ends is dis- 
tinctly brown. But all gradations occur in the axial pig- 
ment of the transitional zones, and these gradations ap- 
pear to be due not merely to differences in the density of 
the clusters of granules, but to gradations in the depth 
of color of the individual granules themselves. Without 
having made any careful chemical tests, I am disposed to. 
believe that black and brown, in the hair of mice, are due 
merely to different degrees of aggregation of a single 
pigment. On the other hand, this dark pigment seems to 
differ, chemically and otherwise, from the various shades 
of yellow. 

The differences in the color of mice of different sub- 
species and of different parts of the pelage of a single 
individual appear to be due to two chief causes: (1) the 
relative length of the pale zone, in relation to the rest of 
the hair; and (2) the proportionate numbers of the all- 
dark and of the banded hairs; probably also to (3) the 
depth of shade of the yellow pigment in the pale zones, 
and (4) the degree of concentration of the superficial pig- 
ment at the distal ends. In some of the ‘‘mutants,’’ as 
will be pointed out below, certain other factors contribute 
to the differences shown. 

Of importance for our general viewpoint is the fact that 
no one of the geographic races which has been examined 
possesses any type of hair which is wholly lacking in any 
other race. It would be impossible from a single hair, 
or even a small group of hairs, to say from what sort of 
mouse they were taken. 

When viewed on the ventral side, these four races of 
mice likewise present characteristic differences. They 
form a graded series in respect to the whiteness of the 
pelage, which is purest in the desert race and least so in 
that from the redwoods. The differences are found to 


192 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIL 


result from the relative length of the terminal pigment- 
less zone which is present in these hairs. The ventral 
hair of the desert race also appears to be somewhat longer, 
or at least of a softer texture, than that of the others. 

In the ease of the ventral surface, like that of the dorsal, 
these differences relate to averages rather than to indi- 
viduals. Likewise, it is of interest to note that within 
each race there is little or no correlation between the 
dorsal and the ventral shade. I have frequently graded 
a considerable row of mice of a single race in respect to 
the shade of the dorsal pelage, and found, on turning the 
animals over upon their backs,* that the order of arrange- 
ment did not correspond with the ventral gradations of 
shade. 

Another differential character of these races is the de- 
gree of lateral extension of the ventral white area of the 
body, or, conversely stated, the ventral extension of the 
dorso-lateral pigmented area. The colored and uncol- 
ored regions of the body come together abruptly along an 
irregular lateral line extending from the snout to the tip 
of the tail. In the desert race, more of the white ventral 
region is usually to be seen in side view than is seen in 
the darker races. The gradation of the other three races 
among themselves is less obvious. 

This degree of extension of the colored area relates not 
merely to the body but to the appendages. In the darker 
races an elongated tongue commonly extends down upon 
the fore-limb, in some cases even to the hand, while in 
sonoriensis ‘such a ventral projection is usually little de- 
veloped. The graduation of our four races in regard to 
this character corresponds to that noted in respect to 
shade. Similar conditions are observable on the hind 
limbs, particularly upon the ankle, where the pigmented 
hair may extend as far as the heel, or may fall short of 
this in varying degrees. The case of the tail will be dis- 
cussed separately. 

A hair character which seems to be peculiar to sonori- 
ensis, among the races here considered, is the presence of 

6 Fresh specimens, not skins, are used for most of these comparisons. 


No. 615] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 193 


small clusters of white-tipped hairs near the anterior in- 
sertions of the ears. But even this feature is not evident 
in all individuals.** 

Many species of Peromyscus, including the maniculatus 
series, have what is known as a ““bicolored”” tail. The 
hairs throughout a longitudinal stripe of varying width, 
upon the dorsal surface of this member are dark brown or 
black, while those of the ventral side are white. Now a 
casual inspection serves to show that this caudal stripe 
is broader and darker in the Eureka mice than in the 
desert ones, while a more careful comparison shows that 
the ‘‘gambeli’’ individuals are, on the whole, intermediate 
between the other two. 

Fortunately, the breadth of this stripe is a character 
which may be subjected to fairly accurate measurement. 
It is my practice to slit the skin of the tail along the mid- 
ventral line, strip it off, and press the inner, damp sur- 
face firmly against a strip of black cardboard. The total 
width of this skin (= circumference of tail) is then taken 
at the mid-point of its length; likewise the width of the 
tail stripe. The ratio between the two readings is next 
determined, the width of the dorsal stripe being expressed 
as a percentage of the circumference of the tail. The fol- 
lowing are the figures for the four races and the two 
sexes, the figure in parenthesis representing the number 
of animals measured :? 


TABLE I 
fapides, A (QO) A Se, ees 42.51 + 0.45 
Mites S thy ae 41.96 + 0.53 
Berkeley gambeli, 3 (24) ................ 36.08 + 0.80 
Berkeley gambelé, 9 (28) .iocoiooo.o.o.o.. 35.50 + 0.56 
La Jola gumbel, d (85) ¿cd 32.08 + 0.33 
La Jolla gamba 9 TOY 1... 32.43 + 0.49 
sonoriensis ah (TI) 6456. a ts 27.49 + 0.32 
PORRO A a. 28.92 + 0.36 


6a This condition I have recently found to occur in occasional specimens 
of rubidus trapped near Carlotta, California. 

7Since this character was not measured when these studies were first 
commenced, the number of individuals included in the present table falls 
far short of those measured for some other characters. 


194 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


While the statistical certainty of these four types can 
not be doubted, it must again be insisted that the differ- 
ences relate to averages rather than to individual ani- 
mals. The frequency distributions of the various widths, 
as represented by the histograms (Fig. 5), show this 
point clearly. There is a certain amount of overlapping, 
even between the most divergent races. 

Skin Pigmentation.—Certain regions of the skin are 
colored by dark pigment. The regions showing skin pig- 
mentation most clearly are the ears, tip of snout, soles of 
feet, and, in the males, the scrotum. 

Frequent comparisons of considerable numbers of 
freshly killed specimens have made it plain that, in re- 
spect to the pigmentation of the ears, our four races can 
be arranged in the same graded series as was found to 
hold for coat color. As regards the other three skin char- 
acters, I have never compared more than two races at a 
time, but I feel little doubt that all four could be arranged 
in the same order. No exact measurements are here pos- 
sible, as in the case of the tail stripe. In a few instances 
I have, however, graded a given character, according to 
an arbitrary scale, and have thus been able to express the 
differences between two races in a roughly quantitative 
way. The following comparison between 42 sonoriensis 
and 38 La Jolla gambeli with respect to the pigmentation 
of the scrotum will illustrate this point. 


TABLE II 
sonoriensis gambeli 
Numb f Percentage Numb t Percentage 

ar AA ys OS EA MERES 1 2.4 3 7.9 
Moderate 0.0 tE. 3 14 2 5.3 
WAG aia O 5 11.9 7 18.4 
Nery Ae. ee E 2.4 4 10.5 
a e a 32 76.2 22 57.9 
Total.. 42 100.0 38 100.0 


A similar tabulation was made in another case, com- 
paring two lots of specimens of these same races in re- 
spect to the pigmentation of the foot. 


No. 615] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 195 


It might readily be contended that all these various pig- 
mental differences, which have thus far been considered, 
_are merely manifestations of some general tendency tow- 
ard a given degree of pigmentation of the body as a 


>> 


rubidus 
ng Cases. Meana 42.28 


-Nu $ un 5.0 


ego beli 
ean= ~ Y 


<a OF DH A 


/ 


/ 


I 
üj 


+ Mean =32-21 


La Jolla gambe 
31 


I 
sonoriensis ! 


13 cases .Mean= 28.12 
+ 


I 


120 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 33 40 4) 42 43 49 45 46 47 98 93 50 SI SZ 53 S4 55 36 ST” 


Fic. 5. istograms, showing the frequen stributions of the percentage 
values for the width of the tail es (ratio re a in ja four races 
here considered (sexes combined). 


whole. This tendency perhaps manifests itself in a 


greater or less intensity or extensity, or both. In the 
absence of exact quantitative standards, it is impossible 


196 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou, LII 


to determine whether or not these various pigment char- 
acters are correlated. If they are, the correlation is cer- 
tainly not a close one, as frequent observations have 
shown. For example, the grade of foot-pigmentation was 
determined for the paler and darker halves of a series of 
sonoriensis and also for a series of gambeli. In both 
cases the average grade for the foot was slightly greater 
for the darker half than for the paler; but the difference 
was so small that I am not sure of its significance. Again, 
in the lot of 38 gambeli comprised in Table II the darkest 
individual (dorsally) and the one with the darkest feet 
were both devoid of visible pigment on the scrotum. 
Similar entries are frequent among my notes. 


2. Structural Differences 


The structural features which I have subjected to quan- 
titative determination are (1) weight, (2) body length, 
(3) tail length, (4) foot length, (5) ear length, (6) number 
of tail vertebre; together with several other skeletal char- 
acters which I shall not discuss in the present paper. 
The methods employed throughout these studies will be 
described more fully in a later report. A brief statement 
will suffice for the present. Body length, as here em- 
ployed, is the total length, minus the length of the tail. 
In taking the total length, a special contrivance is em- 
ployed, the body being stretched slightly and to a uniform 
extent. A constant procedure is likewise employed in 
measuring the tail length. The figure recorded for the 
latter represents the distance from the first free caudal 
vertebra to the tip of the tail, under a uniform degree of 
tension. The ear length here used is that from the sum- 
mit of the ‘‘notch’’ to the tip of the ear. Foot length is 
the distance from the heel to the tip of the claw of the 
longest toe, the foot being pinned, sole downward, to a 
blackened board. 

The statistical methods employed in analyzing these 
data have been rather fully discussed in a former paper 
(1915), to which the reader is referred. 


No. 615] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 197 


(1) Weight and (2) body length are not dealt with di- 
rectly in the present comparisons. The former is an in- 
dex of metabolic condition as well as of size (1. e., length). 
Captive mice, for example, are commonly fat in compari- 
son with wild ones. Body length is of little significance in 
comparing two groups of mice, unless we know, either 
that the animals are all of the same age, or that the limit 
of growth has been reached by all of them. These things 
are frequently impossible to determine. 

(3) Tail length is dealt with, both as an absolute value 
and as a percentage of the body length. If absolute tail 
lengths are to be compared in two groups of animals, the 
comparison can only be made between animals of approxi- 
mately the same body length. My practise is to divide 
each series into a number of size-groups, differing by 
only two millimeters of body length. Group 80-81 of 
one series is then compared with group 80-81 of the 
other, group 82-83 with group 82-83, ete. The graphs 
(Figs. 6 and 7 and 9-12) are based upon this procedure. 
Each ‘‘curve’’ connects the means of the size-groups of 
each series of animals, the abscissas representing body 
length, the ordinates the character under comparison. 
In order to eliminate very young mice, groups having 
body lengths of less than 80 mm. are omitted. Even so, 
it is likely that most of the animals in the lower groups 
of the series are immature, but this fact in no way affects 
the validity of the comparisons. 

It will be seen, from an inspection of the figures (6 and 
7), for both males and females, that, as regards tail length, 
the Eureka mice (rubidus) stand in a class by themselves. 
In comparison with the wide interval between this long- 
tailed race and the other three races here considered, the 
latter differ but slightly among themselves. It is evi- 
dent, none the less, that the La Jolla animals have some- 
what longer tails than do those from Berkeley or Victor- 
ville, while the last two agree fairly closely in their mean 
condition. 

Relative tail length, i. e., the length of the tail expressed 


— 
e — 


ES 
E O 


79 
/ 14 
78 e ; 
qe 
77 es tag A 
ri ‘ 
76 bs ! 
75 2/ i 
6 i 
16 i 
74 In EN ' 
ve fo EN ! 
+ `, y Y 
rae rs EA y / NWA IG i 
ra J 1 1] “os 
1 Yv, 
3 
7i 
I 
a oe 
69 
/ 
68 z 
41 
es rubidus 
65 2an La Berkeley tambel 


————— Ladolla gambeli 
sonoriensis 


80 8i 62 83 8+ 85 86 87 88 89 J0 91 92 93 J4 35 96 97 38 


Fic. 6. Graphs for i gg of the absolute tail lengths in the four races 
(males). Abscissas denote ength; ordinates denote tail length; the figures 
along the “ curves ” indicate the Ases of individuals in the various size groups. 


67 Fa op aomen anmann onan rubidus 

66 A == Berkeley gambeli 
i amm La Jolla gambeli 

ahd ‘igh 

a e sonoriensis 


80 8) 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 30 91 92 93 9495 36 37 38 99 100 101 102 


Fic. 7. Comparison of the absolute tail lengths in the four races (females). 


200 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


as a percentage of that of the body, is to a considerable 
extent independent of the size of the animal. Larger 
mice, it is true, have relatively somewhat shorter tails 
than do smaller ones. But the differences are so slight 
that they may be overlooked, unless the mean size of the 
two groups under comparison differs considerably. The 
relative tail lengths of our four races of mice may be com- 
pared in the following table. This shows the same rela- 
tions as were portrayed by the graphs. It also shows 
that there are no significant differences between the sexes 
as regards the length of this member. 


TABLE III 
sabuk CBE ei a ee ce cele 104.45 + 0.38 
PUDONG, OCT A es eas ee 103.37 + 0.52 
Berkeley gambeli, ji (26) .............. 81.69 + 0.55 
Berkeley gambeli, Y (21) .............- 81.76 + 0.65 
La Jolla jambe ft (99) cir 84.36 + 0.35 
Ea Jolla. gambeli, Q (45) .... 2. «0... 83.04 + 0.43 
Maoriene RIG) A Sere as as a d 81.29 + 0.44 
nora e (DL. cs ee ee 81.30 > 0.45 


The distribution frequencies for these various lengths 
are represented by the histograms (Fig. 8). From these 
it is evident that only an oceasional Eureka mouse has as 
short a tail as the longest tailed members of any of the 
other three races. The latter, however, differ from one 
another but slightly. 

(4) In respect to foot length likewise (Figs. 9, 10) the 
Eureka mouse is very distinct from the other three races, 
while the latter show no significant differences among 
themselves. It is of interest, however, that in all four of 
these races the female has, on the average, a slightly 
shorter foot than the male. If any one still entertains the 

8 Owing to a slight «change in the manner of measurement, which w: 
made after these studies were commenced, the tail lengths of the Cater 
animals of my series have been rejected from the computations, This proce- 
dure has affected particularly the numbers of the Berkeley series. 


No. 615] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 201 


8 
7 
é 
x rubidus 
hi ter Cases.Mea n= 104.01 
3 
2 
i 
1 | | O 
4 
17 Pk 
16 Pa 
15 he Á 
4 r 
13 7 
2 Pes 
n Va 
10 A É 
3 g” 
: re 
? 
z La Jolla gambeli A 
» 144 Cases. Meon = 83.95 
3 4 
2 
' 
7 
I 
7 I 
6 
5 
7 + 
y pen e eli 
i S. Mean = 61.72 
ELL M 
I 
is | 
% l 
i3 | 
2 4 
n ' 
bag (j 
3 
a 
7 
6 
3 >. 
+ orie 13 
s “6 cases. Mean =8119 
2 I 
1 i 
66 67 68 69 70 7} 12 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 06 87 BH 89 90 31 32 33 34 35 J6 97 38 3) e m n2 103 ne ns 16 117 MS us Ro 


Fic. 8. Histograms, showing the frequency distributions of the paige ao 
values for the length of the tail (ratio to body length), in the four races (sex 
combined 


notion that small feet, along with other feminine charms 
in mankind, are due to ‘‘sexual selection,”” the situation 
in Peromyscus ought to give him pause.® The mean dif- 


® This same difference was found by me to hold for white mice, at least 
for full grown individuals (1915, pp. 358, 367). 


202 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


ferences between males and females, computed according 
to a method earlier described by me (1915, pp. 345, 346), 
are: 


PRISE St hf Rs ow Sie op og ee ES 0.31 mm. + .08 
gambeli (Berkeley) ............-..... 0,29 mm. + .05 
gambeli (La Jolla) ............-...-+* 0.09 mm. + .07 
HONOR 00 cs ee a ee ae ae 0.38 mm. + .05 


(5) In respect to ear length, we find a quite different 
set of relations.. It is the La Jolla mouse in which 
these appendages are the longest, the Berkeley mouse in 
which they are the shortest, while the redwood and the 
desert animals occupy an approximately intermediate 
position and scarcely differ significantly from one an- 
other. It is here to be noted that the two extremes of 
the series, in respect to this character, have been placed 
by the systematists in the same ““subspecies”” (gambeli). 

(6) The counting of the tail vertebre, like the other 
measurements of skeletal characters, has not yet been 
completed. I have, however, determined the number in 
25 specimens each of the Eureka, La Jolla and Victor- 
ville races. The fifth vertebra, counting from the most 
anterior one in the sacrum, has been regarded as the first 
of the caudal series. The averages and the frequency 
distributions are indicated in the following table. 


TABLE IV 
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | average 
ey OS | |2| 9/6 5/11/12 | 28.0 
gambels (La Jola) occ o e 4015 13) 3 | 26.6 
CONO AS 112 si7l6l1 r 25.7 


The significance of these differences seems highly prob- 
able, despite the small numbers. That between rubidus 
and sonoriensis can hardly be questioned. It seems plain, 
however, that the differences in tail length between these 
various races is not accounted for by the differences in 
the number of the vertebre. Thus the Eureka mouse 
has a mean tail length which is 28 per cent. (of the smaller 
- number) longer than that of the desert mouse. The pre- 


No. 615] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 203 


S 
de 
2 
22.0 
7 
4 a 
2 3 
Y E 
21.0 / 
9 À 
fs E 
E Se al 
s El 
4 y s 7 
3 SS 
7 y 
20.0 14 x 
9 ag ss 
4 e —_—_—_ Berkeley gambeli 
‘+ 


————- La Jolla gambeli 
ee okie a in sonoriensis 


80 8! 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 9495 96 97 98 99 100 
FIG Comparison of foot-lengths in the four races (males). 


pedo Nevo ht ane 


Sa 


A 


rubidus 


Fubu»vo-rbruny mo 


2 
` 
` . 
9.0 & ; a Berkeley gambél 
wo. / 
N ‘ es o e Ladoila gambeli 
Ax 1 
s + 
A TAO T A B Se a AoA sonoriensis 
` ‘ 
yt 
v E 


80 8l 82 83 8+ 85 86 87 88 89 90 JI 32 93 J+ 95 36 37 38 J9 100 101 102 
Frc. 10. Comparison of foot-lengths in the four races (females). 


204 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


ponderance in the number of vertebra is only 9 per cent. 
The differences in the length of this appendage are there- 
fore due partly to the number of vertebra, but chiefly to 
the length of the individual vertebre. 

Résumé of Racial Differences.—In relation to the vari- 


&FaaN 


e 
o-h 


j 
] 
l 
l 
l 
! 
I 
Lae 
! 
} 


si 


O-N&RODANDL 


5 


3 
hb pUBNOL ORE TU in N d to 


eae 


-f I6 


F 


RETES 


maa TRACE 

Berkeley gambeli 
em pu Lavolia ¿ambeli 
escanea SONOTIENSIS 


80 8l 82 83 84 85 86 87 68 89 30 91 92 33 9495 36 97 38 33 100 


Fic, 11. Comparison of ear-lengths in the four races (males). 


ous pigmental differences, those both of intensity and ex- 
tensity, the four races under consideration were found to 
present the following graduated series: 
Eureka > Berkeley > La Jolla > Victorville. 
As regards the length to the tail, the series became: 


Eureka > La Jolla > { Victorville 


No. 615] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 205 


When the number of caudal vertebre was considered, 
we had the same arrangement as the last for the three 
races for which determinations had been made, viz.: 

Eureka > La Jolla > Victorville. 
In respect to foot length, the following order held: 


3 ‘A 
oT 


4 
w% 


UAne@veo—-NeFUONWOEWYO=HYOEFUDRNOVO~NHLPUDBNSY oo py pi 
E 


-— 
~ 


(ins PUDPAUS 


z 


Berkeley gambeli 
ss LA Jolla gambeli 


A Sanari ensis 


30 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 86 89 90 91 32 93 94 95 36 37 38 33 100 101 102 


Fic. 12. Comparison of ear-lengths in the four races (females). 


La Jolla, 
Eureka > E Berkeley, 
Victorville. 
Finally, as regards ear length, we had a quite different 
alignment, viz. : 
La Jolla > Es Victo eat > Berkeley. 


It is plain that these ““subspecies”” have diverged from 
one another in respect to characters which have varied 


cd 


206 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vor LIT 


quite independently. There is no single graded series 
for all the characters, which would lead us to suppose that 
they are in some way correlated or ‘‘linked’’ together. 

When pigment characters alone are considered, the 
Berkeley mice are certainly intermediate between the La 
Jolla and the Eureka ones, and to that extent may be said 
to ‘‘approach rubidus.’"° But this is not true of the 
length of the tail, the foot or the ear. Indeed, as regards 
the first of these appendages, the Berkeley race diverges 
even farther from the Eureka race than does that of La 
Jolla.!* 

The question whether any of these various character 
differences may be physiologically or genetically linked 
together, so as to exhibit concomitant variations, is an 
interesting one, which I hope, in time, to treat rather 
fully. But I have already computed coefficients of cor- 
relation between two pairs of characters, viz.: between 
tail length and width of tail stripe, and between tail length: 
and foot length. 

In obtaining the former, I have based the coefficients 
upon the deviations from the mean relative tail length of 
each race and each sex, taken separately. Of these coeffi- 
cients, three are positive and five negative. They range 
from — 0.23 to + 0.09, the mean being — 0.03. Thus, it 
is plain that there is no appreciable correlation, within a 
single race, between the width of the tail stripe and the 
length of the tail, despite the fact that these characters 
seem to be associated, when certain darker races of the 
northwest coast are compared with more southward rang- 
ing forms. 

There is, however, a quite marked correlation between 
the length of the tail and that of the foot. I do not here 
refer to the obvious fact that larger animals have larger 

10 Osgood, 1909, p. 69. This author likewise states that Berkeley speci- 
mens are iongan than typical gambeli.’ ’ 

11 This conclusion is strengthened by consideration of an even larger 
series of Berkeley mice which were not included in Table III. The two sets 
were trapped in two different localities in the Berke i 


No. 615] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 207 


tails and likewise larger feet than smaller animals. My 
figures show that, even when animals of the same body 
length are considered, those with longer tails tend, on the 
whole, to have longer feet, and vice versa. To obtain 
these results, I have computed the coefficients separately 
for each size-group, containing ten or more individuals.'? 
All but 5 of these 21 figures are positive, the mean being 
+ 0.27. Thus the greater tail and foot length of the Eu- 
reka race may have arisen simultaneously, both being the 
expression of a single constitutional change. 

One further word regarding the nature of these racial 
differences, before we pass to a consideration of their 
heredity. It is plain that, with a single possible excep- 
tion, all of the differences thus far considered are ‘‘sub- 
stantive,’’ rather than ‘‘meristic,’’ to follow Bateson’s'® 
terminology, or ‘‘proportional,’’ rather than ‘‘numeri- 
eal,’’ to use terms recently employed by Osborn.'* In no 
case are they of the nature of ““presence-and-absence”” 
differences, such as figure so widely in Mendelian litera- 
ture. Whether or not, on ultimate analysis, they can be 
resolved into the latter category, will be discussed later. 

The differences without exception relate to means and 
modes, as was illustrated above by histograms con- 
structed for two of the characters (Figs. 5 and 8). The 
frequency polygons commonly overlap broadly, when ad- 
jacent members of the series are compared. We find an 
approach to discontinuity only in a comparison of the 
most widely divergent races. 

The single difference of a meristic or numerical char- 
acter is that relating to the number of caudal vertebre. 
But even here the difference is one of averages, for no 
single race seems to be characterized by the unvarying 
presence of any particular number of vertebre, as certain 
larger taxonomic groups are characterized by a definite 
number of teeth or mamme. Itis worth mention also that 

12 Cf, — 1915, pp. 349-350, 409-415. 

13 1894, pp. 22, 23. , 

14 1915, p. 199. In the paper referred to, Osborn has given some atten- 
tion to the case of Peromyscus. 


208 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou, LIT 


the last one or two caudal vertebre are commonly rudi- 
mentary, so much so that it is not always easy to deter- 
mine their exact number. It is scarcely more fitting to 
apply the term ‘‘meristic variation’’ here than it would 
be to apply this term to such variations in the number of 
cells as distinguish a larger from a smaller foot or ear. 


(To be concluded.) 


INTERNAL FACTORS INFLUENCING EGG PRO- 
DUCTION IN THE RHODE ISLAND RED 
BREED OF DOMESTIC FOWL II. 


DR. H. D. GOODALE : 


MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, AMHERST, Mass. 


Cycles.—By cycles of egg production are understood 
the existence of periods of egg production alternating 
with periods either of decreased egg production or entire 
cessation of egg production. These cycles may be either 
long or short. The long-term cycles may have a period 
of ayear. Shorter cycles exist with a period of three or 
four months, i. @., winter, spring and summer and fall. 
There are still shorter cycles with periods measured in 
weeks, while one may also recognize irregular cycles. A 
litter, as defined by Miss Curtis (714), is a short period 
of egg production alternating with a non-productive 
period and is well illustrated by broody birds, though it 
may occur in non-broody individuals. A ‘‘elutch,’’ ac- 
cording to Miss Curtis, is the set of eggs produced on 
consecutive days. Its termination is marked by the ap- 
` pearance of a blank day. 

The form of the yearly cycle depends to a consider- 
able degree upon some of the internal factors under dis- 
cussion, that is, it varies in different individuals. Egg 
production, as a rule, begins in the fall and winter, and 
continues at a fairly constant rate in most individuals 
until spring, when the rate rises somewhat in many indi- 
viduals. Those that have been laying at a relatively high 
rate do not show this acceleration, at least not in as 
marked a degree. Sooner or later in a broody race 
broody periods appear, which interrupt egg production at 
fairly constant intervals. The rate, however, during the 
nonbroody periods shows no slackening, but on the con- 
trary a very slight acceleration may be demonstrated, so 

209 


210 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


that the lower egg production noted after the first broody 
period is due solely to the interruption of production. 
During the summer, the rate of egg production slackens, 
due almost entirely to the broody periods. The data for 
the 1913-14 flocks show that after June the rate of pro- 
duction .is about constant for the next three months, 
largely because the first of July marks the point at which 
practically every individual in the flock has entered on its 
broody portion of the year. Some time in the late sum- 
mer or during the fall, the various individuals stop lay- 
ing and moult, some at one time, some at another, but 
usually at the end of a broody period. After the rest 
period in the fall, the birds gradually begin to lay again 
in mid-winter, somewhat as they did as pullets, except 
that the rate is slower asarule. Except for this feature, 
the character of the second year’s production is much 
the same as the first. 

The winter. cycle is regarded by the workers at the 
Maine Station (Pearl, 712) as the most important of all the 
cycles, at least from the standpoint of the investigation of 
the inheritance of egg production. They have found 
that it represents a definite period in the life history of 
the individual, among their Barred Plymouth Rocks. 
Furthermore, during this period, the greatest differences 
are to be observed in the egg production among indi- 
viduals. They also find that high winter egg production 
is correlated with annual egg production, as would be ex- 
pected ‘except in the event that high egg production early 
in life tends to lower production in later life. In other 
words, a bird that is a good layer during the winter is 
probably a good layer at all times. There are other 
reasons, mostly of a practical nature for the use of the 
winter cycle as a measure of fecundity. 

Taking the year as a basis the workers at the Maine 
Station recognize as its first characteristic the winter 
eycle beginning with the first egg of the pullet and ex- 
tending to March 1. This date is taken as a convenient 
working point that falls near the biological division point. 


No. 615] EGG PRODUCTION 211 


During this period, flock production rises from zero to a 
maximum and then slows down somewhat toward its 
close. This slackening is due to a cessation of produc- 
tion on the part of most individuals while nearly all show 
at least a slackening of egg production towards the close 
of the winter cycle. The exact date at which the cycle 
ends varies with the individual, and may occur at almost 
any point during the winter months including March. 
Miss Curtis (714), in another connection, has published 
the monthly records of a few hens that show this cycle. 
They are shown in Table VII. With one exception, No. 


TABLE VII 


A PORTION OF TABLE XXV FROM CurTIS (’14) SHOWING THE WINTER Ece 
PRODUCTION OF A NUMBER OF BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCK PULLETS. THE 
DECREA 


| Pullet Number 


Month E AA | | | | PORE ES | | 

| | | | | heed iet 
a E N EE ET S Bhs | 10309 paces EM 
November............ vee of 15119117 1518 5113| 6/12} 8} 1] 9 
Dechert... i Sik oe: 125 18| 27 J Be 16/24) 8/14/15) 0 | 18 

1911 | 

Pas cn «Sy eo ine 1319 3 13| 4 alig 1 6 5 0 |14 
February. ecesna eat |13 110/15 | 6/1 | | 811 5| 0 | 16 
Winter totale 3 ear | 66 | 69 65 (57. | 56 | 48 | | 38 | Partes las 33 | 1 57 


236, the birds all laid over 30 eggs. The evidence for a 
winter cycle is shown by the depressed egg production in 
January and February and is very clear. The records 
published by Gowell, ’02, *03, also show this point. 
Pearl and Surface, *11, describe the other periods as 
follows: 
hide next period (March, April and May) is the natural laying sea- 
It corresponds to the egg-laying part of the natural reproductive 
ads eri by the wild Gallus. . . . Naturally, therefore, a high 
and a low variability in production are exactly what we find char- 
acterizing the laying in each of the months of this period. 
The third period (June, July and August) is characterized by a 
gradually falling mean production and a variability gradually inereas- 


212 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


ing. . . . This is the period in which the rearing of the chickens nat- 
urally occurs and it also represents an extension of the breeding season. 

The fourth period (September and October) is not easily separated 
from the third in respect to laying, but in general it is the period of 
moulting. . . . It is characterized by reduced laying and marked in- 
ereased variability. 

It is not clear from their accounts whether or not they 
consider that these periods extend through the second 
year or whether they are to be considered as characteris- 
tic solely of the pullet year. : 

Just how far the data on Barred Plymouth Rocks are 
applicable to our Rhode Island Reds is somewhat uncer- 
tain. At the outset it is evident that the small per- 
centage of birds that show an interruption in their winter 
laying because of the presence of a broody period afford 
no evidence either for or against the existence of a winter 
cycle. Of the birds that do not go broody during the 
winter two classes can be distinguished, viz., those that 
show an interruption in their winter laying and those that 
do not. In the 1913-14 flock and in the 1915-16 flock 
from the original source, a large percentage of the birds 
show no interruption in production, not even a slump in 
the rate of production. Such birds lay at an approxi- 
mately constant rate through the late fall and winter 
months, and on through the spring. Among the records 
of the main portion of the 1915-16 flock are many that 
show an interruption or else a slackening of production. 
Of these birds it can be said that they have a winter cycle. 
But there are two points about these records that make 
it difficult to interpret the interruption in production as 
an index of a cycle. First, the interruption may occur 
at almost any time during the winter followed by a re- 
sumption of production in mid-winter, and second, some 
individuals show more than one period of nonproduction. . 
While there is definite evidence that a winter cycle exists 
in some but not all Rhode Island Reds, the possibility 
that some at least of these interruptions of production 
may be due to environmental factors must be fully recog- 
nized. 


No. 615] EGG PRODUCTION 213 


As already noted, there are many Rhode Island Reds 
which show no sign of a winter cycle. Whether this 
means that such birds do not have a winter cycle, or 
whether it means that some other factor covers up an un- 
derlying cycle is uncertain. In many instances these 
birds are very much like the Barred Plymouth Rocks 
noted by Pearl and Surface, *11, who state: 

Many birds of course have no proper winter cycle at all. They begin 
to lay for the first time in January or February and keep on laying 
without any large break straight through the spring cyele. 

But there are many other Rhode Island Reds that begin 
to lay in October, November and December and lay through 
the winter and spring without any breaks whatsoever. 
Moreover, those birds that begin to lay in January or 
February for the first time very rarely show any break 
whatsoever. For these instances where the birds begin 
to lay late in the winter it is conceivable that the winter 
cycle might extend well into March but that the compara- 
tively mild weather at that season of the year would tend 
to eliminate the rest period and thus conceal the winter 
cycle. But this argument cannot be applied to those in- 
stances in which the laying is continuous from its start in 
October, November or December right through the spring. 
There seems no reason to speak of a winter cycle for this 
class of Rhode Island Reds.* 

The spring cycle, in Rhode Island Reds, in so far as it 
can be differentiated from the winter period, differs 
chiefly from that of the Barred Rocks in extending nearly 
through June, since the end of June marks the point at. 
which practically every bird that will go broody has be- 
come broody at least once. Egg production is at its maxi- 
mum at the beginning of this period due to active laying 
on the part of practically all individuals but falls sharply 

4 Later work on this point demonstrates, beyond doubt, that the presence 
of a definite winter cycle is not characteristic of our strain of Rhode 
Island Reds as a whole. There is some evidence, moreover, that the winter 
cycle is a Mendelian recessive, the dominant allelomorph being continuous 
winter production. For details see Goodale, ’18. 


214 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


after its middle, the rate of decline being much greater 
than for the Barred Plymouth Rocks. 

The summer period may be considered to be July, 
August and September. Practically all the birds of the 
flock are laying in broody cycles with egg production re- 
maining at approximately a constant level, while consid- 
erable partial moulting is going on. It passes gradually 
into the fall period which is characterized chiefly by the 
cessation of egg production—usually coinciding with a 
broody period—and the onset of the fall moult together 
with some slowing in rate of production of those birds 
that are laying. Biologically the fall period overlaps the 
calendar year since it may extend into December. The 
question of egg production in the fall, at the end of the 
pullet year, is on rather a different basis from that of the 
other seasons of the year. The egg producing mechanism 
of the hen seems to be in a peculiarly unstable condition 
and unless great care is exercised may cease functioning 
in response to slight adversities in environment. Some 
hens, however, and this is really the important point, con- 
tinue to lay throughout the fall months with the same 
regularity they exhibited in the spring. This affords us 
an opportunity to build up a strain of birds that will be 
persistent layers throughout the year. 

Thus, persistency in egg production through the fall 
months enters in as a factor in determining the total egg 
production as has also been emphasized by Rice (714). 
Some birds cease laying relatively early in the fall, say 
late in August or September; others, however, of the 
‘same age, breeding, and under the same conditions, con- 
tinue to lay all through the fall, at approximately the 
same rate of production as during the summer months, 
although the rate may fall off slightly. Now, these birds 
will have quite a different total record from those that 
stop early in the season and if one examines his records 
he finds that while many persistent layers are also good 
producers early in the season, nevertheless a great many 
of the birds that were good layers during the winter are 


No. 615] EGG PRODUCTION 215 


not persistent layers during the fall, while some birds 
with low winter records are good fall layers. 

Other kinds of cycles, which are described in the fol- 
lowing paragraphs, have been noted in the Rhode Island 
Reds. In broody individuals, where the practice is fol- 
lowed of ‘‘breaking up’’ the hen, a series of cycles is in- 
troduced, marked by broody periods alternating with an 
egg production period. If the natural course of events is 
not interfered with in the case of broody hens, the broody 
period lasts until the chicks have hatched. Then the 
period of rearing takes place. Toward the end of this 
period the hen begins to lay and the cycle is repeated. 

There is also a short time cycle of one or two weeks 
which needs little discussion at present. It is shown by 
an acceleration in rate of egg production followed by a 
decline somewhat as follows: Egg—blank—egg—egg— 
blank — egg — egg — egg — blank — egg—egg—egg—egg— 
blank — egg — egg — egg — egg — blank — egg —egg—egg— 
blank— egg—egg—blank—egg—blank— egg—blank—egg 
—blank—and repeat. Although one often finds records 
that approximate closely the above scheme, their rarity 
suggests either that the fluctuations in rate are due di- 
rectly to some extraneous circumstance or, if there is a 
fundamental rhythm of this sort, that it is subject to dis- 
turbance from the environment. Whatever may be the 
cause, at present it is doubtful if it is indicative of an 
internal factor. 

The next type of cycle is that exhibited by certain hens 
which lay at a relatively high rate for a time and then 
stop. This period may correspond to the term often used 
by poultrymen when speaking of a hen’s clutch. Here 
again we are confronted by doubt as to the causation 
= of these blanks, for many hens do not have such pauses 
in production. Once they begin laying they continue 
without any considerable vacant period (not exceeding 
three or four days) until the onset of the first broody 
period. 

Stamina.—A strong bird is readily distinguished from 
a weak one, but it is difficult to separate the birds per- 


216 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


manently according to a definite standard since it is im- 
possible to secure a constant environment. A fairly uni- 
form environment in the sense that all birds are exposed 
to the same external conditions at any one moment is 
fairly easily secured; but since the external conditions, 
particularly weather conditions, are very variable and 
follow no definite course, and since a bird’s vigor is a 
resultant of its own inherent strength of resistance 
against the environment, it is clear that the objective 
vitality observed in each member of a flock may be un- 
equally affected by the surroundings. 

The evidence available on the relation of vitality to 
fecundity thus far points in two more or less opposite 
directions. Many birds of low vitality have made not 
only excellent but even high records. On the other hand, 
birds of strong vitality may make low records. At the 
same time there is a point at which the vitality becomes 
too low for good egg production. In the fall of 1913, 
thirty-eight birds graded early in the fall, before laying 
commenced, as ‘‘poor’’ in respect to vigor, were put in 
the laying houses. They had an average record for the 
winter period of only 20 eggs against an average of 38 
for the entire flock, including the poor birds. Low vital- 
ity evidently depressed egg production in this instance; 
mainly, through retardation of the time of commence- 
ment of laying rather than by slow production. The in- 
fluence of lack of vigor on winter egg production is shown 
in Fig. 9, where the curve of winter egg production for 
the entire flock is represented by the continuous line and 
that for the ‘‘poor’’ birds by the dotted line. 

Occasionally, birds of low vitality may make excellent 
egg records. In one family in particular, the birds were 
of distinctly mediocre quality, as evidenced by their 
weight, activity, hatching quality of eggs and viability of 
chicks and yet they were able to make high records, the 
average for the family of seven individuals being 63.3— 
ranging from 33 to 81—for the winter period, with a 
yearly average of 192.4 for the five birds that survived 
throughout the year, and with a range of 154 to 210. 


No. 615] EGG PRODUCTION 217 


Moult.—Moulting exercises some influence on the num- 
ber of eggs produced, since birds that are moulting often 
do not lay, particularly during the fall moult. Moulting 
itself may be induced at certain seasons of the year by 
changes in management, especially those changes that 
tend to stop egg production. Such changes apparently 
change the course of the metabolism of the bird. Brood- 
iness in late summer and early fall appears to be a com- 
mon cause of the onset of a moult and consequent cessa- 


PERCENT 


ornata SSRS 


0-4 59 tx 2509 
EGGS 


Fic. 9. The effect of low vitality on winter egg production. The graph 
shows the percentage of the flock of 1915-16 laying the specified number of eggs. 
The continuous line is for the entire flock. The dotted line is for that portion 
of the flock graded “ poor” or of low vitality, before being placed in the laying 


tion of egg production. At least one might draw this 
conclusion from the fact that egg production, as the usual 
rule, ceases with a broody period, for in most instances 
the last egg laid in late summer or early fall coincides 
with the beginning of a broody period. It is not clear, 
however, whether the moult starts because the bird has 
reached the limit of her production period, or whether 
the moult begins because of the interruption to egg pro- 
duction due to the onset of the broody period. 

In the Rhode Island Reds we have observed a partial 
moult that begins in the early part of the summer and as 
a rule seems to affect egg production very little. In the 
autumn this partial moult is followed by a more extensive 
(often complete) moult attended by cessation of produc- 
tion. It is possible that the summer moult has been in- 


218 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


duced by broodiness, but that the hens are broken up so 
quickly and the impulse toward resumption of egg pro- 
duction at this season is so strong that it inhibits the 
moult at various stages. 

Pullets that begin to lay very early in the fall very 
often undergo a moult during the latter part of the same 
fall. It is not clear that early production of itself tends 
to induce the moult so long as the birds affected are not 
hatched too early in the season. The moult is more com- 
monly observed in pullets that are hatched very early in 
the season and which begin.to lay in August and Septem- 
ber. Such birds rarely make a continuous record but in- 
stead stop laying after producing a variable number of 
eggs and moult much like birds from fifteen to eighteen 
months of age. In the flocks with which we have been 
dealing the variability in maturity has induced some com- 
plications in handling the flocks. If an attempt is made 
to hatch birds sufficiently early in the season, so that a 
good share of them will begin laying in November, some 
begin too early, lay a while, and then moult. 

Rate and Rhythm of Production.—The percentage rate 
of production at any time and for any period may be 
taken as the number of eggs times 100, divided by the 


length of the period involved, measured in days. Rate 


is an important factor in determining egg production, 
but in the Rhode Island Reds is of quite secondary im- 
portance as compared to date of first egg (and of course 
age at first egg). 

The distribution of the percentage oe calculated for 
the winter period (between the first egg of each pullet 
and March 1) for the flock of 1913-14 has been deter- 
mined and the graph shown in Fig. 10 plotted. The 
curve shows a considerable homogeneity of rate in the 
flock. Since the general trend of events, such as acci- 
dents, temporary ailments, etc., is of such a nature that 
some birds do not attain their natural inherent rate, the 
curve shows a very gradual slope at the left-hand side up 
to about 30 per cent., a somewhat more rapid rise be- 


No. 615] _ EGG PRODUCTION 219 


tween 30 and 50 per cent. and a much sharper rise beyond 
50 per cent. The mode comes at the 61 to 70 per cent. 
group, while the maximum rate does not exceed 90 per 
cent. It is interesting to note that 8.5 per cent. of the 


30 


INDIVIDUALS IN PERCENTS 
hs bs 
== S 


a 


0 
1-10 41-20 41 -J0 yl -40 41- $0 s1- 60 él - 70 7I - 30 81 - 90 
RATE IN PERCENTS. 


Fic. 10. Percentage rate of production for the winter period. The per- 
centage of the flock laying at the specified rate is shown by the ordinates, the 
rate by the abscisse. Flock of 1913-14. M=62.50, S. D. = LV. + 26.23. 


flock laid at a rate exceeding 80 per cent. for the entire 
winter period. 

The effect of variability in rate on total production for 
a definite period is shown by the records given in Fig. 11. 


25 


S 5 8 


INDIVIDUALS IN PERCENTS 


a 


0 
110 1-20 21-80 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-100 
RATE IN PERCENTS 
_ FIG, 10a. Percentage rate of production for the winter period. The per- 
centage of the flock laying at the specified rate is shown by the ordinates, the 
rate by the abscisse. Flock of 1915-16. M=54.59, S. D. = 18.52, C. V. = 33.93. 


[ Vou. LIT 


THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 


220 


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No. 615] EGG PRODUCTION 221 


Number 49 laid at an exceptionally high rate. On the 
other hand No. 4797 laid at a rather low rate for a bird 
that produced eggs continually throughout the winter. 
Although she began laying several days earlier in the 
year than No. 49, she produced 24 eggs less, due to her 
slow but steady rate of production. An entirely different 
type of rate is shown by No. 5080. This bird is a true 
mediocre producer in so far as may be judged from her 
record. She laid her first egg at a fairly early date and 
fairly early in the season but her rate of production was 
very low. The eggs, too, were produced at haphazard in- 
tervals. Her record is to be compared with that of No. 
4568 (Fig. 4), which laid the same number of eggs but all 
in the last part of February. Records similar to those of 
No. 5080 are shown by Nos. 274 and 280 (Fig. 12), both 
Barred Plymouth Rocks in one of the contest pens at the 
Essex County Agricultural School. Another type of 
rate is shown by No. 4815 (also Fig. 12), which exhibits 
also a well-defined winter cycle. This bird matured early, 
began laying early in the season, and laid well for about 
six weeks. Then she stopped entirely and did not lay 
at all again until late in February. 

While rate may be considered independently of the 
rhythm, i. e., rhythm may be ignored; rhythm can not be 
considered apart from rate. A hen may lay twelve eggs 
in a month and the rate be described as such or as 40 per 
cent. without paying any attention to the sequence in 
which the eggs appear, but if the rhythm be considered, 
attention must be paid to the sequence between eggs. 
Thus, two blank days may repeatedly alternate with one 
blank day between eggs, producing a regular rhythm, or 
the twelve eggs may be laid in groups of two, three, or 
more eggs on successive days and then a considerable 
period of blank days intervene, the rhythm in this in- 
stance being irregular. A certain degree of regularity 
of rhythm is closely associated with high rate of produc- 
tion, though some birds of relatively low rate lay in a 
regular rhythm (Fig. 11). Most low-record birds, how- 


[ Vou. LII 


THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 


222 


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224 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vor. LII 


ever, have an irregular rhythm. While the observed 
rhythm is rarely entirely regular, yet each hen tends to 
produce eggs according to a rhythm that is character- 
istic to a certain limited degree for that individual. 
Superimposed on the daily rhythm are evidences of other 
rhythms having a beat measured by months or years. 
Although from another standpoint egg production is a 
more or less continuous process, at least in so far as the 
growth of the yolk is concerned, even though the fluc- 
tuations in the activity of the albumen and shell glands 
may be more pronounced, the rhythm may be considered 
as it appears on the record sheets, 1. e., the rhythm 
shown in the deposition of the eggs. Various types of 
rhythm have been observed. If, as a working basis, it 
be assumed that an egg a day represents a standard 
rhythm, although this high rhythm is rarely reached for 
extended periods, it will be found that some hens lay 
every other day, or we may say a one half rhythm, others 
two thirds, i. e., two days out of three, others three 
fourths and so on. The three fourths or four fifths 
rhythm is common among most good layers. Occasion- 
ally the series may be repeated without the intervention 
of a zero day as is shown by the time of day the eggs are 
laid, for if the time of day at which the eggs are collected 
from the trapnests is recorded, the rhythm is shown even 
better than by the daily records. It has been our prac- 
tise to visit the nests about every hour and a half and to 
record the time the eggs were gathered in units of a half 
hour. Thus the approximate time that each hen drops 
her egg is known. Rhythm, as shown by the time of day 
a hen lays her eggs, is an index of the essential con- 
tinuity of the activities of the ovary in the growth of the 
ova, rather than of any rhythm in its activity, since the 
interval between eggs is more uniform than when the 
daily record only is used. One may perhaps infer that 
there is some rhythm in the activities of the oviduct since 
it is known that the stimuli for its activity comes from 

the presence of the yolk in its lumen. However this may 


No. 615] EGG PRODUCTION 225 


be, the several types of rhythm shown by the daily records 
are found to depend very much on the time of day that 
the eggs are laid. 

None of the various types of rhythm, i. e., one half, 
three fourths, etc., are characteristic of any one hen, al- 
though many individuals seem to center about a par- 
ticular rhythm, e. g., two thirds. A bird with this rhythm 
may fall to the one half type but does not often, except 
in the spring, exceed the three fourths type. While little 
stress can be laid on this point, it is interesting to note 
this tendency toward a definite rhythm in some individ- 
uals. But aside from these considerations, birds of the 
same age, which begin to lay at approximately the same 
time and which do not become broody, do not lay with 
the same rhythm: Thus, of two full sisters, hatched the 
same day, one laid only about every other day, while the 
second laid about five days out of six. The rhythm, then, 
is quite an important factor in determining the number 
of eggs laid. 

Various causes may interfere with the normal rhythm, 
such as causes that interfere with the formation and 
growth of the egg, and other causes such as environ- 
ment, season, method of management and internal factors 
such as broodiness. In many birds evidences of a rhythm 
with a period of some length may be noted as shown on 
page 215. The example given is of course idealized but 
actual records of nearly the same type may be observed. 

In this connection the question of the nonproductive 
periods, usually of short duration, that occur in some 
records and which produce irregularities in the rhythm 
may be discussed. As will be pointed out later, brood- 
iness is responsible for some of these periods. A similar 
period, that may be noted in some hens’ records during 
the winter, may be taken as an index of the existence of a 
winter cycle. But other individuals may have two or 
more such periods or may have a single period fairly 
early in the winter (No. 4529, Fig. 13). Some of these 
periods may be inherent in the individual’s makeup but 


Harcuep Marcu 7, 1915. Ace ar First Eca, 214 Days 


| | 
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e ae Marcu 28, 1915. Aem at Frrst EGG — 


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Types of Records. 


Fie. No, 4529 is oe of an early maturing pullet that laid discontinuously but ohne made a fairly good 
winter reco ord, Nos, 5032 and 246 are nesters, i. 
lected or the hen ready to leave the nest is otal by the numerals, 


birds that visit a ne pao regularly but do not lay. 
ep” used for the half-hour period. 


e at which the egg was col- 


Hatcuep Marcu 30, 1913. Aem at First EGG — 


saan eae | 
Date | - To- 
1913-14 | 1 | 2} 3 | 4) 5) 6/7 | 8 | 9 | 10} 11 | 12] 13 | 14] 15 | 16 | 17| 18|19|20|21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ais 
Nov... = | EEE EE mo 
j Dec. PE err ee E | | | | | 0 
Is N NIN N | N N | N NIN 0 
S 3 11.5 9.5 | 3 95| 1 11.5 3.5 | 1.5 158 
N N NN | | | N 
Feb 41 1 11.5 1.5 913 | | | 4 ES A 
M A NN |N N N|N|N N|N|N UN N N NIN |, 
e a aed N2 8 |11.5|3.5 10.5] 2 whats 9 | 1.6/4.5 (9.5 [11.5 | 2.5 9 |10.5| 3.5 8.5 | 10.5 
ac N N oa N N > N NINININ NIN at g | o 
2 10.5 [Na $ 3-5 10.5 11.5 | 3 5 10.5|10.5| 2 8.5] 11 | 2 7.5| 10 |115| 11| 2 | 2 7.5} 10/11] 2 (Si $ 
M NÍNININ N N NIN N N1 NININININ NINININ nININ o! 
a 85|10|10| 2 | 2 8.5 2 8.5 | 10 yo | N3 8.5 | 10 (11.5/11.5| 3.5 9.5|10| 2 | 2 8 (115| 2 | 
de N N NiNIN N N N N | Nin |N N |N o 
ne 8 | 10 |11.5| 1.5 10 | 10 | 10 (11.5) 1.5 1.5 2 8.5 110.5; 2 10 |11.5) 2 | 8.5 | ¿q |115] 1.5 8 | 10 | 
Jul N |[N |N N 5 N ol 
oe 10.5 /11.5| 2 | 3 8.5 110.5| 2 7.5 Na 1.5 | 
Noo ee | E 
re 12 N|N N N N N N N N N N | N d 
o 8.5 | N li| 4 8.5 | 11 | 2.5 85|10| 4 85/12 | 2 185) 11 [10.511.5| 4 85/11 115 | 10 | 11.5) 3.5 
2.5 | 
NIN N N N N 85|N |N NIN N | | 0 
9 |11.5,3.5 10 | 1.5 10 |2.5| 4 851121 3 10 | 4 Nj 1 [35 9.5 | 1.5 11.5] 4 pa 
11.5 
N, Pr N | | | 0 
11 Ni 11.5 1.5 | 


Fig. 13, (Concluded.) Years' Total 0 


228 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vor. LII 


others are probably the result of the environment, since 
it is well known that nonproductive periods can be in- 
duced by artificial means. 

One of the most interesting things in connection with 
the rhythm of egg production as observed by Pearl (712) 
is the existence of hens which never lay an egg, but the 
record of whose visits to the nests shows a very definite 
rhythm. A number of such hens have appeared in our 
flocks. (Nos. 5032 and 246, Fig. 13.) The hour of their 
visits to the nest exhibits exactly the same sort of rhythm 
as normal hens. These facts point strongly to the ex- 
istence of some mechanism other than the formation and 
deposition of an egg which controls the extrusion of the 
egg. It is interesting to note that if one of these hens is 
removed from the nest before she is ready to leave, she 
returns and persists in doing so until, shall we say, she 
thinks she has laid her egg. Autopsies of several of 
these hens show that they fall into two classes; viz., those 
that are producing yolks or eggs but depositing them in 
the abdominal cavity, and those in which a tumor of the 
reproductive system is involved. 

Laying hens often visit the nest at the proper day and 
hour but fail to lay. Such hens (No. 4529, Fig. 13) usu- 
ally lay the day previous and the day after in regular 
routine, though at times they may pay two or more such 
nonproductive visits in succession. 

A study of these latter records shows that some hens 
have indications of a potential capacity greater than the 
actual capacity revealed in the records. Very many hens 
pay an occasional visit to the trap nest without laying 
(note the n’s in the various records), while a few pay 
such visits more or less regularly, at various periods of 
their lives. The striking feature of these visits is that 
they are made at the hours one would expect if an egg 
were actually laid (No. 4529, Fig. 13), though the nature 
of the stimulus that causes such visits is uncertain. 

Broodiness.—Broodiness, from the commercial as well 
as biological standpoint, is one of the most important of 


No. 615] EGG PRODUCTION 229 


the factors influencing egg production. In general, with 
the onset of the first broody period, the monthly pro- 
duction falls off 40 per cent. of its former rate. Brood- 
iness, however, as met with in the laying hen, is to some 
extent an artificial condition. In a free state a hen be- 
comes broody after she has laid a clutch of eggs, incubates 
them, and rears a brood of chickens. Altogether she is 
not producing eggs for a period of some ten weeks or 
more. After this she may again lay a clutch and repeat 
the process. Egg production under such conditions re- 
mains at a relatively low ebb. It is a matter of common 
knowledge among poultry keepers, however, that by 
various means the broody hen can be ‘‘broken up.” That 
is, she can be induced to discontinue manifestations of 
broodiness and after a period varying from a few days 
to several weeks will begin to lay again. As a rule, how- 
ever, only a few—ten or twelve—eggs are laid before a 
hen goes broody again. The process may be repeated 
indefinitely. 

There is a considerable variation in the number of 
times a hen goes broody in a year, the length of the broody 
periods, the trouble required to break her up and other 
characteristics of broodiness. 

The age at which the first broody period occurs de- 
pends in part upon the time a hen begins to lay. In the 
vast majority of instances egg production precedes brood- 
iness. At least 15 to 20 eggs are laid before a hen be- 
comes broody, though it may be many times that num- 
ber. Age incidence in the first place depends upon the 
age at which the hen lays her first egg but after that it 
depends upon other circumstances, which have not been 
determined. Thus, the age of a bird at her first broody 
period may vary from eight months up to the end of the 
second year. Usually, however, the first broody period 
comes on when the bird is from 11 to 15 months of age. 
After the first broody period, the periods recur about 
once a month, if the hen is promptly broken up. There 
are records in our files of a few Rhode Island Red hens 


230 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


that have not been broody for from one to three laying 
years.® 

The number of broody periods per year, then, depends 
upon the date of the first period and in the second place 
upon the cessation of production in the fall. Egg pro- 
duction usually, but not always, ceases with a broody 
period. 

A broody period has two phases. First, the period of 
manifestations of broodiness such as clucking, ruffling 
of feathers and cessation of production. This period is 
variable, some hens being easy to ‘‘break up’’ while 
others are very difficult. Manifestations of broodiness 
sometimes begin several days before egg production 
ceases, and may rarely continue without cessation of egg 
production or without hanging to the nest. I do not re- 
call a case when egg production began before the cessa- 
tion of the manifestations of broodiness. 

The second phase begins with the disappearance of the 
manifestations of broodiness, and extends up to the time 
egg laying recommences. Its chief characteristic is non- 
productiveness and its length varies considerably. 

Broody periods coming during the height of produc- 
tion, March and April, are usually of short duration, but 
gradually lengthen as the summer advances, until they 
sometimes last for a month or more. During the winter 
months, the periods are longer than those occurring 
during the spring and often lead to the cessation of egg 
production for several months. 

Egg production is affected by broodiness chiefly 
through the number of broody periods. Hens that go 
broody many times during the year have a much lower 
production than others that go broody only two or three 
times, other things being equal. It is of particular in- 
terest to note the abrupt way in which the monthly egg 
production usually decreases with the onset of brood- 
iness, regardless of the time of the year. Thus, a hen 

5 The statements in this section are based on an intensive study of broodi- 
ness, the data on which will be published in due course of time. 


No. 615] EGG PRODUCTION 231 


may be laying at a 75 per cent. rate before going broody, 
but with the appearance of the first broody period pro- 
duction falls off 40 per cent. of its former rate. In gen- 
eral it has been found that for each hen the rate for the 
broody part of the year is only about 60 per cent. of the 
rate of the nonbroody part. 

It is not known whether the intense development of 
broodiness in the summer months is directly due to the 
weather conditions as such or whether it is due to some 
internal cause or is part of the annual cycle. At any rate 
it is evident that it operates to decrease the egg produc- 
tion very considerably. Further discussion will be post- 
poned until the study of broodiness now in progress is 
ready for publication. 

Types of Winter Records.—The various factors de- 
scribed in the foregoing pages combine in many ways and 
produce as a result different types of records, several of 
which may now be discussed in more detail. For the 
present we may divide the various types of records into 
high (over 30 eggs), mediocre (under 30 eggs) and zero 
producers. 

High producers (over 30 eggs) may be divided into 
several subclasses. First, the early maturing, nonbroody 
high that lays continuously at a high rate and makes a 
very high record (No. 4846, Fig. 3). Second, the late 
maturing nonbroody high that lays continuously at a high 
rate but makes a lower record than the first in direct pro- 
portion to the difference in maturity. (See Figs. 3 and 
4.) Third, the broody, early maturing high that lays at 
a high or fairly high rate'during the laying periods (not 
shown). Such a bird’s record is cut very materially by 
the broody periods. Individuals of this type are not very 
numerous during the winter period. Fourth, there is the 
high bird that exhibits a pronounced winter cycle or 
period of good production during the early part of the 
winter, but which stops after a time and may not lay at 
all for several weeks. This type is closely related to the 
bird that lays her eggs in clutches, but because of her 


232 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


early start makes a comparatively high record. Finally 
there is the type of bird shown by No. 4797, Fig. 11, that 
matures early, lays steadily and does not go broody but 
lays at a comparatively slow rate. Such birds may make 
high records, but they never make the highest ones. 

Mediocre producers (under thirty eggs) may result 
from any one of the various types previously described 
for high producers through the failure of one or more fac- 
tors. Thus, delayed maturity will cause a bird to fali 
below the dividing line at 30 eggs to a degree that will 
vary inversely with the age at first egg, due allowances 
being made for the date at which the individual was 
hatched (Fig. 4). Or a bird may fall below the required 
number of eggs through a slow rate of production (No. 
5080, Fig. 11, or Nos. 224 or 284, Fig. 12). The former 
type of bird (Fig. 4) would seem to be a late maturing 
high, since it is clear that its record results directly from 
the variability in time of first egg. Hence this type of 
mediocre producer is to be regarded as an artificial class 
rather than a real class as in the case of the birds typified 
by No. 5080. 

Zero producers, by definition, are birds that do not 
lay until after March 1, and need no further discussion, 
except to note that some of them clearly result from the 
combined effects of date of hatch and age at first egg 
rather than from an inherent inability to lay during the 
winter (i. e., from a lack of the winter cycle). 

There are, then, numerous types of records resulting 
from the interaction of the various components described 
in the earlier part of the paper. Although the records 
described are winter records, the observations apply 
equally to annual egg production. High egg production 
results only from a combination of the right set of fac- 
tors. If any one of several of these factors fail, egg pro- 
duction is lowered. 

(To be concluded.) 


BACTERIAL PHYLOGENY AS INDICATED BY 
MODERN TYPES! 


DR. R. E. BUCHANAN 


Iowa STATE COLLEGE 


THE importance of the group we call bacteria in any 
theories concerning the origin and evolution of life on our 
planet is well shown by several recent writers on the sub- 
ject, notably Jensen (1909), Osborn (1916), and Kligler 
(1917). Tn each case, however, there are certain misin- 
terpretations of our knowledge of the modern bacteria 
and their function which go far to invalidate, or at least 
to weaken, the specific conelusions which they reach with 
reference to the types of primitive bacteria. 

In our search for hints as to ancestral types by in- 
vestigation of modern species of bacteria we must hold in 
mind that although present-day bacteria approach most 
closely to what we conceive must have been primitive life, 
nevertheless and for this very reason the group of modern 
bacteria must have the longest evolutionary history of 
any existing group. That any modern species closely 
resembles the original type is therefore not extremely 
probable. It can not be too often emphasized that in 
speculations concerning evolutionary history based upon 
modern forms with no adequate fossil ancestral types we 
must deal only with the tips of the ultimate twigs of the 
branches of the evolutionary tree. By a careful com- 
parison of the surviving forms we may gain a knowledge 
of their probable relationships, but it should be remem- 
bered that in no case this relationship is that of parents 
and offspring, but that of brothers and cousins. Perhaps 
we may speculate upon the probable arrangement of the 
branches of the evolutionary tree that have disappeared 

1 From the Bacteriological Laboratories. 

233 


234 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


in past geologic ages by study of the survivors. but it is 
self-evident that there should be a perfect knowledge of 
these survivors, morphological and physiological, so that 
we may not be led astray by superficial resemblances 
when there exist, in fact, deep-seated and fundamental 
distinctions. 

The geologic evidence that has been adduced as to the 
character of the primitive bacteria i is of but the slightest 
value. Speculation as to the primitiveness of nitrogen 
fixers, for example, based upon the geologic evidence 
introduced is scarcely convincing. 

It should also be noted that it is quite possible that the 

bacteria do not constitute an homogeneous group in the 
sense that all are descended from a single primitive type 
of bacterium. It may be that there have been included 
in the group bacteria forms which have assumed similar 
morphological or physiological characters without having 
a common ancestry. Botanists, for example, at the 
present day are by no means convinced that seed plants 
have all had a common origin; in other words, the ability 
to produce seeds may have arisen independently in two 
or more groups of the fern plants. It is possible that 
some of the forms we term bacteria have been derived 
from the fungi, others from the blue-green alge or pos- 
sibly some even from the protozoa. In short, it may be 
that the actual relationships existing between various 
bacteria may be very distant. 
- A study of these modern bacteria will reveal relation- 
ships such as those just indicated. The possibility that 
the bacteria are a derived group must be constantly held 
in mind. To prove that they are primitive it must be 
shown that no group from which they might have sprung 
or to which they seem to be related can be regarded as 
more primitive. This has not been satisfactorily accom- 
plished in certain cases. 

Modern systematic bacteriologists are in fair agree- 
ment that there should be recognized five or six distinct 
groups or orders of bacteria. Of these, the Eubacteriales, 


No. 615] BACTERIAL PHYLOGENY 235 


or true bacteria, are generally regarded as the least 
specialized and possibly the most primitive. It is pos- 
sible that the great group of the sulphur bacteria, the 
order Thiobacteriales, is equally primitive, though the 
genera and species have been less studied and are not as 
well known. There are unquestionably many intergrad- 
ing forms between the Eubacteriales and the Thiobactert- 
ales, as shown by close parallel séries of morphological 
types. It seems equally clear that there are intergrading 
forms between the Thiobacteriales and the blue-green 
alge. Morphologically, too, one may find every grada- 
tion between the typical colorless, sulphur-containing 
Beggiatoa, through species of this genus showing bac- 
teriopurpurin, through the faintly colored, slender Oscil- 
latoria to the thick, deeply pigmented forms. If these 
intergradations and indicated relationships are real, it is 
apparent that the true bacteria may have come from the 
blue-green alge through the sulphur forms, or the blue- 
greens may have come from the true bacteria, or the 
sulphur forms may be closer than either of the other 
groups to the primitive types from which all three groups 
have been derived. While there is no definite proof ap- 
parently possible at the present time, it is not at all im- 
probable that the last assumption is the true one. A 
relationship quite certainly exists between the group of 
sheathed filamentous bacteria (the Chlamydobacteriales) 
and the blue-green alge. The resemblance is so well 
marked that certain species of the iron bacteria are quite 
commonly included by algologists among the alge. The 
relationship to the Eubacteriales is not quite so clear. 
Possibly the genus Spherotilus (Cladothrix) may be re- 
garded as a link, for this organism consists of rod-shaped 
cells occurring in chains, all embedded in a gelatinous 
sheath. Motile cells (gonidia) with polar flagella some- 
what resembling Pseudomonas types may be developed. 

- The fungi apparently are related to certain of the bac- 
teria through the Actinomycetales. This latter group 
has some resemblance to certain of the true bacteria such 


236 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LII 


as the Lactobacillus of sour milk and the diphtheria types. 
It is possible that these organisms together with a few 
genera from the Eubacteriales represent an entirely dis- 
tinct series. The Spirochetales apparently constitute a 
group showing combinations of characters which relate 
them to the Eubacteriales and the Thiobacteriales on the 
one hand, and the Protozoa on the other. The group 
Myzxobacteriales is apparently related to the true bac- 
teria, but not to higher groups of plants or animals, unless 
there may be some as yet undiscovered relationship be- 
tween these forms and the slime molds as suggested by a 
superficial study of their fruiting forms. 

The interrelationships just discussed among the vari- 
ous great groups of bacteria may be illustrated by the 
following diagram in which the connecting lines are in- 
tended to show relationship, but not necessarily deriva- 
tion. 


NO BLUÉ=GREEN ALGAE  / 


FUNG! PROTOZOA 


Actinomycerales ) 
re a 


7 SUNE MOLDS qa 


Fic. 1. CHART ILLUSTRATING THE PROB/ BLE INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF THE 
GREAT GROUPS OF BACTERIA AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO OTHER GROUPS, as 
Fungi, Blue-green Algae and Protozoa 


From the standpoint of the student of evolution the 
order Eubacteriales (possibly also Thiobacteriales) is of 
special interest, for within it is probably to be found 
greater variation in physiological activity than in any 
other group of plants or animals. A comparison of the 
modern forms belonging to this group may well give some 
hint as to their evolution. Too much can not be expected, 
however, without getting far into the realms of specula- 
tion. 

After rather careful consideration a committee of the 
Society of American Bacteriologists has proposed a list 


No. 615] BACTERIAL PHYLOGENY 237 


of names to be recognized as valid for the genera of this 
order. They have also suggested that these genera be 
grouped in seven families. Altogether twenty-eight 
genera are recognized. It should be possible, if adequate 
knowledge is at hand, and the Eubacteriales constitute 
an homogeneous group, so to arrange these genera as to 
show their probable and their possible relationships, and 
perhaps gain some knowledge thereby of their origin and 
evolution. 

From the standpoint of the evolution of bacteria we 
are much interested in the organisms which can live and 
grow in the total absence of organic matter, those which 
utilize inorganic substances exclusively in the manufac- 
ture of their own food, in short, those bacteria which are 
strictly prototrophic. 

Let us consider the possible sources of the various ele- 
ments needed in the building up of the primitive bacterial 
protoplasm. We have no reason to suppose that such 
primitive bacterial protoplasm differed in any marked 
degree from the protoplasm of modern forms. Such or- 
ganisms must have available carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, 
oxygen, sulphur, phosphorus and iron, with small quanti- 
ties of a few other elements. Upon the earth before the 
advent of other plant life, the carbon necessary for- 
growth would probably be secured from carbon dioxide, 
or possibly from methane or carbon monoxide; the hydro- 
gen was undoubtedly present in abundance in water, 
perhaps traces also of the free element, of methane, or , 
of ammonia may have been available; the nitrogen was - 
probably present in sufficient quantities either as ammonia 
or as nitrates, and of course in the form of less available, 
relatively inert, gaseous nitrogen; the sulfur probably 
existed as sulfids, sulfates, and free sulfur; the phos- 
phorus was probably found in phosphates and the iron in 
both ferrous and ferric condition. It is evident that ele- 
ments and compounds were present in abundance and 
variety, but not in the form of organic compounds. All 
modern living organisms are divided into those which 


238 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIL 


require their food to be ready manufactured for their use, 
and those which can manufacture their own food (proto- 
trophic). It is apparent that the primitive organism was 
probably prototrophie. 

The manufacture of food from inorganic materials re- 
quires the expenditure of energy. We must account, if 
possible, for the sources of such energy for the proto- 
trophic forms. Among modern organisms the energy 
needed is secured always from one of the two sources, 
light rays or chemical oxidation. While other types of 
energy are known, apparently plants have not been 
adapted to their utilization. If light rays were first used 
as an energy source, the primitive organism was prob- 
ably provided with some pigment which was of signifi- 
cance in the absorption of the light and in its conversion 
into chemical energy. Among modern forms which may 
have resembled such primitive organism may be cited the 
simpler types of the blue-green alge and the phototactic 
sulphur bacteria containing the pigment bacteriopur- 
purin. If the Chamberlin planetesimal hypothesis of 
earth origin is accepted, such might very possibly have 
been the primitive types. However, primitive conditions 
may have been such that light energy was not available. 

-Organisms developing under such conditions must have 
been directly dependent upon chemical energy. Such 
energy might be secured by the oxidation of ferrous iron, 
of free sulphur or of the sulfids (particularly hydrogen 

_sulfid), methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxid and am- 

_monia. Organisms among modern species are known 
which can utilize each of these methods of securing 
energy. There is no reason, therefore, why any one of 
these should not be a method used by a primitive form. 
The modern types of organisms which oxidize ferrous to 
ferric iron are in many respects among the most highly 
differentiated of the filamentous bacteria and show many 
points of resemblance to the blue-green alge. They show 
few primitive characters, and are probably to be regarded 
as not closely related to the primitive bacteria. 


No. 615] BACTERIAL PHYLOGENY 239 


A study of the organisms which at the present time are 
known to secure energy by the oxidation of H,S, CH,, H», 
CO and NH, show that they possess certain character- 
isties in common. For the most part the organisms are 
cocci or rods, occasionally spiral, in some cases motile, 
and then always with polar flagella. While there are 
some exceptions to the rule, the organisms for the most 
part do not thrive in a medium containing much organic 
matter. It is not improbable that the primitive organism 
had characters not greatly unlike these enumerated. 
Just what type of oxidation is most primitive it is diffi- 
cult if not impossible to determine, although certain con- 
jectures may not be out of place. Probably one of the 
most common of the easily oxidized substances of the 
primitive earth was hydrogen sulfid. It undoubtedly 
was a common constituent of thermal springs. The 
modern representatives of the groups which thrive in 
water containing hydrogen sulfid are abundant both in 
numbers and in species. By means of the energy which 
they secure from the oxidation of H,S and S they probably 
take up CO, and transform it into food and protoplasm. 
Apparently all of the forms which have been investigated 
are motionless cocci or rods or spirals motile by means 
of polar flagella. No modern form is known which pro- 
duces spores. Many of the species contain a pigment 
bacteriopurpurin and swim or grow toward light. show- 
ing positive chemotaxis or chemotropism. We may find 
every gradation between the modern representatives of 
these forms and the blue-green alge, on the one hand, and 
the true bacteria, on the other. Many of the blue-green 
alge contain a purple coloring material in addition to the 

blue and green pigments. From the standpoint of evolu- 
tionary requirements, therefore, it is evident that some 
primitive organism having much the same type of metab- 
olism as the modern sulphur bacteria would be a satis- 
factory starting form. y 

Before additional stress is laid upon a sulfur bac- 
terium as a possible progenitor of modern forms, we 


240 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


should examine carefully other possibilities. It is con- 
ceivable (though scarcely probable) that hydrogen may 
have constituted a larger percentage of the atmosphere 
in times past than now. Several species of modern bac- 
teria have been described which in the presence of hydro- 
gen and oxygen may secure their growth energy by com- 
bining these elements directly or indirectly. These 
species are motile rods with polar flagella. These 
modern members of the genus Hydrogenomonas, how- 
ever, are very far from primitive because under ordinary 
conditions they are pantotrophous growing well on ordi- 
nary laboratory media. Thus far no organism strictly 
prototrophic capable of utilizing hydrogen has been 
found. This does not prove that such organism has not 
existed, but throws the burden of proof upon any one 
who would urge hydrogen oxidation as a primitive method 
of securing growth energy. The results of Kaserer 
(1906) seem to indicate that the organism catalytically 
causes the transformation in the presence of hydrogen 
of carbonic acid into formaldehyde, the cell then using the 
formaldehyde as food. 

Methane and carbon monoxide are also oxidized by cer- 
tain of our modern bacteria, the organisms securing their 
growth energy in this manner. These organisms accord- 
ing to the descriptions are autotrophic and do not thrive 
in the presence of organic material. It is possible that 
these represent primitive characters. The organisms are 
rods, motile or non-motile, when motile with polar 
flagella. If either methane or carbon monoxide were 
common in the atmosphere of the early earth, forms of 
this general type may have flourished. ‘That these gases 
were sufficintly abundant does not seem probable, but the 
possibility must be admitted. | 

Several types of modern bacteria are known which 
oxidize ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates, utiliz- 
ing the energy thus secured for chemosynthesis of food 
from inorganic materials. At least one species of the 
nitrifying bacteria is a coccus, others are rods, motile by 


No. 615] BACTERIAL PHYLOGENY 241 


means of polar flagella. It is not at all improbable that 
ammonia may have been abundant enough on the primi- 
tive earth to have constituted an adequate energy source 
for the primitive bacteria. 

Which of these modern types most closely resembles 
the primitive organism living on autotrophic existence? 
It is perhaps impossible to say. The modern representa- 
tives of the nitrifiers and the methane and carbon 
monoxid oxidizers are apparently rather isolated groups 
without numerous species and apparently not closely 
related to other forms. The sulfur oxidizers, on the 
other hand, are abundant, of many types, and show many 
intergradations with other bacteria and the blue-green 
alge. Possibly a somewhat better case can be made out 
for them. However, it should be noted that all of these 
forms have certain characters in common, they are all 
autotrophic, all are aerobic, and when motile are elongate 
cells with polar flagella. It is perhaps a fair inference 
that the aerobiosis and the polar flagellation are primitive 
characters. We may well conclude with Jensen that al! 
of these organisms discussed are related and may be 


= LES...) 
( Thiomonas ? ) 
T 
S Girepsemenas) ( Nitrosorronas ) ( a NTN ) 
| Mitrosococcus ) (Hydrogenomonas ) genomonas E 


Citrobacter ) 
EUBACTERIALES 


Fic. 2. PROBABLE RELATIONSHIP OF CERTAIN MODERN GENERA OF BACTERIA TO 
HE PRIMITIVE ORGANISM AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO EACH OTHER, 


placed in a single group. Expressed in terms of modern 
representatives of the primitive types, the following dia- 
gram might express the idea. 

We may next concern ourselves with possible and 
probable relationship of these various forms to other 
members of the Eubacteriales, disregarding the Thio- 
bacteriales. The remainder of the Eubacteriales differ 
from the autotrophic forms thus far discussed in that in 


242 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


every case they require the presence of organic carbon 
compounds in the substrate in which they grow. These 
compounds may be of the greatest diversity of types, but 
none of the bacteria are capable of manufacturing their 
own carbon food. It is possible that other types of bac- 
teria than the prototrophic may not have developed upon 
the earth until after the evolution of higher plants, such 
as the alge, upon which they could depend for food. 
Possibly there may have been some start made, however, 
in the utilization by one type of organism of the dead 
bacterial protoplasm of another type. 

How may we detect relationships of modern meta- 
trophic bacteria to these more primitive types? Possibly 
by a study of intergrading forms. The genus Hydro- 
genomonas apparently is either autotrophic or meta- 
trophic according to the conditions of the environment. 
Some primitive organism may have acquired properties 
similar to those of the modern Hydrogenomonas and con- 
stituted the progenitors of the modern forms. Possibly 
this type of differentiation may have arisen in several 
groups. It is conceivable, for example, that some organ- 
ism having characters such as Nitrosococcus might have 
given rise to an independent branch, possibly to forms 
like Micrococcus. This, of course, is pure speculation. 

Among the metatrophic bacteria we are probably justi- 
fied in placing the genus Pseudomonas as most closely 
related to the forms discussed because of its close morpho- 
logic resemblance, with rod-shaped cell and polar flagella, 
to the autotrophic forms; then too, there is the evidence 
of the intergrading Hydrogenomonas. Somewhat less 
diversified in nitrogen metabolism are the related genera 
Azotabacter and Rhizobium, both usually with polar fla- 
gella, rod-shaped bodies, primitive nitrogen requirements, 
and marked capacity to utilize carbohydrates, oxidizing 
them quite completely to CO, and H,O. The supply of 
energy is so abundant to these organisms that in the absence 
of sufficient combined nitrogen in the substrate they can fix 
atmospheric nitrogen, and build it into their protoplasm. 


No. 615] BACTERIAL PHYLOGENY 243 


This nitrogen fixation must be carefully differentiated 
from the nitrification previously discussed. Probably 
the non-motile group Mycoderma which resembles the 
other organisms in ability to oxidize sugars (preferably 
ethyl aleohol), but is non-motile, should be placed here. 
These three genera are obligate aerobes and secure their 
growth energy by relatively complete oxidation of carbo- 
hydrates, alcohol or even acetic acid. They apparently 
constitute a natural group related to Pseudomonas. It 
should be recalled that a statement of relationship does 
not imply derivation, but simply common ancestry. 

We have now considered all the bacteria which show 
the primitive characters of polar flagellation and obligate 
aerobic utilization of carbonaceous foods. In the genus 
Pseudomonas we find evidences of differentiation in me- 
tabolism, particularly ability to bring about proteolysis. 
In some species we have evidences of adaptation to 
anaerobic conditions, among the so-called denitrifiers. 
Some members of this group are capable of taking oxygen 
from nitrite and nitrates under anaerobic conditions, with 
evolution of free nitrogen. Other forms are known that, 
can reduce sulfates to sulfids. Such facultative an- 
aerobes, securing oxygen from an easily reduced com- 
pound, evidently make use of the oxygen in the same 
manner as though growing under aerobic conditions for 
the oxidation of carbon compounds. The next step in the 
development of anaerobiosis was probably the utilization 
of carbon compounds, securing growth energy by intra- 
molecular oxidations; in such forms fermentative capacity 
becomes well EN 

The close relationship im morphology and physiology 
existing between the short spiral Vibrio and Pseudo- 
monas indicates that the family Spirillacee has come from 
an ancestry having much in common with Pseudomonas. 

The other bacteria belonging to the\Eubacteriales are 
more specialized in general morphology. and in physiol- 
ogy than the forms thus far mentioned. 7 ven motile the 
cells are peritrichous rather than with pblar flagella. 


244 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LI 


Some forms have developed the ability to produce endo- 
spores (family Bacillacee) and seem to comprise a 
closely related group of genera whose relationship to the 
more primitive types is somewhat problematic. Another 
well-marked group of bacteria includes the large series 
of (usually) gram-negative bacteria that produce no 
spores. These may be included in a family Bacteriacez. 
With the exception of polar flagella, there is no very 
marked difference between the Pseudomonas forms and 
the Proteus types. It is quite possible that they are 
closely related. The cocci apparently form another 
homogeneous group, the Coccacee. The affinities of the 
group may be sought in several places. For example, 
there is apparently very close resemblance culturally and 
physiologically between the chromogenic cocci and the 
chromogenic rods closely related to the genus Bacterium; 
the organism usually termed Bacillus prodigiosus (Ser- 
ratia marcescens) is remarkably near certain red cocci as 
Rhodococcus roseus.. The possibility that there is a rela- . 
tionship between the Nitrosococcus and Micrococcus has 
already been pointed out. Then there is a decided rela- 
tionship evident between the aciduric bacilli and the genus 
Streptococcus. All of these origins are possible; if all 
these relationships are true, the group Coccacee must be 
regarded as heterogeneous, that is, polyphyletic. 

The group containing the tubercle bacillus (Mycobac- 
terium) and diphtheria bacillus (Corynebacterium) 
shows undoubted relationships to the order Actinomy- 
cetales. If they have no common origin with other 
genera of the Eubacteriales they should be included in the 
order Actinomycetales. However, there is decided evi- 
dence of relationship through Leptotrichia and perhaps 
Erysipelothrix to the lactic acid bacteria. If this is a 
valid relationship it would indicate that the Actinomy- 
cetales are an offshoot of the Eubacteriales, or at least 
have a common ancestry. 

The various relationships illustrating the probable 
phylogeny of the class Bacteria is illustrated in the ap- 


BACTERIAL PHYLOGENY 245 


No. 615] 


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246 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


pended diagram. Relationships which have appeared 
probable to the writer have been indicated by solid lines 
connecting genera, possible relationships have been indi- 
cated by dotted lines. The genera comprising the fami- 
lies recognized by the Committee on Nomenclature as 
belonging to a single family are enclosed by a heavy line. 
Genera not recognized by the committee are enclosed in 
dotted lines. 

The foregoing analysis would seem to indicate that the 
grouping of genera by the Committee on Classification, 
with some slight modifications possibly, represents fairly 
well true phylogenetic relationships of the bacteria. The 
exact boundaries of the families are of course of little im 
portance providing the scheme of classification tends to 
show relationships. | 


DISPROOF OF A CERTAIN TYPE OF THEORIES 
OF CROSSING OVER BETWEEN 
CHROMOSOMES! 


PROFESSOR H. S. JENNINGS 


JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 


I 


Two types of relations have been proposed to account 
for the facts of “crossing over?” between pairs of char- 
acters that follow the same pair of chromosomes. One is 
a varying relation between the substances forming the 
factors belonging to diverse pairs in the same chromo- 
some; the other a varying relation between the two mem- 
bers of the same pair, in the two paired chromosomes. 

‘The former type is represented by the ‘‘chiasmatype”’ 
theory, held by Morgan and his associates, in which the 
diverse relations are held to be, or depend upon, the ac- 
tual diverse distances apart of the factors extended along 
the linear chromosome. When the chromosome breaks, 
for any cause, it is more likely to separate two factors far 
apart than two close together; on this depends the vary- 
ing cross-over ratios. 

The second type is that brought to notice recently by 
Goldschmidt (1917), and commonly called the ‘‘variable 
force” theory. It is conceived that the two members of 
a given pair, as A and a, in the two paired chromosomes, 
may be held or drawn to their places by a pair of varying 
forces, which allow them to exchange places on the aver- 
age in a certain proportion of cases; while B and b are 
held by a different pair of forces, which allows these two 
to interchange in a different proportion of cases; C and e 
by a still different pair, ete. The result would be diverse 

1 This paper arose and took shape during discussions on theories of 
erossing over in the Seminary on Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University. 

247 


248 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


ratios of crossing over when diverse pairs are compared; 
the cross-over ratio between A-a and B-b would be dif- 
ferent from that between A-a and C-c, and so on. It is 
this theory that I propose to examine. I do not under- 
stand that Goldschmidt commits himself to any form of 
this theory, or to any theory that is exclusively of this 
type, so that this discussion is not presented as a com- 
mentary on his views, but on this type of theory for its 
own sake. Is it possible to explain the observed ratios of 
crossing over by any theory of this type? 

To grasp the matter clearly, it will help to have an 
example before us. Let the following twelve groups of 
letters represent twelve pairs of chromosomes in twelve 
cells, each chromosome bearing two factors, which we 
will call A-B and a-b. The upper two letters in each 
pair show a single chromosome containing the factors 
A-B, the lower two the mated chromosome containing the 
factors a-b. 

I AB AB AB AB AB AB AB AB AB AB AB AB 
" ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab 

Now suppose that the forces holding A and a to their 
chromosomes are such that A and a exchange in one 
fourth of all cases, while B and b exchange in one third of 
‘all cases. That is, A and a exchange places in every 
fourth chromosome pair, B and b exchange places in every 
third pair. The letters that are thus to exchange with 
their mates are italicized in the pairs indicated above. 
The exchanges will evidently give the following result: 
TT AB AB Ab aB AB Ab AB aB Ab AB AB ab 

; ab ab aB Ab ab aB ab Ab aB ab ab AB 

my es Tr 


By a cross-over is meant the fact that two factors of 
diverse pairs, as A and B, which in the germ cells that 
formed the parent were following the same chromosome 
(as in I, above), are found in the germ cells from those 
parents (II, above) to be following diverse chromosomes 
(as in the third pair of II, above); while conversely the 
two factors A and b, which were following diverse 


No. 615] THEORIES OF CROSSING OVER 249 


chromosomes, are now following the same one. The 
cross-overs in II, above, are those indicated by the + 
sign; there are five of these. The ratio of the number of 
these new combinations (5) to the total number of germ 
cells (12) is the cross-over ratio; in this case the cross- 
over ratio'is %2, or .417. 

Examination of this case will illustrate an important 
fact. A cross-over is produced only when one of the two 
pairs exchanges while the other does not. In the last pair 
to the right, in the example given above, the members of 
both pairs exchange places, but this does not give a cross- 
over—since A and B are still together, as they were 
before the double exchange. 

Now if the number of exchanges for each pair of cells 
is different from that in the example given above, the 
resulting cross-over ratio will be different. By suppos- 
ing each pair of factors, A-a, B-b, C-c, D-d, ete., to have 
its own characteristically diverse frequence of inter- 
change of its members, all sorts of cross-over ratios could 
be obtained, varying from 0 to 1; that is, from no cross- 
overs to all cross-overs. The question in which we are 
interested is, could the observed cross-over ratios in such 
an organism as Drosophila be accounted for in this way? 

Tt is to be noted that the problem as we take it up is 
independent of the nature of the forces that hold A and a 
(and the other factors) in their places, and that permit 
them to exchange in a certain proportion of cases. These 
forces may be utterly heterogeneous in the different 
cases; they may turn out to be of any kind whatever, so 
far as this examination goes. We ask merely whether, 
if the forces, whatever they are, give a constant average 
proportion of interchanges characteristic for each pair, 
they can yield the cross-over ratios actually observed. 


: 

Tt is evident that on this theory there are two kinds of 
ratios to be dealt with: the ratio of the number of inter- 
changes of A and a (characteristic for each pair), and the 
ratio of the number of cross-overs, between two pairs A-a 


250 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


and B-b; the latter of these ratios depends on the former. 
We shall call the former the exchange ratio; the latter is 
commonly known as the cross-over ratio, which we will 
designate by the letter C. 

The exchange ratio signifies the ratio of the number of 
exchanges between A and a to the total number of germ 
cells: 

Exchanges 
— Total Number 

The eross-over ratio (C) signifies, of course (following 
Morgan and the general usage), the ratio of the number 
of cross-overs to the total number of germ cells or 
progeny: 


Exchange Ratio 


Cross-overs 
ae Total Number 

Goldschmidt (1917, page 90) has given a formula for 
the cross-over ratio resulting from any two exchange 
ratios, and has computed the resulting cross-over ratios 
from certain assumed exchange ratios. We shall give the 
formula a simpler expression than Goldschmidt has done; 
one that will enable us to determine its properties and 
limits of performance. 

In cross-over ratios we deal with two pairs of char- 
acters, which we may designate A-a and B-b. Let zx 
signify the exchange ratio for one of the pairs; and let y 
signify the exchange ratio for the other pair. Thus, if 
A and a interchange in one third of all cases, this pair’s 
exchange ratio x will be one third (or .33%); while if B 
and b interchange in two fifths of all cases, its ratio, y, 
will be two fifths (or .4). For convenience we will always 
choose x and y in such a way that if there is any differ- 
ence, x will designate the smaller ratio. That is, x will 
always be equal to or less than y. 

Now, suppose that originally the first chromosome of 
the pairs bears the two factors A and B, the second a and 
b (as in I, above). After crossing over in the proportion 


No. 615] THEORIES OF CROSSING OVER 251 


x, we shall have, in these first chromosomes of the pair, 
A and a in the following proportions: 


xa 
(1—x)A 
Similarly, in this same chromosome we shall find B 
and b distributed in the following proportions: 


yb 
(1—y)B 

(Thus, if A and a interchange in two fifths of all cases, 
then after interchange we shall, in the first chromosome, 
find a in two fifths of the cases, A in three fifths; and 
similarly for B.) 

What will then be the proportions of the various com- 
binations of the two pairs of factors? It will evidently be 


xa + (1—x)A, multiplied by 


yor ts ye 
= xyab + x(1— y)aB + y(1— x) Ab 


+ Us x) (17) 4B 


The cross-overs are aB and Ab, the proportion of which 
is evidently: 


x(l—y) +y(1—x) =x+y-— 2xy 


The same result will be reached if we consider the 
second chromosome of each pair (that which originally 
contained a and b); so that the same proportion holds for 
both together. This, therefore, gives us our formula for 
the cross-over ratio in terms of the exchange ratios of 
the two pairs. It is essentially the same formula em- 
ployed by Goldschmidt (1917), giving the same results, 
but written in more perspicuous form. | 

Let us therefore recapitulate in algebraic form the es- 
sential points. : 


252 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vor, LIT 


x = exchange ratio of one pair, 
y=exchange ratio of other pair 
(so selected that x =y). 


Then for the cross-over ratio (C) of the two pairs, the 
formula is 
r C=x+y— 2y. 


An example or two will make the use of this formula 
clear. Suppose that the exchange ratio of pair A-a is 
%; of B-b it is %. Then 


X= %; y=% 
l C =% +% — 2%.) = %s = 486 
Again, let 
Kids ye aoe 
C= .31-+ .34 — 2(.31 x .34) =.439 


(It is customary to express the results as percentages; 
thus the last example would give a cross-over ratio of 
43.9 per cent. For our purposes it is more convenient to - 
leave them as decimals.) 

Now this formula has certain characteristics and limita- 
tions that allow us to bring the theory on which it is based 
to a test. The theory is that each pair has its character- 
istic exchange ratio; if that be the case, this formula 
holds. 

We shall set forth certain of the important relations 
between cross-over ratio and exchange ratios, revealed 
by this formula; then show how these provide a test for 
the theory which the formula expresses. To aid in the 
comprehension of these relations, we give a table showing 
all cross-over ratios for two pairs of characters, resulting 
from the combinations of exchange ratios varying by 
tenths from 0 (no exchange) to 1 (all exchange). The 
table illustrates all the relations to be deduced from the 
formula. 


No. 615] THEORIES OF CROSSING OVER 253 


Exchange Ratio for One Pair (A-a). 
€i a USADO e AN LO 


0 0 .10 .20 .30 .40|.50|.60 .70 .80 .90 1.00 
.11 .10 .18 .26 .34 .42|.50|.58 .66 .74 82 .90 
21 .20 .26 .32 .38 .44|.50|.56 .62 .68 .74 80 
30 .34 .38 .42 .46| .50| .54 .58 .62 .66 .70 
40 .42 .44 46 .48| .50| 52 .54 56 58 -60 


.50 .50 .50 .50 .50/ .50| .50 .50 .50 .50 .50 


.60 .58 .56 .54 .52|.50|.48 .46 44 42 40 


80 .74 .68 .62 .56|.50 |.44 .38 .32 .26 .20 


.90 .82 .74 .66 .58 | .50 | .42 .34 .26 .18 .10 


Exchange Ratio for the Other Pair (B-b). 


3 
4 
5 
6 
71 .70 .66 .62 .58 .54|.50 | .46 .42 .38 .34 .30 
8 
9 
0 


1.00 .90 .80 .70 .60|.50|.40 .30 .20 .10 0 
A qQ—_— _ 


EXPLANATION OF THE TABLE 
Table of the values of the eross-over ratios resulting from. combina- 
tions of different = ratios, from 0 to 1, of two pairs of factors. 
Based on the formu 
(0=x4+y — oxy 
Where x=the exchange ratio of one pair, 


y=the exchange ratio of the other, 


snd. xa yy. 
Outside the square (above and to the left) are the exchange ratios, by 
tenths, from 0 to 1; within are the cross-over ratios. To find the cross- 


If the appir p quadrant: 
If x or y or both are below thè values given in the sui the cross- 
over pe is below the value giyen i in the tahe. Thus if x low .2 


10; hss eross-over anti is below — 
If x or y or both are above t values Es in the table, the cross- 
over value is above that given in o table 
In the lower right-hand qua adrant: 
it æ or y or both are above the values in the table, the cross-over value 
is below that given in the table. 


254 .THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


r y or both are below those in the table, the cross-over value is 
above that of the table 


In the other two quadrants (upper right and lower left): 
If x is smaller and on larger than in the table, the eross-over ratio is 
above that o tab 
If x is larger and y cs than in the table, the cross-over value is 
below that of the table. 
Example: x and y given; limits of C required: 
x==.16,. y==.29; C<.38 and >.26 
x= 09; y=:08; 0<:18-and >.0 
AA TO CO <A and 0.0% 
eS mir y hs: 0 <.00 and >.48 
C given; limits of x and y required: 
C=.434, x and y both =.434, or both =.566 
C=.021, x and y both =.021,'or both = .979 
OA y She 
C06; wf 04:33 96 
C==.50; x=.w50 : y= any. value from 0 to 1. 


The formula for examination is: 
C=x>+y-—2xy 
(in which x and y are proper fractions). 

1. Two exchange ratios, x and y, give the same cross- 
over ratio (C) as do their complements, 1 — x and 1 — y. 

or 

x+y — 2xy = (1—x) + (1— y) -2(1—x) (1 — y), 
as will be seen by performing the operations indicated in 
the second member of the equation. But this second 
member is the value of C for exchange ratios 1—x and 
1—y. 

For example, the two exchange ratios .2 and .3 give the 
same cross-over ratio as do the two exchange ratios .8 
and .7; for both cases C=.38. This relation is seen in 
the symmetrical constitution of the table; the cross-over 
ratio resulting from .1 and .2 is the same as that from 
9 and .8; the cross-over ratio resulting from exchange 
ratios .4 and .7 is the same as that resulting from .6 and 
.3, ete. The rule holds equally for values not found in 

the table; thus the cross-over ratio resulting from .011 


No. 615] THEORIES OF CROSSING OVER 255 


and .031 is the same as that resulting from .989 and .969. 

2. If one of the two exchange ratios is changed to its 
complement, the cross-over ratio is changed to its com- 
plement. 

That is, if the cross-over ratio resulting from x and y 
is C, the cross-over ratio resulting from x and 1—y, or 
yodi xia 1 C; 

For: 

x + (1— y) — 2x(1 —y) =1— (x+y — 2xy) 

But the first member of this equation is the cross-bver 
ratio from x and 1—y, while the second member is 1 
minus the cross-over ratio from x and y. The same 
result is reached if we take y and 1 — x. 

Thus, as the table shows, the cross-over ratio resulting 
from .2 and .3 is .38, so that the cross-over ratio from .2 
and .7 is .62, as is likewise the cross-over ratio from .8 and 
3 (.38+.62=1). Similarly, the cross-over ratio of .011 
and .031 is .0413; hence the cross-over ratio from .011 and 
.969 is .9587. 

3. When the cross-over ratio is less than %, the ex- 
change ratios x and y are either both greater than % or 
both less than 14; one can not be less than Y, the other 
. greater. That is: 

If C< 1 then either x < % and y<% or x>¥% and 
y>. For let us suppose that x = 12 — a and y = 12 + 
b, in which a and b are any positive quantities. Then 
‚C =x + y — 2xy = 2 + 2ab. Therefore x can not be less 
than % and y more than 4. 

On the other hand, if x = 12 — a and y= % — b, or if 
x= +a, y= 42 + b; in either case C=x + y — 2xy = 
Y) —2ab. So that in these cases the cross over-ratio C is 
less than %. 

4. Conversely to 3, when the exchange ratios x and y 
are both less than 1, or when they are both more than Y, 
the cross-over ratio is less than Y. 

That is, when x<% and y< Y, or when x>% and 

y > 16; in either case C < Y. This was proved under 3. 
5. When the cross-over ratio is greater than Yo, one ex- 


256 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LII 


change ratio is less than 1⁄2, the other greater than 4. 
That is: If C>%, then x< Y, y >%. This also was 
proved under 3. 

6. Conversely to 5, when one exchange ratio is less than 
lo, the other greater than Y, the cross-over ratio is 
greater than Y. That is: If x< Yo, y > Yo, then C > Y. 
This also was proved under 3. 

All these relations are evident in the table. 

7. When the cross-over ratio is less than Y, the two 
exchange ratios are either both equal to or less than the 
eross-over ratio; or both equal to or more than the com- 
plement of the cross-over ratio. They can not have any 
value lying between the cross-over ratio and its comple- 
ment. That is: When C < Y, either x and y each = C or 
x and y each = 1 — ; 

This is an EE TEAS important principle, on (hich the 
final test of the theory depends. It is proved as follows: 

In 3 we saw that if the cross-over ratio is less than 12, 
either x and y are both less than 14; or both of them are 
greater than 1⁄2. 

(a) Let us take first the case where x and y are each 
less than 4%. In this case, in the formula C =x +y — 
2xy, the quantity 2xy is smaller than x, and smaller than 
y. For since x is less than Y, 2x is less than 1, whence 
it follows that 2xy is less than y; and the same reasoning 
shows that 2xy is likewise smaller than x. Hence the 
formula for C subtracts from the sum of x and y a quan- 
tity smaller than y; it therefore leaves a quantity larger 
than x; and the same reasoning shows that it leaves a 
quantity larger than y. Only in the limiting case that 
x=0 does y= 

(b) Take next the other possible case, in which x and 
y are both greater than 4%. In this case 1—x and 1— y 
are both less than 1⁄2. Thence it follows (by the reason- 
ing just employed) that 

(1—x) + (1— y) — 2(1—x)(1— y) 
is greater than 1—x and greater than 1—y. But, as 
was seen in (1), 


No. 615] THEORIES OF CROSSING OVER 257 


(1—x)+(1— y) — 2(1—x)(1—y) =x +y- 2xy=C 
So that in this case C>1—x and C >1—y. . 
Thus the fraction C is nearer to 1 than the fraction 
1—x. If therefore we subtract the fraction C from 1, 
it will leave a smaller number than if we subtract the 
smaller fraction 1 — x from 1. Thatis:1—C <x. 

And in the same way it can be shown that 1— C <y. 
Only in the limiting case that y=1 does x = 1 — C. 

The general principle in this section can be expressed 
as follows: 

When the cross-over ratio is less than o, the two ex- 
change ratios, x and y, either both differ from 0 by less 
than the cross-over ratio, or both differ from 1 by less 
than the cross-over ratio. 

This relation is well seen in the table. For example, 
for the cross-over ratio .38 the two exchange ratios are 
either .3 and .2 (both less than .38), or they are .8 and .7 
(both greater than .62, the complement of .38). 

8. Conversely to 7: 

If both exchange ratios, x and y, are less than %, both 
are equal to or less than the cross-over ratio. 

If both exchange ratios, x and y, are greater than Y, 
both are equal to or greater than the complement (1 — C) 
of the cross-over ratio. 

9. When the cross-over ratio C is above 1%, one of the 
exchange ratios (x) is equal to or less than the comple- 
ment of the cross-over ratio (1— C), while the other (y) 
is equal to or more than the cross-over ratio (C). 

Or otherwise expressed: 

When the cross-over ratio is above 12, one of the ex- 
change ratios (x) differs from 1 by an amount equal to 
or more than the cross-over ratio, while the other (y) 
differs from 0 by an amount equal to or more than the 
cross-over ratio. Thatis, when C>%,1—x=C,y Z0, 
orx=1-—C,y=C. 

This can be proved by methods similar to those em- 
ployed in 7. 

10. Conversely to 9: 


260 - THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


high or very low), they can not together give cross-over 
ratios of the more intermediate values. For example (as 
our table shows), if two factor pairs each give, with any 
other, cross-over ratios below .10, they can not give 
together a cross-over ratio lying anywhere between .18 
and .84. If the two pairs each yield any cross-over ratios 
lying below .20, they can not give together a cross-over 
ratio lying between .32 and .68. These and many similar 
relations, illustrated in the table, are inherent in the 
theory we are considering, but are completely opposed to 
what is found in nature. 
IV 

These facts completely refute any theory which holds 
that the observed constant cross-over ratios between pairs 
of factors are the result of constant exchange ratios be- 
tween the two members of a given pair—exchange ratios 
that are characteristically diverse for the different pairs 
(such theories as that outlined by Goldschmidt, 1917). 
The refutation is independent of the question of the 
nature of the forces involved; whatever the forces, if they 
give constant average exchange ratios for each pair, the 
results are bound to be inconsistent with the observed 
cross-over ratios. No theory will hold that does not 
provide for diverse relations between the different factors 
in the same chromosome, such that some tend to cling 
together more frequently than others. 

Possibly some elements of the theory that diverse ex- 
change ratios are characteristic for different pairs might 
be retained, if there be added provision for modification 
of the exchange ratio in a given pair, depending on 
whether or not exchange occurs in some other pair. It 
might be held, for example, that A and a are more likely 
to exchange if in the same cell B and b have exchanged; 
or the reverse. This would give a theory of mixed type, 
which added to the forces regulating the exchange be- 
tween two members of a pair, other forces causing two 
given pairs to tend to do the same thing, or the opposite 


No. 615] THEORIES OF CROSSING OVER 261 


thing. The “variable force” theory would therein ap- 
proach the chiasmatype theory, in which the diverse rela- 
tions between the factors belonging to different pairs are 
the primary, if not the exclusive, elements considered. 

As theories of other type become successively modified 
so as to take into account the known facts: the fact that 
the chromosome actually is a linear aggregate; the fact 
that the two chromosomes while in this linear condition 
pair and intertwine; the fact that cross-overs occur only 
at the period when this occurs; the fact that two reces- 
sive allelomorphs when mated do not produce normals, 
while two recessives not allelomorphs do; the fact that 
after two factors, A and B, are found to hold together in 
one generation, if we mate their cross-overs A-b and 
a-B, we now find that it is A and b, not A and B that 
tend to hold together (Bridges, 1917); the fact that when 
a given factor is lost from a chromosome, others that 
have low cross-over ratios with that factor are also lost 
(Bridges, 1917a);—when the modifications required for 
bringing these facts into relation with each other and 
with others are introduced, it appears that the resulting 
theory will come more and more to resemble the chiasma- 
type theory. No theory is adequate that does not include 
and bring into relation the facts just mentioned. for a 
correct theory is nothing but a presentation of the facts 
in their correct (verifiable) relations. 


PAPERS CITED 

Bridges, C. B. 

1917. An Intrinsic Difficulty for the Variable Force Hypothesis of 

Crossing Over. AMERICAN NATURALIST, 51: 370-37 

Bridges, C. B. 

1917a. Deficiency. Genetics, 2: 445-465. 
Goldschmidt, R. 

1917. Crossing Over ohne Chiasmatypie? Genetics, 2: 82-95. 

Sde T. H., and Bridges, C. B. 

1916. j linked Inheritance in Drosophila. Publication No. 237, 

Carnegie Institution of Washington. 87 pp. 


SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 


NOTE ON THE COLORATION OF PLANES MINUTUS! 


Ir is well known that the coloration of the grapsoid crab Planes 
minutus, a constant member of the Sargassum fauna, is ‘‘homo- 
ehromie”” to a high degree, not only as to tint and mottling, but 
also in the frequent oceurrence of a bloteh of pale yellowish or 
blank white upon the carapace; this has generally been supposed 
to be a mimicking of the white patches of encrusting bryozoa and 
Spirorbis tubes, which commonly infest the Sargassum.?. Ex- 
periments made to discover the extent of possible color changes 
in the adult Planes when it is placed over variously pigmented 
artificial bottoms have led to no result, other than to show—con- 
formably with what is known for some other crustacea possessing 
a dense body pigmentation, as contrasted with a relatively scanty 
supply of well-scattered chromatophores—that the power of 
color adaptation is decidedly limited. It is, therefore, of interest 
to make record of an instance in which pronounced color adapta- 
tion of Planes had occurred in nature. 

In January, 1916, after a rather severe gale, there was found 
stranded upon one of the reef ‘‘heads’’ at Bermuda a large 
‘‘ Spanish cedar” tree. It is certain that the tree had been in 
the sea for some time, as the surface layer was thickly populated 
by Teredo and boring amphipods. The trunk, the stumps of the 
roots and the submerged branches of the tree were covered with 
a forest of barnacles, Lepas anatifera, from among whose smoky- 
brown erectile peduncles were obtained a vast number of adult 
Planes minutus that were adhering to the more or less honey- 
combed parts of the exposed bark and wood. Without excep- 
tion the crabs were deep brownish-red, save for the frequently 
occurring dorsal white patch. This pigmentation harmonized 
precisely in general tint with the mahogany-colored surface of 
the cedar tree. 

The interest of thin: case lies in its demonstration that these 
erabs—prominent members of that specialized gulf-weed fauna 
which has been urged as part of an argument for the antiquity 

1 Contributions from the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, No. 
84. po 


2.Cf. Verrill, 1908, Pl. XII; ns and Hjort, 1912, p. 671, Pl. VI. 


No. 615] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 263 


of the floating beds of Sargassum (Collins, 1917), probably 
for generations experiencing no other habitat than the gulf- 
weed—having yet retained a considerable capacity of color 
adaptation. Among Sargassum the hues of Planes vary consid- 
erably,* but the color of the present specimens was very much 
darker and redder than that of any I have seen described. The 
color agreement could hardly have resulted from a general stain- 
ing of the crabs following ingestion of pigment derived from the 
tree, as the characteristic white blotch upon the dorsum was 
fully as well, if not somewhat more, developed in many of these 
specimens, than in the common ones living upon gulf-weed. 
Spectroscopic examination of alcoholic extracts of these crabs 
showed that the pigment was not detectably different from that 
of Planes taken on Sargassum. Whether the white patch repre- 
sents in this instance an inherited tendency to lack of pigment 
on that area, or is rather to be regarded as (in addition) a 
mimicking of the white valves of the accompanying Lepads, is a 
question; the conspicuous development of the white shield, its 
large size and precise outline in more than 50 per cent. of the 
individuals, suggests the possibility of the latter alternative. 
Presumably the floating cedar tree was invaded by Planes 
larvæ, which developed upon this dark reddish-brown substratum, 
and, like Hippolyte in the experiments of Gamble and Keeble 
(1900), produced there a pigmentation of corresponding appear- 
ance. In this way a coloration might be acquired which the 
crabs probably could not, at least quickly, have accomplished by 
adaptive color change in the adult state. No color changes were 
detected when these dark crabs were kept for six days upon 
Sargassum, in bright light. i 
REFERENCES 
Collins, F. 8. 
1917. The Sargasso Sea. Rhodora, Vol. 19, pp. 77-84. 
Gamble, F. W., and Keeble, F. W. 
1900. ERWA varians: A Study in Color-Change. Quart. Jour. 
Micros. Sci, Vol. 43, pp. 589-698. 
Murray, J., and Hjort, J. 
1912. io Depths of the Ocean. London, 8vo., xx + 821 pp. 
Verrill, A. 
1908. oi Crustacea of pe aa I: Brachyura and Anomura. 
Trans. Conn. Acad. Arts and Sci., Vol. 13, pp. 299-474. 
AGar’s ISLAND, 
BERMUDA MW... CROZIER. 
3 Cf. Murray and Hjort, 1912, Pl. VI. a 


264 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST -°  [VoL. LII 


THREE MUTATIONS IN PREVIOUSLY KNOWN LOCI 


THREE mutations is the sex-chromosome have occurred in my 
cultures of Drosophila melanogaster (ampelophila). Two were 
reappearances of genes already known, namely, white and rudi- 
mentary ; the third was the appearance of a new gene at the white 
locus and has been named coral, symbol w“. In each case it is 
clear that the changes occurred in the wild type gene of a mater- 
nal chromosome. The evidence also indicates that the new gene 
arose relatively late in the history of the egg in each case, whereas 
if the mutation had occurred in the early oogonial stages several 
individuals with the new gene should have appeared. In eases 
where such information is known, it seems worth recording since 
it will make possible a later consideration of the relative stabil- 
ity of genes by a summing up of the frequen, of mutations in 
the different loci. 

As has been pointed out by Muller! recessive genes might ex- 
ist for a long time before making an appearance, in case they 
were closely linked to a lethal. The character produced by the 
gene would ultimately be allowed to appear as the result of a 
cross over which would separate the gene and the lethal from 
the same chromosome. Previous to the time of crossing-over the 
character produced by the gene would never be seen, since all 
individuals pure for it would also be pure for the lethal and not 
survive. The gene could be indefinitely transmitted: along with 
the lethal through heterozygous individuals. I mention this 
point because it is necessary in establishing the time of origin 
of a mutation to consider whether its appearance may be due 
merely to its recent | separation from a lethal, which had obscured 
it. The three mutations dealt with here could not have been 
masked by a lethal because they were in the X-chromosome, and 
the presence of a lethal would have been apparent, as it would 
have produced a lethal sex ratio. No such lethal ratio has been 
found in connection with any of the three mutants either before 
or since their appearance. In these cases, then, it is safe to as- 
sume that the appearance of the first mutant marks the time of 
the mutation. If the mutation had occurred in earlier genera- 
tions, several individuals bearing the character would have ap- 
peared instead of one. 

In the case of the reappearance of a character, careful consid- - 
eration must be given to the possibility of contamination, as has 

_1Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., Vol. 3. 


No. 615] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 265 


been pointed out by Morgan and Plough This possibility has 
been taken into account and is discussed with reference to the 
appearance of each gene in that particular section. 


ORIGIN AND DESCRIPTION OF CORAL 

Coral arose in a mating of an eosin miniature bar-eyed male 
to a forked female with normal eyes. This female was a ‘‘sec- 
ondary exception”” from an XXY mother which had had no sex- 
linked eye color in her pedigree. Among 279 offspring that 
_were of the expected classes and showed no lethal sex ratio, there 
was found about the middle of the count one heterozygous bar 
female which seemed to be ‘‘exceptionally’’ dark eosin. An eosin 
eye color in a female would be impossible to account for, since 
to be a female she must have obtained one of the mother’s chromo- 
somes, both of which carried normal red factors, as well as 
receiving the eosin bar chromosome of the father. A mating 
to one of her red-eyed brothers showed at once that the supposed 
eosin female was actually heterozygous for eosin and for a new 
allelomorph (coral) as she gave two kinds of sons, eosin and 
coral, while the daughters were eosin and the compound eosin- 
coral. The eosin-coral females are darker than pure eosin fe- 
males and the original female was of this nature. 

Coral is the seventh mutant allelomorph to be found in the 
white locus and counting the wild type gene forms with them a 
system of eight allelomorphs. In the order of their discovery 
these are: red, white, eosin, cherry, blood, tinged, buff and coral. 
Coral does not show bi-colorism, but is the same for males and 
females. It is similar to the color of very dark coral. It is 
darker than all the other members of this series with the possible 
exception of blood which according to the description of Hyde 
in his discussion of blood? shows a considerable variation of 
color according to cultural conditions. The color of coral is very 
close to the darker shades of blood, but is much darker than the 
lighter shades and does not show any such variations in range of 
color. Coral is distinctly darker than cherry and the other 
lighter members of this series. Coral is a dull color and does 
have the brightness of color of the wild stock, neither does it 
show the fleck in the eye. 

The original coral. female was re-mated to a white male from 
stock and behaved genetically, as would be expected on the as- 

2 AMER. NAT., Vol 

3 Genetics, 1, Kariah, 1916. 


266 ‘THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou, LII 


sumption that coral was a member of the white allelomorphie 
series. The heterozygous white-coral compound in the female is 
intermediate in color between the two pure stocks. Coral is re- 
cessive to red. A coral male crossed to a yellow-white female 
gave all yellow-white sons and the intermediate (compound) 
white-coral daughters. Evidently the mutation took place in the 
wild-type gene of the mother, since it is that gene which did not 
oceur in the daughter while the eosin gene of the father is re- 
tained. It also occurred near the maturation divisions as only 
one individual of the kind appeared. If the change had oe- 
curred in the early stages of the egg, it would probably have re- 
sulted in several of the offspring showing the new character. 


REAPPEARANCE OF WHITE 

In a cross of a bar male to a red-eyed female, which produced 
251 offspring without a lethal sex ratio, one male was obtained 
which was white, although there was no white in the pedigree of 
either parent. This fly was found in one of the last counts of the 
bottle and had the appearance of being a young fly. Counts 
were made from the bottle every two days. Since I had no cul- 
tures going at that time which contained white and had had no 
white flies in my etherizing bottle previously, the fly can not be 
accounted for by assuming that it had remained in the etherizing 
bottle from a previous count of another bottle. It is highly 
probable, though not absolutely certain from these considera- 
tions that this white male was not due to contamination, but 
rather to a mutation in the wild type gene of a maternal chromo- 
some. We may be sure that this change took place in the ma- 
ternal chromosome rather than in that of the father, since males 
always receive their one X-chromosome from the mother except 
in relatively rare cases of non-disjunction, and in this case the 
male would have been bar. 

In appearance the new white is not distinguishable from ‘the 
white of the original stock and is quite without color in both 
males and females. Dr. A. H. Sturtevant has been testing the 
effect of various concentrations of aleohol in extracting color 
from the eyes of flies which are members of this multiple allelo- 
morphic series and kindly added this new white to the material 
which he tested. He reported that the new white is acted upon 
exactly as is the original white. Genetic results showed the new 
white to behave as an allelomorph of the old. The new white 
male was crossed to a red sister and the offspring were all red. 


a 


No.615] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 267 


The F, generation gave females all red and the males in. equal 
classes of red and white, which is the genetic behavior expected 
for a sex-linked gene. To test whether this white was in the 
same locus as the old white, a white male of this stock was 
crossed to a yellow-white female from the original stock. The 
sons were yellow white and the daughters were white, not yellow, 
since yellow is recessive and was not carried by the father. No 
difference could be observed in eye color between either sex of 
the new white, or the daughters compounded from the two 
whites, and the males and females of the original white. It 
seems reasonable to conclude then that the white gene has reap- 
peared by a second mutation from the red gene. 


SECOND ORIGIN OF GENE FOR RUDIMENTARY WING 

There appeared in a eross of an eosin miniature male to a 
broad, vermilion, forked female (both from stock cultures, all 
characters mentioned being sex linked) one son which was ver- 
milion, forked like the mother, but which also had shortened 
wings. This wing character was later shown to be rudimentary. 
Crossovers in later generations showed that the maternal gene 
for broad was also present, but its effect was obscured by the 
rudimentary in all cases where both occurred together. This 
male so obtained and bearing genes for broad, vermilion, rudi- 
mentary and forked was outerossed to a virgin wild type female 
to test whether the new character was of a genetic nature. The 
F, flies were normal in all respects. One pair of these produced 
117 sons which were classified with respect to the characters ver- 
milion, rudimentary and forked, while no attention was paid to 
broad, which did show in certain crossovers where it was sepa- 
rated from rudimentary. Out of 117 males, 3 were crossovers 
between rudimentary and forked, which gave a percentage of 
crossing-over of 2.6, whereas the value given by Morgan and 
Bridges* is 1.4 on the basis of a much larger number of flies. 
There were 27 crossovers between rudimentary and vermilion, 
which is a percentage of 22.2, while the above authors put it at 
24.1. The nature of the crossovers obtained showed that the 
gene for the wing character was between vermilion and forked, 
which agrees with the assumption that it is a new appearance of 
rudimentary. The crossover values obtained are sufficiently 
near to expectation to justify this assumption in view of the 
small number of flies. Crosses were made to the stock rudimen- 

4 Carnegie Pub. No. 237, 1916. 


268 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


tary to make sure that the new gene was at the rudimentary 
locus. Since homozygous rudimentary females show a high de- 
eree of sterility, the rudimentary stock is kept by crossing it to 
forked and using normal-winged females that are heterozygous 
for both rudimentary and for forked. One of the new rudimen- 
tary males was crossed to such a heterozygous female and the 
new rudimentary was shown to be an allelomorph of the old, as 
both rudimentary sons and daughters were obtained in practi- 
eally equal numbers. The new rudimentary stock resembled the 
old as regards the sterility of the homozygous females. Miss C. 
J. Lynch in this laboratory tested several and reported that they 
showed the same high degree of sterility. Since the new char- 
acter has the same appearance as old rudimentary, this seems to 
be merely the reappearance of that gene. 

In this case it is clear that the change occurred in one of the 
maternal sex-chromosomes which already carried three sex- 
linked genes. The linkage relations of the new gene to these 
maternal genes make its origin in the maternal chromosome cer- 
tain. Moreover, the male could have received his sex-chromo- 
some only from his mother, as otherwise he would have been an 
XO male and would haye been sterile.® The fly could not be ac- 
counted for on the assumption of contamination, as there are no 
flies of that particular constitution in the laboratory. The muta- 
tion was from the normal gene at the rudimentary locus. The 
appearance of only one individual indicates that the change oc- 
eurred late in the history of the egg. 


SUMMARY 
1. Two mutations have occurred at the white locus in the nor- 
mal red gene, giving rise to a reappearance of white and to a new 
gene which produces an eye color called coral. 
2. Coral is the eighth member of the multiple allelomorph 
series at the white locus. 
3. Rudimentary reappeared as a change from the normal gene 
at Miot locus in a maternal chromosome. 
; LITERATURE CITED 
Bridges, C. B. 
1916. Non-disjunction as Proof of the Chromosome Theory of 
Heredity. Genetics, I, 1-52, 107-163. 
Hyde, Roscoe R 
1916. e New Members of a Sex-linked Eco Allelomorph Sys- 
tem. Genetics, I, 535-580. 


_ 5 Bridges, Genetics, II, 1916. 


No.615] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 269 


Morgan, T. H., and Bridges, C. B. 
1916. Sex- linked Inheritance in Drosophila. Carnegie Publication No. 
237. 


Morgan and Plough. 
1915. Appearance of Known Mutations in other Mutant Stocks. 
ER. NAT., Vol. XLIX, 
Muller, H. J. 
1917. An Qnothera-like case in Drosophila. Proc. Nat. Acad. Bei., 
Vol. 3 D. E. LANCEFIELD 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


EVIDENCE FROM INSULAR FLORAS AS TO THE 
METHOD OF EVOLUTION 


EVIDENCE as to the rôle which hybridization plays in evolu- 
tionary change may be obtained from various insular floras by 
a comparative study of the history of those plant types in 
them which are prevailingly self-fertilized and those which are 
prevailingly cross-fertilized, both as to the rapidity with which 
new local species are produced and as to the frequency with 
which old species disappear. With these points in view, analy- 
ses have been made of the vascular plants in the floras of eight 
islands or island groups: Ceylon, Mauritius, Socotra, New Zea- 
land, Hawaii, Galapagos, Juan Fernandez and St. Helena.* In 
all these there is a conspicuous, often predominant, element 
in the flora which is strictly local or endemic, indicating that 
each island has been the theater of considerable evolutionary 
change. 

Information is necessarily lacking as to the method of fertili- 
zation of most of the species, but our general knowledge of the 
reproduction of the higher plants allows us to divide them into 
three main types. The dicotyledons and petaliferous monocoty- 
ledons, possessing floral organs which in the great majority of 
cases are attractive to insects, are doubtless prevailingly cross- 
pollinated. In the glumaceous monocotyledons, on the other 
hand (chiefly Graminee, Cyperacex and Juncacee), the floral 
organs are not so constructed as to favor cross-pollination, and 
it will probably be agreed that crossing is much less common 

* These analyses are based on the following authorities: Trimen, Hand- 
book of the Flora of Ceylon; Baker, Flora of Mauritius and the Seychel- 
les; Balfour, Botany of Socotra; Cheeseman, Manual of the New Zealand | 
Flora; Hillebrand, Flora of the Hawaiian Islands; Stewart, Botany of the 
Guipa Islands; Johow, Flora de las Islas de Juan Fernandez; Melliss, 
St. Helena; and Hemsley, Report on the lhe saa cui Expedition: 
Botany. 


270 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


among them than in the petaliferous types. Finally, in the 
vascular eryptogams, the very frequent occurrence of bisexual 
gametophytes seems to insure a still greater prevalence of self- 
fertilization. 

The vascular flora of each island was divided into thea three 
groups which were studied comparatively. Determination was 
first made as to the percentage of local or endemic species in each 
group. This degree of endemism provides us with a rough meas- 
ure of the extent to which new forms have been developed on the 
island, and thus allows us to compare the rapidity of evolution 
in one floral group with that in the others. In the following 
table are set forth the percentage of endemic species in each of 
the three main groups which we have mentioned, and for each 
of the islands: 


TABLE I 
PERCENTAGE OF ENDEMIC SPECIES IN VARIOUS FLORAL ELEMENTS 
3 p 2 ha g 
£ É El g< | 3 oe | £8 E 
31318 1881 s [393 939| 5 
ie ce ie E Š i 
pags trae and Petaliferous Mono- mi 
cido o ey A g 0 0 
Pie. 65% 
Glumaceous Monocotyledons ......... 11 ¡14 S. 56 160 130 137 87 
Average, 38% 
Vascular Cryptogame. i.o oimn le $120 510 180.151 DS 44 
rage, 23% 


It is evident that the proportion of endemic species is much 
higher among those types which we have reason to believe are 
prevailingly crossed than among those which are prevailingly 
selfed, being highest among dicotyledons, lower among gluma- 
ceous monocotyledons and lowest among vascular cryptogams. 
The same fact appears among genera, for 95 per cent. of the 
endemic genera of these islands belong to petaliferous types and 
only 5 per cent. to the glumaceous monocotyledons and vascular 
eryptogams. These facts all point to the importance of hybridi- 
zation as a factor in the production of new species. 

The other aspect of evolutionary change, namely the disap- 

10f course not all the endemic forms can be regarded as of local origin, 
since certain of them may be isolated relicts of types formerly more widely 
spread. The proportion of these, however, which have not subsequently 

undergone specific change, and thus developed true local types, is probably 


No. 615] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 271 


pearance of species, seems also to be influenced by the method 
of fertilization. Many of the genera which are themselves not 
endemic on any island are nevertheless represented there now 
only by endemic species. In such cases it seems clear that the 
first representative of the genus to invade the island has since 
disappeared there entirely and been replaced by local species. 
Table II gives the percentage of such genera (not endemic but 
represented only by endemic species) for each of the three plant 
types which we have discussed and for all the islands. 


TA 
PERCENTAGE OF THE NON-ENDEMIC GENERA WHICH ARE REPRESENTED ONLY 
Y ENDEMIC SPECIES 


pay vind a Got ee 
a 5 2 = 5 g 
RIA IE 
19173 e Sai ans 
| = Z e] E A 
Dicotyledons and petaliferous mono-| 
DO o A aso 9% 128% 29% (44% 57% | 16% 52% |100% 
Average, 42 % 
° 
Glumaceous porro ee A FONE I2 IO 40 411.788 T 83 
age, 26 | 
TER Sense A oa cre « 3 0 ¡0 ae 18 |.0 19 25 
, 10.5 % | i 


It is evident that genera in nibh A ihe ‘original species’’ has 
become extinct are proportionally commonest among dicoty- 
ledons, less common among glumaceous monocotyledons and rare 
among vascular eryptogams, thus suggesting that hybridization 
has resulted in the ‘‘swamping out'” of the early forms. If local 
adaptation and natural selection alone were at work, it is hard 
to see why extinction should not be equally common in all these 
groups. The facts point to the importance of hybridization in 
- completely altering specific type when a group of individuals 
have been isolated from the main body of the species. 

Against the soundness of these conclusions several points may 
be urged. Vascular eryptogams are perhaps inherently less 
variable and quick to produce new species than flowering plants. 
It may be, too, that eross-fertilization is much more common 
among them than is generally believed. Whether the recognized 
“species”? among these plants is the equivalent of the “species” 
among angiosperms, or is a much more inclusive group, is also 
a matter of doubt. These points can not well be brought against 
the glumaceous monocotyledons, however, as contrasted with the 
petaliferous types. Whatever its interpretation, the fact seems 


212 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LE 


clear that among dicotyledons and petaliferous monocotyledons 
new types are produced and old types lost much more quickly 
than anywhere else in vascular plants, a fact which in the light 
of our knowledge of methods of reproduction certainly supports 
the view that hybridization has been a powerful factor in evo- 
lutionary change. 
SUMMARY 

Evidence from a comparative study of endemism in various 
elements of certain insular floras tends to show that among cross- 
fertilized types new species are developed more rapidly and old 
ones lost more frequently than among self-fertilized types, thus 
emphasizing the importance of hybridization as a factor in evo- 
lutionary change. Epmunp W. SINNOTT 

CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 


A LAND PLANARIAN FOUND AT BERMUDA! 


In 1902 Professor Verrill recorded (‘‘The Bermuda Islands,”” 
p. 436, Fig. 237), that there had been reported to him the find- 
ing at Bermuda of a ‘‘worm’’ which appeared to be a land 
planarian. With the possible exception of this worm, which may 
have been a Bipaliwm, no land planarians have been seen at 
Bermuda. While collecting earthworms, in September, 1917, I 
obtained among moist decaying leaves in a ‘‘fertilizer pit’’ at 
Point Shares, Pembroke Parish, a single specimen of a flatworm 
which seems to be a species of Geoplana. The ‘‘pit’’ was in use 
as a dumping ground for garden refuse, and since no land plana- 
rians appear to be native to Bermuda, the worm may have been 
introduced in company with plants. It was 50 mm. long and 

mm. wide, pale greenish blue on the ventral surface,—which 
bore a rather small oral sucker in the usual position,—the ground 
color of the dorsal surface being a deeper shade of the same 
greenish blue, but marked with two deep blue or black longi- 
tudinal stripes running the whole length of the animal. Two 
well-developed pigment spots were present, one on either lateral 
margin of the anterior end. It is not impossible that this species 
might become permanently colonized at Bermuda (although no 
other specimens have been found), and this note may therefore 
be of use in fixing the date of its earliest observed appearance. 

. J. CROZIER 
AGAR’S ISLAND, BERMUDA 
1 Contributions from the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, No. 


THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST 


Vout. LIT. -~ June-July, 1918 Nos. 618-619 


THE RÔLE OF REPRODUCTION IN EVOLUTION! 
PROFESSOR E. M. EAST 
BUSSEY INSTITUTION, HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


Tue establishment of methods of reproduction which 
maintain variation and inheritance mechanisms on a high 
plane of efficiency is naturally a fundamental requirement 
in organic evolution. Since, however, inheritance mech- 
anisms presumably equivalent are common to every method 
of reproduction, one should be able to interpret the evolu- 
tionary tendencies in the matter by comparing their 
effectiveness in offering selective agencies their raw ma- 
terial. Some will hold this statement to be a self-evident 
truth; others may maintain as strongly either that the 
premises are wrong or that the conclusion is not justified 
even if the premises be granted. Perhaps it is safer to 
ply the middle course; if the case is not so obvious as a 
Euclidian axiom, as a compensation rigorous proof may 
be less difficult. 

As a basis for argument, let us sketch the general trend 
of reproductive evolution in plants and animals. 

Ordinarily, one speaks of two types of reproduction 
among organisms, asexual and sexual. This is a conven- 
tion that has taken on the dignity of a ‘‘ folkway ’’ among 
- biologists. Its employment should imply assent to the 
proposition that the varied forms in which each of these 
classes presents itself are inherently equivalent, and that 

1 Read by title at the Symposium of the American pod of Naturalists 
on the subject ‘‘ Factors of Organic Evolution,’’ Jan. 5, 


274 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


the groups considered as units are fundamentally distinct, 
but it is doubtful whether any such implication would be 
admitted by the majority of its users. In fact one could 
hardly maintain that simple division, sporification, the 
production of gemmules, true budding, fragmentation 
with regeneration of parts, and the various kinds of 
apogamy and parthenogenesis on the one hand, and all 
nuclear fusions on the other, can be grouped together as 
if they are of the same evolutionary value, if this term be 
used in any narrow or special sense; but from a broader 
viewpoint, the conventional classification has a real and 
deep meaning which perhaps the biologist has grasped 
instinctively. | 

There are both asexual and sexual methods of repro- 
duction in nearly all groups of animals and plants; among 
animals the second has almost supplanted the first, among 
plants the two have continued side by side. In neither 
kingdom was sex developed as a more rapid means of 
multiplication, since, as Maupas showed, a single infuso- 
rian may become the progenitor of some 50,000 individuals 
during the time necessary for one pair to conjugate. 
Some other requirement was fulfilled; and fulfilled ade- 
quately if we may judge by the number of times sexual 
differentiation arose and the tenacity with which it was 
retained. 

Just when sexual reproduction first originated in the 
vegetable kingdom is still a question. Among the lower 
forms only the schizophytes, flagellates and myxomycetes 
have passed it by. Perhaps it is for this reason that 
these forms have remained the submerged tenth of the 
plant world. It is tempting, as Coulter (1914) says, to 
see sex origin in the Green Alge. There, in certain 
species, of which Ulothria is a good example, spores of 
different sizes are produced. Those largest in size germi- 
nate immediately under favorable conditions and produce 
new individuals. Those smaller in size also germinate 
and produce new individuals, but these are small and 

their growth slow. Only the smallest are incapable of 


Nos. 618-619] THE ROLE OF REPRODUCTION 275 


carrying on their vegetative functions. These come to- 
gether in pairs. Two individuals become one as a pre- 
requisite to renewed vigor. Vegetative spores become 
gametes. Something valuable—speed of multiplication 
—is given up for a time that something more valuable in 
the general scheme of evolution may be attained. 

This is indeed an alluring genesis of sex. Let us use 
the indefinite article, however; no doubt it is a genesis of 
sex, but it can havdly be the genesis of sex. Various mani- 
festations of sex are present in other widely separated 
groups of unicellular plants, the Peridinex, the Conjugate 
and the Diotome*—+the Conjugate being indeed the only 
great group of plants in which there is no asexual repro- 
duction. In these forms one can not make out such a good 
case of actual gametic origin, but the circumstantial evi- 
dence of sex development in parallel lines is witness of its 
paramount importance. 

After the origin of sex, many changes in reproductive — 
mechanisms occurred in plants, but almost all of them 
resulted merely in greater protection of the gametes, in 
increased assurance of fertilization, or in provision for 
better distribution. First there was a visible morpho- 
logical differentiation of gametes, the one becoming a 
large inactive cell stored with food, the other becoming 
small and mobile. Then came the evolution of various sex 
organs, and finally the alternation of generations. In the 
higher plants a long line of changes have occurred con- 
nected with the alternation of generations; the spore-pro- 
ducing type has developed from a form of little impor- 
tance to that which dominates the vegetable world, the 
gamete-producing type has degenerated until it consists 
of but two or three cell divisions. In these variations 
there is reproductive insurance, something which also may 
be said of those manifold adaptations which provide 
zygotic protection either in the seed or the adult plant, 
but they are no more direct changes in reproductive 
Mechanism than are the diverse means which arose to 


secure dispersal. In fact in all of these changes no new 


276 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


process of fundamental evolutionary significance oc- 
curred, unless it be the various mechanisms devised to 
promote or to insure cross-fertilization, and which may be 
interpreted as variations tending to perfect sexuality. 

Coincident with the general trend of plant evolution 
just mentioned, two important changes in the nature of 
retrogressions occurred, which have persisted in many 
species. A new type of asexual propagation arose, 
apogamy, which though it appeared under several guises, 
apogamy in the narrow sense, partl genesis and poly- 
embryony, is none the less asexual reproduction returned 
under another name and apparently with no particular 
advantages over the older types. Further, hermaphrodit- 
ism was developed and has persisted in numerous lines. 
We may be wrong in calling hermaphroditism a retro- 
gression, for it has the great advantage of a certain 
economy of effort in the production of gametes, but never- 
theless it is certainly a change which per se is in the 
opposite direction from that established when sex was 
first evolved. A moment of consideration not only makes 
this clear, but gives us a pretty satisfactory proof that 
the gain made when continuous multiplication was halted 
for a time by the intervention of a fusion at the genesis 
of sexual reproduction was in some way connected with 
the mixture of dissimilar germplasms. This conclusion 
is hardly avoidable from the fact that although herma- 
phroditism retained the cell fusion mechanism of gono- 
chorism it was still necessary for Nature to evolve means 
for eross-fertilization. And the multitude of ways in 
which she solved this problem must mean that an im- 
mense advantage was secured. 

In spite of the great morphological differences between 
animals and plants, the essential evolutionary changes 
affecting reproduction in the two kingdoms have been 
so similar as to be almost uncanny. ‘Accepting the divi- 
sion of animals into twelve phyla as recognized by many 
modern zoologists (Parker and Haswell), one finds the 
following facts regarding reproduction. Asexual repro- 


Nos. 618-619] THE ROLE OF REPRODUCTION 277 


duction in the narrow sense is common in Protozoa, Porif- 
era, Coelenterata and Platyhelminthes, and is sporadic in 
Molluscoida, Annulata, Arthropoda and Chordata. If 
fragmentation and regeneration be included, Echinoder- 
mata and possibly Nemathelminthes are added. If 
parthenogenesis is included, Trochelminthes is admitted. 
Thus only the Mollusca have no form of asexual reproduc- 
tion, and zoologists would hardly feel safe in maintaining 
its absence there since the life history of so many forms is 
unknown. This being the case, one must admit that 
asexual reproduction has been found satisfactory for 
most of the great groups of animals as far as actual 
multiplication is concerned. For other reasons, however, 
it evidently did not fulfill all requirements, since sexual 
reproduction is established in every phylum. Further; 
omitting the Protozoa in which it is difficult to decide such 
sexual differences, gonochorism is present everywhere 
except in the Porifera, and hermaphroditism everywhere 
except in the Trochelminthes, although in Nemathel- 
minthes, Echinodermata and Arthropoda it is rare. 
Now if our conclusions regarding the true róle played 
by sex in evolution are correct, hermaphroditism is a 
secondary and not a primitive phenomenon. In this we 
follow Delage, Montgomery and Caullery rather than the 
majority of zoologists. We believe it to be the only 
logical view in spite of the fact that the Porifera, usually 
considered so unspecialized, are all hermaphroditic. 
Perhaps the Porifera are farther along in specialization 
than is admitted, for to find the substance nearest chemi- 
cally to the so-called skeleton of the sponges one must 
tùrn to the arthropods (the product of the spinning glands 
of certain insects). Hermaphroditism, therefore, as in 
plants, is from this viewpoint a regression. And as in 
plants it was not found adequate. In giving up diecism 
for monecism, something was lost, and this something had 
to be regained by further specialization. Hence, even as 
in the vegetable kingdom one finds the essential feature of 
bisexuality, mechanisms providing for mixtures of dif- 


278 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


ferent germplasms, restored by means of protandry, 
protogyny or self-sterility. 

In even such a brief consideration of the more im- 
portant changes which have occurred in the reproductive 
mechanisms of animals and plants, one thing stands out 
impressively. Both animals and plants have adopted as 
the most acceptable and satisfactory modes of reproduc- 
tion, methods which are identical in what we deem to be 
the essential features, something that can be said of no 
other life process. These significant features are the 
preparation of cells which in general contain but half of 
the nuclear material possessed by the cells from which 
they arise, which are differentiated into two general 
classes that show attraction toward each other, and which 
will fuse together in pairs to form the starting point of a 
new organism. This parallel evolution is of itself valid 
evidence of the importance of the process. Let us return 
to our original proposition for its interpretation. 

First, is there any evidence that sexual reproduction 
differs from asexual reproduction in what may be called 
the heredity coefficient? In other words, does one method 
hold any advantage over the other as an actual means for 
the transmission of characters? I have answered this 
question in the negative, but it must be confessed that the 
basis for this answer is a long and intimate experience in 
handling pedigree cultures of plants rather than the study 
of a large amount of quantitative data bearing directly 
on the problem. Quantitative data are to be found, of 
course, and plants furnish the best material because of the 
ease in handling large numbers of both clons and seedlings 
side by side; but even with the best of plant material, 
several undesired variables are present. Practically the 
inquiry must take the form of a comparison between the 
variability of a homozygous race when propagated by 
seeds and when propagated by some asexual method. 
The first difficulty is that of obtaining a homozygous race 
and thus eliminating Mendelian recombination. The 
traditionally greater variability of seed-propagated 


Nos. 618-619] THE ROLE OF REPRODUCTION 279 


strains is due wholly to this difficulty, I believe. It may 
be impossible to obtain a race homozygous in all factors. 
There may be a physiological limit to homozygosis even 
in hermaphroditic plants. The best one can do is to use 
a species which is naturally self-fertilized, relying on con- 
tinued self-fertilization for the elimination of all the 
heterozygous characters possible. I have examined many 
populations of this character in the genus Nicotiana and 
have been astounded at the extremely narrow variability 
they exhibit. Even though one can not grow each mem- 
ber of such a population under identical conditions as 
to nutrition, the plants impress one as if each had been 
cut out with the same die. Qualitative characters such as 
color show no greater variation, as far as human vision 
may determine, than descendants of the same mother 
plant propagated by cuttings. Further, in certain char- 
acters affected but slightly by external conditions, such 
as flower size, the sexually produced population not only 
shows no greater variability than the asexually produced 
population, but it shows no more than is displayed by a 
single plant. ‘Yet one must remember that in such a test 
the seeds necessarily contain but a small quantity of 
nutrients, and for this reason the individual plants are 
produced under somewhat more varied conditions than 
those resulting from cuttings, hence it would not have 
been unreasonable to have predicted a slightly greater 
variability for the sexually produced population even 
though the coefficient of heredity of both were the same. 

I have made similar though less systematic observa- 
tions on wheat—an autogamous plant almost as satis- 
factory for such a test as Nicotiana—with practically iden- 
tical results. I do not know of any published data on the 
subject, however, taken either from these or any other 
plants. In fact, there are few other plants from which 
data could be obtained with so little likelihood of experi- 
mental error. 

On the other hand, zoology has furnished a consider- 
able amount of such evidence (cf. Casteel and Phillips, 


280 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


1903; Kellogg, 1906; Wright, Lee and Pearson, 1907). 
One need only mention Kellogg’s work on bees as a type. 
Kellogg assumed that if amphimixis were the principal 
cause of the continuous variations postulated by Darwin 
and Weismann as the most important source of material 
for the use of the natural selection,? parthenogenetically 
produced individuals should be less variable than those 
produced sexually. /A' statistical investigation showed, 
however, that the characters of drones probably are more 
variable than those of worker bees of the same race. 
Since Kellogg believes Darwin’s judgment that “males 
vary more than females”? to have been disapproved, he 
concludes that ‘‘amphimixis is not only not necessary in 
order to insure Darwinian variation, but there is no evi- 
dence (that I am aware of) to show that it increases 
variation.” 

It is hardly necessary to point out here the numerous 
mathematical and biological pitfalls which should be con- 
sidered before one could accept as valid the statistical 
differences that appear to exist when coefficients of varia- 
tion based on such data are examined. It should suffice to 
note that the researches of Wright, Lee and Pearson 
(1907) on wasps of the species Vespa vulgaris showed 
just as great a difference in variability between workers 
and drones in favor of the former. Apparently, the sta- 
tistics in these two nearly related groups lead to opposite 
conclusions; in reality probably neither statistical differ- 
ence is significant as far as the question we are discussing 
is concerned. The only conclusion justified by such data 
would seem to be that the coefficient of herédity is as high 
in the production of asexual as it is in the production of 
sexual forms. | 

Moreover, one can not expect anything more definite 
from this method of attack. Biologists may differ as to 

21t should be noted here that all parthenogenetic eggs are not mere 
spores. Some preparation often occurs through the emission of one polar 
body. This may be merely a kind of recapitulation, a vestigial process no 
longer having any significance whatever, but since we are not certain it 
seems to the writer that the evidence from plants at present must be re- 
garded as stronger. 


Nos. 618-619] THE ROLE OF REPRODUCTION 281 


the definition of fluctuation, mutation, etc., but they are 
generally agreed that germinal variations, be they great 
or small,are in most species so rare they can not be gauged 
by the use of ordinary statistical methods. For this rea- 
son, a comparison between the variability of the drones 
and of the workers of a pure race of bees is not likely to 
show any difference between these two modes of repro- 
duction in the matter of the frequency or the type of the 
germinal variation produced, and can not answer the ques- 
tion as to whether sexual reproduction contributes more 
material for the use of natural selection than asexual re- 
production. A study of variability in crossed races, 
where the effect of Mendelian recombination can be con- 
sidered, would be a more logical attack upon the second 
problem, but is hardly necessary in view of the other 
evidence available. 
One is then justified in claiming there is no experimental 
evidence to show that sexual reproduction in itself is not 
an exact equivalent of asexual reproduction in the matter 
of a heredity coefficient, but is this also true for germinal 
= variation? ¡We believe it is. Variations there are in 
both asexual and sexual reproduction, but it can not be 
maintained that they occur more frequently in the latter. 
There are insects in Oligocene amber apparently identical 
with those of to-day, proving that constancy. of type is 
possible through long periods of time under sexual repro- 
duction; yet germinal variations occur to-day in some- 
what noteworthy numbers, as Morgan’s work on Dro- 
sophila shows, although the proportion of these varia- 
tions which show possibilities of having an evolutionary 
value, as evidenced by persistence in natural types, is 
probably small. On the other hand, the number of varia- 
tions produced under the dominance of asexual repro- 
duction can not be said to be less numerous, even among 
organisms of a relatively high specialization. If there 
are those who doubt this statement, let them refer to the 
immense list of bud-variations in the higher plants com- 
piled by Cramer (1907). 
There would be little reason in ogashing the claims 


282 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIL 


further, since even though there does not seem to be a 
sufficient difference between sexual and asexual reproduc- 
tion in the matter of variation frequency to make it a 
subject of experimental proof, certain theoretical points 
raise the suspicion that there is such a difference. All we 
would maintain is that to account for the general persist- 
ence of sexual reproduction by such a cause, the differ- 
ence in its favor should be so great that it could easily be 
determined experimentally. Since this is not true, we 
believe the hypothesis should be discarded. 

The points of theory referred to are these. It will be 
allowed by all that there is some considerable evidence of 
the chromosomes being the most important conservators 
of hereditary factors—the physical bases of heredity in 
whatever form they may be. If it is assumed then that 
changes in constitution in these cell organoids are fol- 
lowed by changes in type, and that such changes in con- 
stitution are equally probable in all chromosomes, it 
follows that parthenogenetic individuals having the hap- 
loid number of chromosomes should show a larger propor- ' 
tion of germinal variations than members of the same 
species having the diploid number of chromosomes, be- 
cause variations of all kinds should be recognizable in the 
former case, while in the latter, recessive variations could 
not be detected until the first or second filial generation, 
and then only when the proper mating was made. ‘There 
is some evidence that this reasoning is not wholly improb- 
able. But variations occur much more frequently in 
heterozygotes than in homozygotes. To me this simply 
means that bud-variations are detected more frequently 
in heterozygotes than in homozygotes: and an interpreta- 
tion is not hard to find. Retrogressive variations are 
much more frequent than progressive variations, and a 
retrogressive variation in a particular character shows 
only when the organism is heterozygous for that character. 
If a retrogressive bud-variation arises in a homozygote 
and gametes are afterwards developed from the sporting 
branch it is not at all unlikely that the variation may show 

in the next generation, but it will be attributed then to 


Nos. 618-619] THE ROLE OF REPRODUCTION 283 


gametic mutation. If one compares asexual and sexual 
reproduction from the standpoint of frequency of varia- 
tion only, then sexual reproduction may seem to hold the 
advantage over asexual reproduction in the usual sense; 
but parthenogenesis, which is certainly a form of asexual 
reproduction, is in theory better adapted than sexual re- 
production for giving large numbers of variations. 

If, therefore, one is constrained to agree that the bulk 

of the evidence points to a practically identical coefficient 
of heredity for both forms of reproduction, and that varia- 
tion in the sense of actual changes in germinal constitu- 
tion may occur with greater frequency in asexual repro- 
duction, if there is any difference at all between the two 
` forms, he is driven either to the ‘conclusion of Maupas 
that continued asexual reproduction is impossible through 
some protoplasmic limitation or to the conclusion of Weis- 
mann that a mixture of germplasms offers sufficient ad- 
vantages to account for everything. This is the dilemma® 
unless one wishes to maintain that efficient mechanisms 
-for nutrition, adaptation, protection and distribution 
could not be evolved or maintained under asexual re- 
production. 

The contention of Maupas can not be dealt with experi- 
mentally any more successfully than the question as to 
the inheritance of acquired characters since experimental 
time and evolutionary time are not of the same order of 
magnitude. The long-continued experiments of Wood- 
ruff in which vigorous strains of paramecium have been 
kept dividing asexually for several thousand generations, 
however, as well as the botanical evidence that numerous 
species having no sexual means of multiplication have 
continued to exist during long periods of time, weight the 
balance against him. One need not hesitate to concede 
that all of these organisms are rather low unspecialized 
types; the modern development of genetics has built up 
such a solid structure in favor of Weismann’s view that 
there is little need of argument along the older line. ~ 

3 Naturally another hypothesis wholly new to biology may be submitted 
at any time. 


284 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


The main argument in favor of Weismann’s viewpoint 
does not take long to state. It is this: Mendelian heredity 
is a manifestation of sexual reproduction. Wherever 
sexual reproduction occurs, there Mendelian heredity will 
be found. The very fact that it describes the sexual 
heredity of both animals and plants is sufficient proof of 
its generality in this regard. Now if N variations occur 
in the germplasm of an asexually reproducing organism, 
only N types can be formed to offer raw material to selec- 
tive agencies. But if N variations occur in the germ- 
plasm of a sexually reproducing organism 2” types can be 
formed. The advantage is almost incalculable. Ten 
variations in an asexual species mean simply 10 types, 10 
variations in a sexual species mean the possibility of 1,024 
types. Twenty variations in the one case is again only 20 
types to survive or perish in the struggle for existence; 20 
variations, in the other case, may present 1,032,576 types 
to compete in the struggle. It is necessary to hedge the 
argument by pointing out that these figures are the maxi- 
mum possibilities in favor of sexual reproduction. It is 
improbable that they ever actually occur in nature, for 22 
types really to be found in the wild competing for place 
after only 20 germinal variations would mean an enor- 
mous number of individuals even if the 20 changes had 
taken place in different chromosomes, and if the varia- 
tions were linked at all closely in inheritance the number 
required would be staggering. But there are breaks in 
linked inheritance, and the possibility is as stated. 

These advantages remain even though it should be shown 
later that the more fundamental and generalized char- 
acters of an organism are not distributed by Mendelian 
heredity. Loeb (1916) believes that the cytoplasm of the 
egg is roughly the potential embryo and that the chromo- 
somes, distributed as required by the breeding facts of 
Mendelian heredity, are the machinery for impressing the 
finer details. There is something to be said for this point 
of view, though at present it is but a working hypothesis. 
But granting its truth it does not detract from the ad- 
vantages gained by sexual reproduction. Even the most 


Nos. 618-619] THE ROLE OF REPRODUCTION 285 


strict mutationist would hardly maintain that evolution in 
general has come about through tremendous changes in- 
volving sterility between the mutant and the parent types. 
It seems unnecessary to deny such possibilities; but the 
weight of evidence is in favor of the majority of varia- 
tions being comparatively small, changes in detail, the 
very kind which are known to be Mendelian in their in- 
heritance. 

Yet sexual reproduction in itself does not assure these 
advantages, though they are based upon it. There must 
be means for the mixture of germplasms. This oppor- 
tunity was furnished originally by bisexuality. Then 
came hermaphroditism, manifestly an economic gain, yet 
on the whole unsuccessful except as functional bisexuality 
was restored by self-sterility, protandry, protogyny or 
mechanical devices which promoted cross-fertilization. 

The prime reason for the success of sexual reproduc- 
tion then, as Weismann maintained, is the opportunity it 
gives for mingling germplasms of different constitution 
and thereby furnishing many times the raw material to 
selective agencies that could possibly be produced through 
asexual reproduction. Further, there are three minor ad- 
vantages which rest upon the same mechanism. They are 
minor advantages only when compared to the major, and 
should not be passed by. 

Let us first consider heterosis, the vigor which accom- 
panies hybridization. This phenomenon has long been 
known. It is characteristic of first generation hybrids 
both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. It affects the 
characters of organisms in much the same manner as do 
the best environmental conditions. in other words, the 
majority of characters seem to reach the highest de- 
velopment in the first hybrid generation. ‘The hybrid in- 
dividual therefore holds some considerable superiority 
over the individuals of the pure races which entered into 
it, and is thereby the better enabled to survive and to 
produce the multiplicity of forms which its heterozygous 
factors make possible. The frequence of this phe- 
nomenon, for it is almost universal, together with the fact 


286 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


that it seems impossible to fix the condition, led Shull and 
the writer independently to the conclusion that certain 
factors in addition to their functions as transmitters of 
hereditary characters also had the faculty of carrying 
some sort of a developmental stimulus when in the hetero- 
zygous condition. The recent work of Morgan on linked 
characters, however, makes it possible to give another 
interpretation, as Jones (1917) has demonstrated. If it 
be assumed that several variations have occurred in each 
of one or more chromosomes, then it can be shown that the 
first-generation hybrid between such a variant and the 
race from which it arose will bring together all dominant 
or partially dominant characters. In the second hybrid 
generation, on the other hand, Mendelian recombination 
steps in and makes it improbable that many individuals 
shall have such a zygotic composition. And only in the 
rare cases where the proper breaks in linkage have oc- 
curred can a homozygous individual of this type be 
produced. 

The latter hypothesis holds the advantage that it 
furnishes hope for a homozygous combination as valuable 
as that of the first hybrid generation no matter how 
rarely it may be assumed to occur, but whether it holds 
for the majority of organisms or not may depend on a 
future decision as to the frequency of side-by-side 
synapsis as compared to end-to-end synapsis. Our knowl- 
edge of linkage rests almost entirely on Morgan’s work 
on Drosophila where side-by-side synapsis occurs at the 
maturation of the germ cells. If the break in linkage be- 
tween groups of characters apparently carried by a single 
chromosome, which Morgan finds to be so exact in Dro- 
sophila, should actually depend on Jannsen’s theory of 
chromosome, twisting at synapsis, then some other type 
of inheritance may be found in species having end-to-end 
synapsis. Perhaps this is the reason why the (Enotheras 
have such a peculiar heredity, for in them Davis (1909) 
thinks end-to-end synapsis prevails. But, be this as it 
may, the vigor of first generation hybrids is a fact and 

not a theory, and the advantage it brings to the hetero- 


Nos. 618-619] THE ROLE OF REPRODUCTION 287 


zygotic individual in competition with its fellows can not 
be gainsaid. 

The investigations of Shull and of the writer on the 
effects of cross- and self-fertilization have brought to 
light another series of facts with a bearing on the problem 
under discussion. It has been shown that the apparent 
deterioration of cross-bred species when self-fertilized is 
in large measure and perhaps wholly due to the loss of 
hybrid vigor* through the formation of homozygotie 
Mendelian recombinations and not an effect of inbreeding 
per se because of the union of like germplasms. This is 
a plausible argument against Darwin’s idea that con- 
tinued inbreeding is abhorrent to Nature. It may even 
be said to be a valid reason for declining to accept 
-` Maupas’s belief in the impossibility of continued asexual 
reproduction, for there is no very good reason for dis- 
tinguishing between continued asexual propagation and 
continued self-fertilization. Inbreeding simply brings 
about the opposite effect from crossing, and we can see 
no reason for the comparative failure of naturally inbred 
types in the wild other than the lack of chances for 
progress. The one is the conservative manufacturer who 
continues the original type of his article, the other is the 
progressive who makes changes here and there without 
discouragement until the acceptable improvement is 
found. In fact, if this argument be overlooked, the in- 
bred types which have persisted hold some advantages 
over the cross-bredtypes. The self-fertilized species are 
inherently strong and vigorous, witness tobacco and 
wheat. They stand or fall on their own merits. They 
are unable, as are cross-bred species, to cover up in- 
herent weakness by the vigor of heterozygosis. Cross- 
fertilized maize has become the king of cultivated plants 
because of its variability, but many of our best varieties 
carry recessive characters very disadvantageous to the 
species. 

The next secondary advantage of sexual reproduction is 

4 Accepting the view that the vigor of the first hybrid generation is due 
to dominant characters meeting makes this argument even more forcible. 


288 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


the division of labor made possible by secondary sexual 
characters, using the term very, generally and including 
even such differences as those which separate the egg 
and the sperm. Itis not known just how these differences 
arose or by what mechanism they are transmitted. The 
greatest hope of reading the riddle lies in an investiga- 
tion of hermaphroditic plants, for there are technical 
difficulties which seem to preclude their solution in ani- 
mals. For example, breaks in the linkage between sex- 
linked characters occur only in the female in Drosophila, 
and as the sex chromosome is double in the female, it 
can not be determined whether the differentiation be- 
tween male and female is due to the whole chromosome or 
not. But this ignorance does not give reason for a denial 
of the great advantage which sexes bearing different 
characters hold over sexes alike in all characters except 
the primary sex organs. 

The only glimpse of the truth we have on these matters 
comes from recent work on the effect of secretions of the 
sex organs on secondary sexual characters. The effect of 
removing the sex organs and the result of transplanting 
them to abnormal positions in the body have shown that 
in vertebrates the secretions of these organs themselves 
activate the production of the secondary sexual char- 
acters. This does not seem to be the case in arthropods, 
however, so one can not say that primary sexual differ- 
entiation and secondary sexual differentiation is one and 
the same thing. ! 

Finally there is a presumable advantage in gonocho- 
ristic reproduction in having sex-linked characters. We 
say presumable advantages, for all of the relationships 
_ between sex and sex-linked characters are not clear. The 
facts are these: One sex is always heterozygous for the 
sex determiner and the factors linked with it. Now it 
may very well be that there is an actual advantage in the 
heterozygous condition, as we have seen above. But 
should the so-called vigor of heterozygosis prove to be 
only an expression of the meeting of dominant characters, 
still a possible advantage accrues to this phenomenon be- 


Nos. 618-619] THE ROLE OF REPRODUCTION 289 


cause the mechanism contributes toward mixing of germ- 
plasms. As an example, let us take the Drosophila type 
of sex determination. There the sperm is of two kinds: 
the one containing the sex chromosome and its sex-linked 
factors, the other lacking it. The eggs are all alike, each 
bearing the sex chromosome. It follows then that the 
male always receives this chromosome from his mother, 
who may have received it from either her father or 
mother. Moreover, further variability may be derived 
from the linkage breaks which occur always in the female. 
This last phenomenon is hardly worthy of special men- 
tion, however, until it is shown to be typical of such 
reproduction. 

This short reconnaissance presents the pertinent facts 
in the situation as they appear to the writer. A very 
great number of interesting things connected with repro- 
duction during the course of evolution have not been men- 
tioned. This is because it is felt that the essential feature 
of the róle of reproduction in evolution is the persistence 
of mechanisms in both the animal and plant kingdoms 
which offer selective agencies the greatest amount of raw 
material. Other phenomena are wholly secondary. 


LITERATURE CITED 
Casteel, D. B., and Phillips, E. F. 1903. rs amine the Variability of 
Drones daa Workers of the Honey Bee. Biol. Bull., 6: 18-37. 
Coulter, J. M. 1914. The Evolution of Sex in "Plant Chicago, Uni- 
1- 


versity of Chicago Press. Pp. 
Cramer, P. J. S. 1907. Kritische Ubersicht der bekannten Fille von 
Knospenvariation. Natuurkundige a eae van de Hollandsche 


Maatschappij der Wetenschappen. Derde eto Deel VI, Derde 
Stuk. Haarlem, De Erven o pp. iii—xviii + 4 
me hie M. 1909, Cytological Studies on (Enothera. T Ann, Bot, 23: 


Thy i. r 1917. Dominance of Linked Factors as a Means of Account- 
ing for Heterosis. Genetics, 2: 466—479. 

Kellogg, L A 1906. Variation in Parthenmogenetie Insects. Science, 
N: S; 695-699. 

Loeb, J. on The Organism as a Whole. N. Y., Putnam. Pp. v-x+ 
379. 


Wright, A., Lee, A., and Pearson, K. 1907. A Cooperative Study of 
Queens, Drones nd Workers in Vespa vulgaris. Biometrika, 5: 407- 
422, 


CONTINUOUS AND DISCONTINUOUS VARIA- 
TIONS AND THEIR INHERITANCE IN 
PEROMYSCUS. II 


DR. F. B. SUMNER 


SCRIPPS INSTITUTION, LA JOLLA, CALIF. 


IV. Herepiry oF THE RACIAL DIFFERENCES 


In view of the long-recognized correlation between cer- 
tain of these subspecific characters—namely, those relat- 
ing to pigmentation—and certain factors of the physical 
environment, the possibility has suggested itself that the 
characters in question might be purely *““ontogenetic,”” 
1. e., produced anew in each generation by the action of 
external physical factors. The simple experiment of 
transplanting mice from one habitat to another has dis- 
posed of this suggestion. 

As I have more than once reported elsewhere (1915a, 
1917, 19176) entirely negative results have been reached, 
so far as climatic influences are concerned. Neither the 
transference of the desert race to Berkeley, nor the trans- 
ference of both the desert and the redwood races to La 
Jolla have resulted in any demonstrable change, at least 
up to the third cage-born (‘‘C,’’) generation. 

The La Jolla test is the more satisfactory of the two, 
since the number of animals employed is very much 
greater. Thus far, however, only the C, animals (38 
rubidus and 96 sonoriensis) have been killed, measured 
and (in part) skinned. The C, generation is still kept 
alive for breeding purposes, but the characteristic racial 
differences are obvious. On comparing the skins of the 
palest and the darkest rubidus, or the palest and darkest 
sonoriensis of the C, generation, with the extremes among 
_ the wild grandparents, it will be seen that the range of 
color variation has not appreciably changed. 


Nos. 618-619] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 291 


Not only are the larger color differences which distin- 
guish these main races heritable, but certain lesser differ- 
ences which distinguish narrowly localized sub-races have 
been shown to be genetic characters. In a recent paper 
(1917) I discussed an aberrant colony of ‘‘rubidus’’ in- 
habiting an isolated sand-spit fronting on the ocean.” 
The evidence for the inheritance of these peculiarities of 
color may now be stated somewhat more strongly than 
was done in that paper. Upon preparing the skins of the 
three C, members of this sub-race, born and reared at La 
Jolla, it was found that all three were of the aberrant 
hue.!* 

As regards differences relating to the measurable parts, 
certain preliminary explanations are necessary. It was 
early found that the cage-born mice depart from the 
wild type in certain rather striking respects. They are, 
on the average, considerably smaller than the latter, and 
have tails, feet and ears which are shorter not only abso- 
lutely but relatively. In extreme cases these malforma- 
tions may fitly be termed deformities. Not rarely, too, 
the dorsal tail-stripe becomes so diffuse that definite out- 
lines can no longer be distinguished. Measurements re- 
veal the fact that this stripe becomes narrower, on the 
average, in the cage-born animals. Furthermore, the fer- 
tility of the captive generations is greatly reduced. 

ese abnormal characteristics resulting from captiv- 

ity are manifested much more strongly by the Eureka 
race than by the desert one, or by the race which is native 
to this locality (La Jolla). In fact, my original stock of 
rubidus, consisting of over a hundred animals of the wild 
generation, has dwindled down to one male and six fe- 
males in the C, generation. In contrast to this, no diffi- 
A there neglected to point out the analogy between this race and that 


bred this form in the laboratory and found its peculiarities to be ‘‘ really 
genetic.’’ Morgan’s findings (1911) in respect to this question appear to 
have been complicated by the appearance of artificially induced abnor- 
malities. 

16 In my earlier statement, based upon the appearance of the living 
animals, it was said that two of the three were exceptionally pale. 


292 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


culty has been found in maintaining approximately the 
original numbers of the other two races, despite the steril- 
ity of a large proportion of the individuals. Here, then, 
we may note in passing, is another interesting racial dif- 
ference of a physiological nature. 

This deterioration of the stock, it must be pointed out, 
is progressive. Each generation probably presents more 
abnormalities than the preceding one. The causes of this 
condition are at present entirely unknown to me. Mal- 
nutrition or intoxication, resulting from pathogenic bac- 
teria or protozoa in the alimentary canal, may be men- 
tioned as possibilities. Many of the animals are now 
being reared in small open pens, where they are allowed 
to burrow in the ground. A preliminary test of this plan 
encourages us to hope that the troubles referred to may 
thus be avoided. 

The following table presents mean values for certain : 
characters in the C, generation, for the three races which 
are now being reared at La Jolla. 


TABLE V 

No. of | Body Foot Ear Tail-Stripe 

| Sex| Cases | (Mm.) pk Ciel: ) | (Mm.) | (Mm.) | (Per Cent.) 
Bn 22° Beis g 21 85.5 93.1 20.26 | 16.39 37.3 
Q 13 87.2 91.5 20.30 | 16.90 39.5 
La Jolla iio ds g 61 87.4 79.6 19.62 | 17.66 30.7 
Q 89.4 79.1 19.56 | 17.74 abt 
Victorville, ao SF 45 85.3 75.6 18.65 | 16.43 25.9 
2 49 87.0 74.8 18.81 16.90 26.2 


It is plain from this table that, in respect to the four 
characters other than body length (tail length, foot 
length, ear length and tail-stripe), the three races have 
maintained the same relative positions in the series as 
formerly. When arranged with reference to tail, foot 
and tail-stripe, the series, as before,is: Eureka > La Jolla 
> Victorville. Asregards ear length, the earlier arrange- 
ment likewise holds, viz.: 


cel cian eee forville. 


Another significant fact does not appear from the fore- 
going table, however. The modifications of the three 


Nos. 618-619] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 293 


races, indicated by the consistent reduction of all these 
values, has not affected them to an equal degree. In re- 
spect to all four of the characters (body length not here 
considered) the local (La Jolla) race has been least modi- 
fied, while in respect to three of them (tail length, tail- 
stripe and ear) the Eureka race has been most modified. 
Thus there has been a mean reduction of 11 per cent. in/ 
the tail length of rubidus, 74 per cent. in that of sonorien- 
sis, and only 3 per cent. in that of gambeli. There is, 
therefore, a convergence between the Eureka and the La 
Jolla races, and if I had only these two under comparison, 
I might have been disposed to conclude that local condi- 
tions had brought about a modification of rubidus in the 
direction of gambeli. But the case of sonoriensis, which 
actually diverges farther from the local race in the C, 
than in the parent generation, shows that this explanation 
is not the correct one. These differences in the degree 
of modification are probably indices of the susceptibility 
of these three races to the malign influences of captivity, 
which have already been discussed. In harmony with 
this view is the fact that the Eureka mice are likewise far 
less fertile, under local conditions, than either of the 
other races. 


V. HEREDITY OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES WITHIN EACH 
Race 


It has been shown that a wide range of individual varia- 
bility occurs within each race in respect to just those 
characters by which one of these groups is distinguished 
from another. These major differences which distin- 
guish one race from another have been shown to be 
hereditary. Is this likewise true of those minor differ- 
‘ences which distinguish one individual from another of 
the same race? 

This question can be answered by the well-known 
method of computing coefficients of parental-filial corre- 
lation—the ‘‘coefficients of heredity’’ of Pearson. I re- 
alize that the validity of this measure of the force of 
heredity has been called in question,*” on the ground that 

17 By Pearl (1911) and Johannsen (1913), among others. 


294 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


it does nothing more than reveal the presence of geneti- 
cally different strains in a mixed population. This, how- 
ever, is exactly what I wish to do in the present case. 
The fact that within a ‘‘pure line,” where the phenomena 
of heredity should be least obscured, this coefficient is 
said to be zero is entirely irrelevant to the present situa- 
tion. What we wish to ascertain is the degree to which, 
for example, long-tailed parents tend to have long-tailed 
offspring. Whether these differences among the parents 
are due to ‘‘mutations’’ or ‘‘fluctuating variations,”” 
whether they are due to single ‘‘unit factors”? or ‘‘multi- 
ple factors”” or no factors at all, are admittedly matters 
upon which these coefficients throw no light. Such ques- 
tions must be decided upon other grounds.'® 

In computing these correlations between parents and 
offspring, we are restricted to characters which are inde- 
pendent of the absolute size of the individual? Char- 
acters which fulfil these requirements fairly well are the 
relative tail length (ratio to body) and-the relative width 
of the tail-stripe (ratio to cireumference). My data show 
that the former is largely, and the latter almost wholly, 
independent of the size of the mouse. 

-he coefficients are given in Table VI. I have not 
thought it worth while to include their probable errors, 
since the significance of the set as a whole is indicated by 
the magnitude of most of the figures and by the fact that 
all but two out of the 24 are positive. The weighted 
means of these coefficients, combining the four races and 
two sexes, are: relative tail length, + 0,297 ; tail-stripe, 
- 18 One objection, valid in certain cases, has been raised against the use of 
this coefficient. I refer to the contention that it may reveal resemblances 
which are due not to genetic relationship, but to environmental influences 


were trapped in the same restricted area, while all the offspring were 
reared in captivity under conditions which were practically identical for all. 


Nos. 618-619] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 295 


TABLE VI 
rubidus gambeli (La Jolla) sonoriensis 
Tail Tail-Stripe Tail Tail-Stripe Tail Tail-Stripe 
HALDOL da es +0.36 +0.08 +0.15 +0.36 +0.23 +0.26 
Far separa Ae Fi gers +0.24 +0.27 +0.11 +0.53 +0.42 +0.17 
Mother-son .......... +0.64 +0.57 +0.51 +0.36 +0.28 +0.26 
diia AS +0.84 +0.47 —0.02 +0.51 +0.15 —0.02 


+0.302. The average of four figures given by Pearson” 
(father-son, father-daughter, ete.) for the heredity of 
stature in man is + 0.335. There is thus found, in these 
mice, approximately the same degree of resemblance be- 
tween parents and offspring, in respect to these two char- 
acters, as is found to occur in man in respect to stature.” 

Since the heritability of these individual differences 
has been proven by means of correlation coefficients, the 
practicability of selection experiments with such charac- 
ters is evident, provided that sufficient numbers of normal 
animals can be reared. Experiments of this nature have 
already been commenced by Mr. H. H. Collins and myself. 
The characters chosen for these tests are coat color, tail 
length and width of tail stripe. 


VI. HYBRIDIZATION 


Successful hybrid matings have been made (1) between 
the Berkeley and the Victorville mice, (2) between the 
Eureka and the La Jolla mice, and (3) between the Eu- 
reka and the Victorville mice. 

In the first case, moderate numbers of F, and F, ani- 
mals were reared. In respect to coat color, the 25 F, in- 
dividuals, when adult, ranged from a condition similar to 
that of an average Berkeley gambeli to a condition as pale 
and as yellow as that of the average sonoriensis. More- 
over, there was here no marked tendency for the mean or 
intermediate condition to preponderate numerically over 
the extremes. 

20 1900, p. 458. 

ai It is likely that the abnormal condition of the cage-born mice, de- 
seribed above, has resulted in minimizing this correlation. Some of the dif- 
ferences among them are doubtless due, not to heredity, but to differences in 
the incidence of the disturbing factor (infection?). The parents, having 
grown mab or quite to maturity in the wild state, were not subjected to 
this influen: 


296 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


Now it is of interest to note that the F, generation, con- 
sisting of 40 specimens, presented very nearly the same 
range, in respect to coat color, as did the F,. The two 
dark extremes were of an almost identical shade, as were 
likewise the pale extremes.?? No argument for ‘‘segre- 
gation’’ could be based upon this series which would not 
apply with equal force to the F, series. 

Twenty F, mice, resulting from random matings of the 
F, animals, presented a range of variation which was 
actually not as great as that observed in the F, genera- 
tion. The smaller number may perhaps be responsible 
for this difference. 

It must be added that both of the parent races present 
a rather wide range of variability as regards coat color, 
and that series of the two overlap rather broadly in this 
respect. This circumstance complicates our interpreta- 
tions much more in the present case than in that of the 
crosses between rubidus and sonoriensis, which will be 
considered later. 

The Berkeley and Victorville races have been found to 
differ in only two of the characters which were subjected 
to careful measurement. The former race has a broader 
dorsal tail-stripe and slightly shorter ears. The second 
of these differences is a trifling one, however, and is not 
always evident when small series are compared. More- 
over, the absolute length of the ear is largely dependent 
upon the size of the body. 

Thus the width of the tail-stripe is the only accurately 
measured subspecific character which is available in con- 
sidering hybrids between these two races. Table VII 
gives the mean value and the variability of this character 
in the two parent races** and in the F, and F, genera- 
ations of hybrids. 

- Despite the small numbers of animals here concerned, 
two facts are of some interest. (1) The mean width of 
_ the tail-stripe in both generations of hybrids is very 
22 These remarks are based upon a comparison of skins, after death. 
28 The parent mice here used were cage-born animals, which, as before 
stated, were somewhat modified by captivity. They represent the limited 
stock which was reared in Berkeley during the earlier stages of the ex- 


Nos. 618-619] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS — 297 


nearly midway between the mean widths found in the 
parent races. (2) There is no increase in the variability 


TABLE VII 
sag hada paca Mean Standard Deviation 
gambeli (Berkeley) ........ 23 33.5 4.09 
ABC O A 38 26.5 4.57 
al ce os eee s 24 30.2 3.96 
He Ry binds 6) as ois 38 29.3 3.54 


of this character in the F, generation. Indeed, the stand- 
ard deviation for the latter animals chances to be the 
lowest of the four values given. 

It seems worth while to indicate the actual distribution 
frequencies of the tail-stripe measurements for these four 
groups of mice (Table VIII). 


TABLE VIII 
aver 
BOS Suse 
Berkeley | 
gambeli ... 1 ETA 31213 2|2|4|1/1/1/33.5 
sonoriensis ..l21212 1321421221413 |212|1|1|2/2 | | 26.5 
F; hybrids...| | 1 1} lilalilalal1lal1j2/2 1 30.2 
F> hybrids. .. 1l1l113l3l4lelelalsia/3l41111 29.3 


In contrast to this case of the tail-stripe, it is interest- 
ing to note that, in respect to relative tail length, the F, 
generation shows a somewhat higher variability than the 
F, generation or than either of the parent races. But it 
so happens that this is a character in which the parent 
races do not appreciably differ. 

In reality, it is probable that none of these differences 
in variability is significant, in view of the small numbers 
of individuals concerned. The explanation offered for 
certain differences between other hybrids to be discussed 
later—namely, that the F, and F, generations differed in 
the relative degree of abnormality—does not seem to ap- 
ply here. The mean body length is about equal in the 
two generations, as well as the mean length of tail and 
foot. 

The crosses between the Eureka ma the La Jolla races 
have not been carried far enough to render any report 
upon them a at present. | 


298 ` THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIT 


Hybridization of the Eureka with the desert mice was 
first accomplished nearly two years ago, and thus far 30 
F, and 20 F, animals have been reared to maturity and 
measured. A very serious drawback has been the great 
infertility, under local conditions, of rubidus and any- 
thing having rubidus ‘‘blood.’’ Still more serious is the 
abnormal state of a large proportion of the cage-born ani- 
mals, which affects some of the very parts that we are 
chiefly concerned with in these crosses. Fortunately, the 
coat color remains nearly, or quite unaltered. 

` My series of 30 F; skins, taken as a whole, presents a 
condition about intermediate between that of the parent 
races. They exhibit, however, a wide range of variation, 
the darkest individuals being nearly as dark as some of 
the palest wild specimens of the Eureka race, while the 
palest individuals differ little in shade from a medium 
mouse of the desert race (Fig. 13). 

In the F, generation we meet with a range which is 
little, if any, greater. The darkest skin** is somewhat 
darker than the darkest in the F, generation. On the 
other hand, the palest skin is scarcely as pale as the palest 
in the F,. The preponderating effect is that the hybrids 
of the second generation, like those of the first, are inter- 
mediates. If these differences of coat color are condi- 
tioned at all by Mendelian ‘‘unit factors,’’ there must be 
more than one pair of allelomorphs concerned. The 
monohybrid ratio is obviously lacking, and there is no 
segregation into distinguishable classes. Furthermore, 
it must be borne in mind that no indirect evidence for 
segregation can be pointed out in the F, arcada which 
is not equally manifested ‘in the F,. 


TABLE [X24 
Body Tail Tail-Stri 
Noot | Mm.) | Pecat) |, Pot (Mm) (Per Cent) 
Animals | 
i Mean | Mean | S. D. | Mean  8.D, | Mean | 8. D. 

rubidus (cage-born) .-| 61 | 87.80 | 98.5 _ | 20.82 38.3 
sonoriensis (cage-born)| 121 | 86.48| 78.4 19.22 24.7 ; 
Pi hybrids........... 21 | 86.43| 88.0 | 4.3 | 20.09! 0.85 | 313 | 4.0 
Fs hybrids oie 20 | 84.70 | 84.3 6.9 | 19.45 | 1.12 | 33.6! 6.5 


~ %4This happens to be a badly shrunken skin, which perhaps does not 
reveal the original color. The next darkest (shown in the photograph) is 
of almost exactly the same shade as the darkest F, skin. 


a 


INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 


Nos. 618-619] 


us 


, and Fa hybrids ERARA 


of rel sap ate and dark di of P. m. 
s (second line), and of 
J). 


Fie, 13. Ski 
(first line), of P. 
these races (third otis pat nes 


300 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST  [Vou.LIl 


As regards the measurable characters which differen- 
tiate the parent races, some light upon their behavior in 
hybridization may be derived from the data in Table IX. 

Here, too, one fact seems plain, despite the small num- 
ber of individuals, and the modifications which these mice 
share with cage-born mice in general. This is the inter- 
mediate condition of the hybrids, both F, and F,, as re- 
gards tail length, foot length and tail-stripe. The ear 
measurements have not been introduced into these com- 
parisons, since the parent races do not differ in this re- 
spect. 

As regards variability, it is seen that the standard de- 
viations of the F, generation are all three larger than 
those of the F,, and the differences seem great enough to 
be of possible statistical significance. I have, however, 
tabulated the frequencies of the various values for these 
three characters (not reproduced here), and I find that 
the probable explanation of this increase of variability in 
the F, generation is an increase in the amount of abnor- 
mality in the latter. This is to be inferred from the fact 
that the extension in range is chiefly in the direction of 
the lower values, while in two of the three cases the up- 
permost figures actually fall below those of the F,. Now 
the abnormal influences of captivity operate by decreas- 
ing (oftentimes considerably) the values for these very 
characters. As further evidence for this interpretation 
is the fact that the average body size of the F, mice is 
here less than that of the preceding generation. 

A considerable number of back crosses have been ob- 
tained between each of the hybrid combinations above 
discussed and one or both of the parent races. The num- 
ber of individuals in any one series is, however, small, so 
that it is hardly worth while to deal with the results of 
these crosses here. They afford as little evidence of 
complete segregation of the subspecific color types as do 
the hybrids previously considered. 

(To be concluded) 

25 Standard hoe for the parent races have been computed only for 

the two sexes separately. They are, therefore, not included in this table. 


Nine of the 30 F, animals are not here included, since the rubidus parents 
of these were caught at some distance from Eureka. 


INTERNAL FACTORS INFLUENCING EGG PRO- 
DUCTION IN THE RHODE ISLAND RED 
BREED OF DOMESTIC FOWL. III 


DR. H. D. GOODALE 


MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, AMHERST, Mass. 


Winter Egg Production and the Genetic Constitution 
of Rhode Island Reds:—Pearl, *12, found his Barred 
Plymouth Rocks fell into three well-defined classes in re- 
gard to winter egg production, viz., those that did not lay 
at all before March 1, the zero class; those that laid less 
than thirty eggs with a mean at about 16 eggs, the medi- 
ocre producers; and finally those that laid over thirty 
eggs, the high producers. Pearl has stated, however, 
that the existence of the two classes of birds, mediocre 
and high, is the important point rather than the number 
of eggs at which the dividing line falls, which may be 
below 30 eggs in some flocks and above 30 in others. 
Since the record of No. 5080 is that of a typical true medi- 
ocre producer; it is clear why the division point need not 
fall at a particular number of eggs. If, however, the 
numerical record of a pullet is made the only basis for a 
division point, it may be pointed out that the point could 
be shifted by differences in environment. If, on the 
other hand, under the same general environment one 
flock was found to have a different point of division from 
the second flock, the latter could not be considered genet- 
ically like the first. Thus far, no satisfactory division 
point has been found for our Rhode Island Reds, due 
probably to the few records of the type shown by No. 
5080 (that is, to an absence of true mediocre producers) 
and to the great variability in age at first egg, associated 
with a comparatively uniform rate of production after 

301 


302 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


the appearance of the first egg. While a true mediocre 
producer such as No. 5080 can easily be distinguished 
from a high producer in Barred Plymouth Rocks, it is 
impossible to draw a division line on the basis of the 
number of eggs produced where the egg production is of 
the sort observed in our Rhode Island Reds. (See Figs. 
3 and 4.) Except in the case of a few individuals, the 
only evidence for the existence of two genetically distinct 
groups, such as Pearl found for Barred Plymouth Rocks, 
is in the shape of the left-hand portion of the curves of 
winter egg production. If the zero producers be omitted 
as a wholly artificial group (cf. Figs. 8 and 17) this evi- 
dence becomes less satisfactory, especially as the excess 
of numbers on this side of the curve may well be due to 
environmental factors, since the effect of such factors is 
almost always in the direction of decreased production. 
Moreover, in a later paragraph it is shown that the shape 
of these curves depends upon certain clearly recognized 
factors. 

In order to eliminate any miscomprehension in regard 
to the characteristics of a mediocre producer, I have gone 
over the matter personally with Pearl. It appears that 
his Barred Plymouth Rocks, with the exception, of course, 
of the zero producers, begin to lay at about the same age, 
but lay at widely differing rates. My Rhode Island Reds, 
on the contrary, begin to lay at widely different ages, but 
lay at a fairly uniform rate. In the Barred Plymouth 
Rocks, therefore, there are three distinct types of winter 
records, zero producers, mediocre producers (Fig. 12, 
Nos. 274 and 284) and high producers (Fig. 3). The 
same types of records have appeared in a flock of Brown 
Leghorns which we have trap-nested. , 

In our Rhode Island Reds, records of the mediocre 
type are so rare that they must be referred either to some 
non-genetic origin, or a chance union of two hetero- 
zygotes, such as results in the appearance of an occasional 
recessive in a flock that characteristically has some domi- 


Nos. 618-619] EGG PRODUCTION 303 


nant character such as rose comb. It is quite possible 
that while our flock of Rhode Island Reds as a whole is 
homozygous for high fecundity, it is not entirely so. It 
is possible, of course, that many of our Rhode Island 
Reds are genetically true mediocre producers, but that 
the addition of some other genetic factor has so altered 
the rate of production that the records can no longer be 
recognized as true mediocre records. 

It seems clear, then, that our Rhode Island Reds fall 
into the class of high producers observed in Barred 
Plymouth Rocks, but that the great variability in maturity 
results in a portion of the flock giving numerical results 
like those of the Barred Plymouth Rocks, but which in 
reality are not at all equivalent biologically. It is also 
clear why Castle’s (*15, 16) recent criticism of Pearl’s 
theory of egg production can not be considered to be es- 
tablished, in so far as it concerns winter egg production. 

Moreover, it will be desirable in the future to distin- 
guish clearly between the two sorts of numerical results. 
A discussion of the bearing of a division point at 30 eggs 
upon the problem is given below. 

It has been maintained by Pearl that winter egg pro- 
duction is a satisfactory basis for selection, both for itself 
and as an index of the annual egg production. This 

would be true only when there is a definite relation be- 
tween winter and annual production such as he has found 
for Barred Plymouth Rocks. Since winter egg produc- 
tion forms a part of the annual egg production with which 
it is to be compared, it is evident that the coefficient of 
correlation may be expected to have a positive value of 
some magnitude, unless there is a definite tendency for 
birds that lay well in the winter to be poor layers in the 
summer. On this account it has seemed best to us to 
compare winter production with that of the same hens 
for the remainder of the year. The number of birds (77) 
available for the comparison was not large; but the cal- 
culated coefficient (.365 -+.067), while statistically sig- 
nificant, being six times its probable error, is too small 


304 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LII 


for use in breeding operations. While there is an evi- 
dent tendency for a high winter producer to be also a high 
producer for the rest of the year, it seems also true, as 
far as the 1913-14 records are concerned—those of 1915 
being at this writing incompletely worked out, though of 
the same general order—that there is no special tendency 
for birds of late start to stop early rather than late. Of 
course it is essential that a bird lay well in the winter if 
she is to make a good yearly record, and in this sense the 
winter egg production may be of value as a measure of 
fecundity, but good winter production does not insure a 
good annual production, nor does a low winter production 
necessarily mean a poor annual production. It is true, 
however, that birds that make the very highest records 
must lay throughout the entire year. From the data in 
hand it seems probable that winter egg production of 
Rhode Island Reds is not as valuable a measure of the 
innate fecundity capacity of a bird as it is for the Barred 
Plymouth Rocks. 

On the average, the flocks, if grouped according to the 
month hatched, have an annual record that differs by an 
amount equal to an average winter month’s production, 
viz., 10 eggs, as shown by Table VIII. Or, to put the 
matter a little differently, the average egg production of 
pullets hatched in March, April or May is approximately 
the same from February 1 to November 1. We have no 
evidence that the early hatehed birds, on the average, stop 
laying earlier in the fall than those hatched later. 

The influence of time of hatching on a division point at 
thirty eggs is very marked in the Rhode Island Reds. In 
Table VI the egg production of pullets laying at all dur- 
ing the winter is divided into an over-thirty and an under- 
thirty class. In the former are 68.8 per cent. of the 
March-hatched pullets, 58.7 per cent. of the April-hatched 
pullets, while of the May-hatched birds there are only 
26.6 per cent. The means of the over-thirty class are 
63 eggs for the February-hatehed pullets, 54.9 for the 
March, 46.3 for the April birds, while that for the May 


Nos. 618-619] EGG PRODUCTION 305 


TABLE VIII 
Eee PRODUCTION OF PULLETS HATCHED IN APRIL, MAY AND JUNE, 1915; 
SHOWING NUMBER OF EGGS LAID PRIOR TO AND AFTER MARCH 1, ALSO 
PRIOR TO AND AFTER FEBRUARY 1 


Months Hatched 


| 
| 
| 


March | April | May 
Number of pulle o Ee eet 139 140 116 
Total eggs before pragi A Nig WL cok E ee 5,780 4,470 2,253 
Total eggs after March 1 to end of year........ 12,951 12,974 10,982 
Av. number of eggs before March 1............ | ; 19 
Av. number of eggs after March 1............. | 93.2 92.8 94.6 
Grand total 20. diia EA | 18,731 | 17,444 | 13,235 
Av, yearly production. .....-...+++-+++ss+++:| 134.8 124.7 114.0 
Av. number of eggs for Febru pro Ar UA AER SE a 10.3 12.0 11.9 
Av. number of eggs before Feb E aa Hu ae Se aos 31.3 19.9 7.5 


Av. number of eggs after F February 1 1 to end of 
year. 103.5 104.8 106.5 


Note.—The data above the double bar is for birds that completed the 
year. A part of the data below the double bar was compiled at the end of 
the winter and thus includes some birds that died during the summer. 


birds is 40.5. The means of the under-thirty class are 
18.8 for February and for the other three months ap- 
proximately 16 eggs. Now, the mean for the abstract 
numbers 1 to 30 is 15.5, a value which is not far from 
the observed mean, since the value of 18.8 eggs obtained 
for the February birds is probably due to the small num- 
ber of individuals involved. As the value of the mean 
for the under-thirty birds is practically alike in all cases, 
and as the value of the means for the over-thirty class 
for the various months decreases with decreasing age, 
it is evident that the value, 16.1, comes mainly from the 
: relation of the abstract numbers and has little or no sig- 
nificanceinitself. This point will be returned to shortly. 
It will be noted in Table VI that the percentage of over- 
thirty pullets dropped very suddenly in passing from 
April to May. It means, 1 take it, that many of the May- 
hatched birds did not reach a winter egg production of 30 
eggs or over because of the time they were hatched. In- 
deed, something of this sort is to be expected when a 
definite number of eggs is taken for a dividing line at a 
particular point on the calendar. If the production curve 


306 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST (Vou. LII 


for May-hatched pullets be examined it will be noticed 
that there is a large percentage of pullets in the 16-20, 
21-25, and 26-30 groups. If the average monthly pro- 
duction of about 10 eggs be added to these groups, most 
of them become over-thirty birds and the percentage of 
over-thirty birds becomes nearly the same as that for the 
April-hatched pullets. This is important, since it indi- 
eates that May-hatched Rhode Island Red pullets mature 
too late to furnish data comparable to Pearl’s Barred 
Plymouth Rocks, for which it is stated (Pearl ’15) that 
April- and May-hatched pullets alone give normal records. 

Birds that begin to lay by January 1 and lay at the 
rate of 15 eggs per month would lay 30 eggs before 
March 1. This rate is about the lowest continuous pro- 
duction that has been noted, for birds that lay at a less 
rate usually lay intermittently. Pullets that lay at the 
rate specified and which begin sufficiently early in the 
season make very good winter records. In a recent 
paper Pearl, '15b, has remarked: 

Any bird laying 18 or more eggs per month in the months of Novem- 
ber, December, January and February may certainly be regarded as a 
high winter producer. 

The statement as written might imply that this rate is 
maintained throughout all four months, but, as this means 
72 eggs and as the context implies, we take Pearl’s state- 
ment to mean 18 eggs for any one month. At this rate a 
bird beginning to lay January 1 would lay 36 eggs before 
March 1. Since, however, the mode of the frequency 
curve of age at first egg falls at the 251-260 days groyp, 
and since the median also falls near this group, it means 
that nearly one half of a flock of pullets hatched May 1 
will not begin to lay till after January 15, and therefore 
will lay less than 30 eggs. The slope of the curve indi- 
cates, moreover, that the upper limit of the range falls at 
about 311-320 days, which means that a few individuals 
begin to lay so late in life that they can not be expected 
to make normal records. Ten months from hatching time 
brings birds hatched the last of April into laying some 


Nos. 618-619] EGG PRODUCTION eo 


time in February. Three hundred and ten days seems, 
moreover, to mark the approximate boundary of a group 
of stragglers which perhaps corresponds to Pearl’s after 
March 1 group of producers, i. e., his zero producers. 
This group is represented in the otito by the shoulder 
which begins at this point, there being of course an over- 
lap with the larger group, beginning somewhere about 
280-290 days. 

The relation of the abstract numbers involved in the 
series of data relating to winter egg production is a mat- 
ter of some importance. The mean of the abstract num- 
bers from 1-30 is 15.5, or from 0-30, 15, a value that cor- 
responds closely to the mean value of the number of eggs 
laid by the under-thirty class. The mean value of the 
numbers above 30 beginning at 31 and proceeding to some 
other higher number such as 50 or 80, will depend in part 
on the value chosen for the higher number. If 80 be 
chosen as the higher limiting value, then the mean of the 
numbers 31-80 is found to have a value of 56.2. The 
mean values just given hold only when the abstract num- 
bers are taken one at a time or when they are arranged 
in a symmetrical fashion about the mean, as, for example, 
in the ratio of 1:2:3:4, etc., and back to 4:3:2:1. If 
the 1-30 winter egg production group represented a defi- 
nite genotype one would expect a symmetrical or nearly 
symmetrical distribution of the concrete numbers about 
their mean. If, however, the numbers (abstract or con- 
crete, as the case may be) had some other sort of arrange- 
ment—as, for example, if they formed part of a normal 
curve of variation—a different set of mean values would 
be obtained, depending upon the steepness of the slope 
of the curve. If, for example, the classes 1-5, ete., to 25- 
30 inclusive, are formed and the central values appear in 
the ratio of 1:1.3:1.7:2:2.3:2.7, the mean will be 18.2. 
On the other hand, the mean of the abstract numbers 
above 30 that form the remainder of the normal curve, 
under some circumstances may shift downwards, as, for 
example, when the mode of the curve is at 50 with the 


308 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


upper limit of the range at 90. If the observed distribu- 
tion of winter egg production is mono-modal, and if its 
curve, base, mode and range correspond approximately 
to those of the curve assumed in the preceding para- 
graph, the mean of the numbers 1-30 will be larger than 
the mean (15.5) obtained from the abstract numbers in the 
manner chosen at the beginning of the paragraph. That 
is, there is a tendency for the means of the two parts of 
the mono-modal curve, i. e., the ones derived from 1-30 
and 30-90, respectively, to approach each other in value. 
If, however, the curve of winter egg production is a com- 
posite of two curves, i. e., mediocre and high producers, 
then the means tend to approach those of the abstract 
numbers involved when distributed symmetrically. 

Some doubt exists as to how our data are to be inter- 
preted in the light of the statements in the preceding para- 
graph. The mean of the under-thirty group—viz., 16— 
while slightly higher than that of the mean for the ab- 
stract numbers—viz., 15.5—probably is not significant, 
though it may perhaps be taken as an indication of the 
existence of two genotypes. Since, however, the mean 
of the over-thirty group increases with increasing age 
and since the percentage of birds falling in the over- 
thirty classes increases with increasing age, it seems 
probable that the shape of the observed egg production 
curves is due to the artificial division point at March 1, 
while the irregularities in the curves are due to too few 
numbers. Since these irregularities largely disappear 
if the class intervals are doubled and since, if the time 
limits were to be extended so as to permit all birds to 
begin laying, it appears probable that the curve would 
become a symmetrical unimodal curve. Moreover, this 
conclusion is strengthened by the fact that the observed 
mean, 46.3, of the over-thirty class of the April-hatched 
pullets with its upper range at 77 is lower than the value 
(56.2) noted for the abstract numbers 31-80. For Barred 
Plymouth Rocks, however, the means do not rest upon 
the relation between the abstract numbers, but are an 
expression of the average production of the two types. 


Nos. 618-619] EGG PRODUCTION 309 


A comparison of the winter egg production curves ob- 
tained with the Rhode Island Reds with the similar curves 
for various seasons for the Barred Plymouth Rocks 


us 
30 

25 

8 

à 

3 

y 20 

€ 

w 

= 

Sus 

E 

5 

a 

10 

si 

pm EE oe 
el ms aee a AS SAS RE Ss 1045 
w us m5 RI OS 408 BE AT NS 855 
WINTER EGG PAODVCTION 


Fig, 14. omparison of a flock of Barred Plymouth ta pullets (Maine, 
1907-08, solid line) Pub wo flocks of Rhode Island Red pullets (Mass. i 
broken line; Mass., 1913-14, dotted mee): to show the difference in the sh pe of the 
winter egg prod sa curves. or the present purpose it seemed unnecessary 
to regroup our sapi to correspond exactly to the Maine Station grouping. 


brings out some interesting points. These curves are 

shown in Figs. 14, 15, 16 and 17. In Fig. 14 the con- 

tinuous line is the frequency curve for the winter egg pro- 
Da 


ho a do 


PERCENT 


de 


0 
0-4 59 1014 
ESOS 


Fig. 15. Comparison of a flock of Barred Plymouth ma pullets (Maine, 
1912-13, dotted line) with a flock of Rhode Island Red pullets (Mass., 1913-14, 
solid line) to show the similarity in the distribution of prt egg production. 


duction at the Maine Station for 1907-08, the flock reared 
by Pearl from the birds previously bred by Gowell for 
increased egg production. The line composed of short 


310 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


dashes is the curve of egg production for the winter of 
1913-14, made by our Rhode Island Reds hatched in 
March and April. This flock is the first flock about which 
we have full data. They were the daughters of the orig- 
inal flock, 1912-13, as described above, and for all essen- 


e oR 


PERCENT 


ne 


1-3 6-1011 61-88 
eee? 
. 16. Winter egg production of the Rhode Island Red pullets cma 
in donk 1913. The records of these pullets have been separated from the 
records shown in Fig. 14 (solid line). 


tial purposes were a random selection of individuals. 
This flock, one generation removed from its standard-bred 
ancestry, clearly differs from the 1907-08 flock of Pearl’s 
in containing many more fairly high birds. The data for 
the 1913-14 flock, grouped in classes of 1-5 instead of 1-10, 


PERCENT 


OHhGAGAvHeSORERSRTESS 


-9 30-19 20-29. 3JO-IY 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 90-99 


Fic. 17. Winter egg production of the ‘flock of pullets reared in pare from 

eggs purchased of the breeder furnishing our foundation stock. The solid line 
represents the March hatched spect dell the broken line, the March Slds plus 
April hatched pe from the same source, 


is shown by the continuous line in Fig. 15, where it is to be 
compared with the winter record of 199 Barred Plymouth 
4 Rocks made at the Maine Station for 1912-13.4 The es- 
sential similarity of the two curves is self-evident. As 
ê The data for the Barred Rocks was taken from Pearl (15c). 


Nos. 618-619] EGG PRODUCTION Sit 


_ Pearl’s pullets were (presumably) hatched in April and 
May, while ours were hatched in March and April, the 
curve for the April, 1913, hatched pullets alone is given 
in Fig. 16, which shows that the separation of the March 
pullets from the April pullets has not essentially altered 
the shape of the curve. The zero producers were omitted 
in order to study the shape of the curve when treating 
the zeros as an artificial group. This omission, however, 
would not alter the essential shape of the curve. 

As already stated, new blood was added to our breed- 
ing pens in 1915. The egg production curve made by the 
pullets hatched in March and April for 1915-16 is shown 
by the broken line in Fig. 14. Compare also the separate 
curves for March- and April-hatched pullets shown in 
Fig. 8. Although some individual records better than 
any previously obtained were secured, on the whole egg 
production was not as good as for 1913-14, although still 
distinctly better than the production of the 1907-08 flock 
of Barred Plymouth Rocks. 

The figures when grouped according to the month in 
which the birds were hatched show clearly the part played 
by this factor in determining the sort of records made. 
The curve for the March-hatched pullets is quite similar 
- in appearance to the curve made by Pearl’s Barred 
Rocks in 1913-14, except that the mode falls at a lower 
number of eggs. That is, the Barred Rocks contained a 
higher percentage of birds laying above 50 eggs than the 
March-hatched Rhode Island Reds. The curve, however, 
for the May-hatched Rhode Island Reds is much more 
like that of the 1907-08 curve of Barred Plymouth Rocks, 
while the curve for the April-hatched pullets is inter- 
mediate between the two. 

It seemed a matter of some interest to determine 
whether our 1913-14 record was a chance record or 
whether it was a fair sample of the original stock. Con- 
sequently eggs were purchased from the original source 
and chicks reared in 1915. The first lot was hatched 
March 22 and all the pullets (39) that passed the test for 


312 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


vigor were put into a laying house in October. The egg- . 
production curve is shown by the continuous line in Fig. 
17. It bears a strong resemblance to that of the Maine 
Station for 1912-13 and that of our flock for 1913-14. 
There was in addition to the 39 pullets a smaller lot 
hatched April 27. The curve for both lots eombined is 
shown by the dotted line in Fig. 17. Again the curve is 
essentially like the 1913-14 curve for Rhode Island Reds. 
The writer would be glad to study the original stock in 
more adequate fashion, but the amount of time, labor 
and equipment required are so great that the end in view 
did not seem to warrant the expense. 

Since Pearl has not discussed the question of age at 
first egg from the present standpoint, the possibility must 
not be overlooked that the factor of maturity may play an 
important part in his results. In a recent paper (Pearl, 
16) he states that in a good laying strain the pullets 
mature at five or six months on the average. Quite a dif- 
ferent state of affairs exists in our Rhode Island Reds, 
where the average age is much higher, about 83 months 
for the entire flock. It is clear, however, from the discus- 
sion that the factor of maturity does not influence his 
results to any considerable extent. 

Since the two principal internal factors responsible in 
most cases for the number of eggs produced by a pullet 
during the winter are, first, the date of the first egg, and 
second, rate, similar sets of data may result from vari- 
ability in either of the two factors. Now the date of the 
first egg is dependent in part on the time of year the bird 
is hatched, and in part on differences in maturity. The 
former factor is under control and can be used to elimi- 
nate differences in maturity. Rate has already been dis- 
cussed in another place, but it should be noted that it 
may be modified by such definite factors as broodiness, 
or the presence or absence of cycles, as well as other 
_ physiological factors that appear to be innate but which 
can not be named at present. The combined effect of 
rate and date of first egg, or better the length of time 


Nos. 618-619] EGG PRODUCTION gis 


elapsing between the first egg and March 1, is such that 
the same number of eggs may result from a variation in 
either one of these factors. If a flock of birds all begin 
to lay about the same time of year, but vary greatly in the 
rate at which they lay, a body of data superficially the 
same as that produced by a flock of birds laying at a 
fairly uniform rate but varying greatly in the time at 
which they begin to lay might readily result, especially if 
the variability of each set of factors (rate or maturity) 
was very much alike. Radically different sets of data 
would result only if the variability belonged to quite dif- 
ferent types. The birds that make unusually high winter 
records are those that start early and lay at a good rate 
throughout the winter. A poor record, on the other hand, 
results either from a low rate combined with a long period 
of production (the date of first egg coming early in the 
fall) or from high rate and a short period of production, 
since the date of first egg comes late in the winter. 

A late date of beginning egg production may be the 
result of late hatching or of delayed maturity. That is, 
an early-maturing bird if hatched too late may lay no 
more eggs than a late-maturing bird hatched early in the 
spring. Thus, the actual record of a bird is the result of 
the influence of several factors, themselves very variable, 
and gives much the same result as though a much larger 
number of factors were involved. 

Pearl has spoken of two production factors, L, and Lo, 
but has not, so far as I know, assigned either to the two 
chief factors concerned in winter egg production, viz., 
rate and age at first egg, nor does the context indicate any 
such sense. At first sight it might seem possible that one 
of these factors is a factor for early maturity, the other 
for rate; for according to Pearl’s theory both factors 
must be present to secure high production, since the L, 
factor in the homozygous condition does not make a high 
producer. So far as can be seen, there is no objection 
to assigning one of Pearl’s two factors to rate. Some diffi- 
culties are encountered, however, in assigning maturity 


314 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


to either of Pearl’s factors, for early-maturing birds 
almost invariably lay more than the required number of 
eggs even when their production is interrupted in some 
way. Since, however, the theory demands that both 
genetic factors be present for high production, the assign- 
ment of one factor to rate and the other to maturity can 
not be made. 


THE SHAPE or WinteR Ece Propuction Curves 


The curves of winter egg production are clearly com- 
pound curves, probably belonging to the ‘‘S’’ type de- 
scribed by Pearl and Surface for monthly egg produc- 
tion in Barred Plymouth Rocks. 

In the case of the winter egg production curves, it can 
be shown that this type of curve is due primarily to the 
variability in age at first egg, plus the date at which the 
census of the flock is taken. The curve, however, is 
modified somewhat by the variability in rate and by the 
fact that the birds were not all hatched at the same time. 
If a flock of birds were all hatched on the same day and 
all laid at some uniform rate, say an egg per day, it is 
clear that, on any given date between the date the first 
pullet commenced to lay and the date the last one began, 
the frequency polygon showing the number of eggs pro- 
duced would consist of a zero class plus the remaining 
portion of the polygon, beginning at class 1 and proceed- 
ing through classes 2, 3, 4, ete., to the upper end of the 
range. Now the number of birds laying one egg apiece 
would depend upon the date chosen for the census and 
would be the number of birds that reached a given age on 
that date as shown by the curve of age at first egg. Thus, 
if Fig. 1 be taken as our standard, and some date early 
in the season be chosen for the census, say the date on 
which the flock becomes 186 days of age, the zero com- 
ponent of the egg curve would have a value of 99 per 
cent. and the 1-egg class a value of .6 per cent. At mid- 
season (256 days) the zero component would have an 
ordinal value of 55.3 per cent. and the l-egg class a value 


Nos. 618-619] EGG PRODUCTION 315 


of 14.3 per cent., the 11-egg class a value of 9 per cent., 
the 21-egg class a value of 11.4 and so on. Towards the 
end of the season, say at 306 days, the value of the zero 
class would be 13.3 per cent., and the 1-egg class would 
have a value of 3.1 per cent., the 11-egg*class a value of 
5.1 per cent., the 51-egg class a value of 14.3 and so on. 
At the close of the season, 366 days, the zero class disap- 
pears, while each egg class has the percentage values 
given in Fig. 1, beginning at the extreme right and pro- 
ceeding to the left, 7. e., the egg curve is a mirror image 
of the age at first egg curve. 

The first modifying factor, i. e., rate, tends to flatten 
the theoretical egg curve by shifting individuals from 
one side toward the other. Thus, an individual fall- 
ing in the 56 class, on the 100 per cent. rate, would fali 
into the 36 class at a 66% rate. If a 50 per cent. rate 
were selected as the theoretical rate, the 663 rate hen 
- would be shoved over into the 76 class. If the date of the 
first egg of a sufficiently large number of pullets all 
hatched on the same day were plotted on a suitable cal- 
endar, a duplicate of the age at first egg curve would be 
obtained; but if several hatches are grouped together, 
e. g., the four hatches occurring in any one month, it is 
evident that the curve plotted on the calendar would be 
considerably flattened and in turn would flatten out the 
theoretical curve of egg production as based on age at 
first egg. . 

Selection.—Pearl's success in securing increased egg 
production by breeding might be due to his methods of 
selecting the breeders, regardless of all theoretical con- 
siderations. Families that contained all high producers 
were selected generation after generation to propagate 
the high fecundity lines. Families in which true mediocre 
producers appeared, i. e., where segregation took place, 
were not used in breeding for increased egg production. 
This type of selection could hardly fail to yield results, 
provided that egg production is inherited. Nevertheless, 
it is clear that fecundity is inherited in Mendelian fashion 


316 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LII 


in Pearl’s Barred Plymouth Rocks. However, the re- 
sults obtained by Dryden at the Oregon Station show 
that individual selection in pedigreed lines as opposed to 
mass selection may result in improved egg production 
quite as well as by the application of Pearl’s theory. 

Egg production in the domestic fowl may seem at first 
sight to be a highly desirable character on which to 
study the influence of selection. It may be regarded as a 
unit character if one so desires, and if, by selection, this 
character is changed, it is clear that selection has been 
effective. But it is also clear that the effectiveness of 
such selection in this instance rests, in large measure, at 
least, upon the influence exerted by various modifying 
factors, such as broodiness or age at first egg, discussed 
in this paper. It is possible to study these factors indi- 
vidually both by themselves and also in their relation to 
egg production. Broodiness is known to behave like a 
Mendelian dominant, while Pearl has shown that the rate 
of production during the winter cycle is dependent on two 
genes, one sex-linked, the other a simple Mendelian char- 
acter. We have found some evidence that the presence 
or absence of a winter cycle in fowls that lay at all during 
the winter? follows the Mendelian scheme. Since the 
influence of the various modifying factors is so clear cut, 
it is evident that egg production is a character wholly 
unsuited for studying the possibility of the modification 
of the germinal representatives of a character by selec- 
tion. On the other hand, it is a good example of a char- 
acter that varies continuously, but the continuity of whose 
variability can be shown to depend upon several modify- 
ing factors. 

There is a point of some general interest regarding the 
genetic composition of any given flock. Hardy (’08) 
showed that the proportions in which a Mendelian char- 
acter occurs tend to remain constant provided no selec- 
tion is practised. Fanciers often practise a certain but 

7 The absence of a winter cycle in this instance means continuous produc- 


tion throughout the winter and spring, and not absence of egg production 
as in Pearl’s Barred Plymouth Rocks. 


Nos. 618-619] EGG PRODUCTION 317 


indefinite amount of inbreeding. Under such circum- 
stances there would be a tendency for the fecundity 
factors to remain in about the proportions in which they 
started. We may, therefore, expect to find ready-made 
flocks of high producers, true mediocre producers, or 
even zero producers as well as those containing the sev- 
eral types. Thus, the original Barred Plymouth Rocks 
of the Maine Station contained all three types, while the 
Cornish contain only true mediocre and zero producers. 

In spite of the fact that we have as yet been unable to 
apply Pearl’s theory of egg production bodily to our 
Rhode Island Reds (although it may yet be possible to 
use it after making some modifications) there is no ques- 
tion but that the ability to lay is inherited, as shown by a 
better egg production in some families than in others. It 
is clear also that some males produce offspring that on 
the whole make much better records than those from 
other males when the two groups of females with which 
they are mated are very similar in their winter egg pro- 
duction. In one instance, the difference between two sets 
of offspring by two males was clearly due to a difference 
in maturity. It seems clear, moreover, that some of the 
internal factors, such as broodiness and maturity, segre- 
= gate independently. 


SUMMARY 


1. The object of the present paper is to present a sur 
vey of the problem of egg production based on the re- 
sults of four years” study of egg production in Rhode 
Island Reds. The presentation of the data is incidental 
to this object. 

2. On account of disturbing factors, data from two 
years only is presented. 

3. There are two main conclusions: First: egg pro- 
duction in our strain of Rhode Island Reds differs in 
several important respects from Pearl’s strain of Barred 
Plymouth Rocks and also from Leghorns. Second: the 
egg record of a hen by itself is an unsafe basis on which 


318 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


to breed for definite degrees of production, for it can be 
shown that egg production depends on several more or 
less independent internal factors and that the same num- 
` ber of eggs may result from the action of different sets 
of factors. It follows, therefore, that each factor must 
be studied separately, both from the physiological and 
genetic standpoints. 

4. The factors reviewed are: date of first egg, age at 
first egg, growth, rhythm and rate of production, includ- 
ing here Pearl’s genetic factors L, and L,, broodiness, 
moult, cycles, persistence of production in the autumn, 
and stamina. 

5. Date of first egg is shown to depend on the time of 
hatching, the rate of growth of the young birds and some 
elements, at present unknown, that determine the attain- 
ment of sexual maturity. On the average it has been 
found that those individuals that lay early in the fall 
(October) lay more winter eggs than those that begin to 
lay later. 

6. On the average, pullets that lay relatively early (6 
to 7 months) in life lay more eggs than those that lay at 
a later period (8, 9, or more months) in life, other things 
being equal. The variability in age at first egg appears 
to be much greater for our Rhode Island Reds than for 
Pearl’s Barred Plymouth Rocks. 

7. Birds that lay rapidly, other things being equal, lay 
more eggs than those that lay more slowly. 

8. Some birds (true mediocre producers) lay very 
slowly and irregularly, producing only a few eggs (1-10 
or thereabouts) per month. Others (true high producers) 
lay much better (15-28 eggs per month). 

9. The effect of the age at which the first egg is pro- 
duced on winter egg production is such that numerical 
results, similar to those given by true mediocre pro- 
ducers, may result. 

10. Some pullets lay continuously or nearly so, for 
long periods of time. Others lay relatively rapidly, but 
lay in eyeles with a period of rest in between. These rest 


Nos. 618-619] EGG PRODUCTION 319 


periods may or may not be associated with broodiness. 
In a large percentage of Rhode Island Reds, a winter 
cycle comparable to that found in Barred Plymouth 
Rocks, is absent. 

11. Broodiness operates to reduce egg production very 
materially, for the average production is about 40 per 
cent. higher for the period prior to the time each indi- 
vidual goes broody compared with average production 
after that time. The apparent paradox that hens with 
the greatest number of broody periods lay more eggs 
than those with fewer broody periods is due to the fact 
that increased production affords opportunity for more 
broody periods. The presence of a large amount of 
broodiness in our Rhode Island Reds differentiates them 
from the Leghorns, which lack this characteristic. 

12. The appearance of a moult often stops production. 
A partial summer moult was noted. 

13. Other things being equal, birds that lay late in the 
fall lay more than those that stop early. 

14. Small birds mature earlier, on the average, than 
large ones and hence lay more winter eggs. 

15. It was observed that while birds of poor stamina 
might make exceptionally good records, that lack of 
stamina tended to delay the appearance of the first egg 
and hence lowered the winter records. 

16. It is pointed out that while the results obtained in 
Rhode Island Reds differ from those obtained by Pearl 
in Barred Plymouth Rocks in egg production, this dif- 
ference must be looked upon as a real difference just as 
the two races differ in color. 

17. Egg production is an unsatisfactory character on 
which to study the possible effects of selection in modify- 
ing the germ plasm, because in reality it is complex and 
not a simple unit character. 

18. The genetic constitution of our Rhode Island Reds 
in respect to Pearl’s L, and L, factors has not certainly 
been made out, but it seems probable that as a strain they 
fall into Pearl’s class of high producers. True mediocre 
producers are very uncommon in this strain. 


320 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


19. The relation between the means of the abstract 
numbers, in the series 1-30 and 30 to some higher num- 
ber, and its bearing on the use of the means of egg pro- 
duction of two groups falling within the same limits is 
discussed. 

20. The curves of winter egg production are shown to 
be compound curves. 

21. A knowledge of the factors described is of im- 
portance both from the commercial and biological stand- 
points. As Pearl and Surface (’08) pointed out a number 
of years ago, the income received from each bird will 
depend not only on the number of eggs produced, but also 
on the season at which those eggs are laid. A bird that 
produces 100 eggs at suitable seasons may yield as much 
income as a bird that produces 200 eggs at less profitable 
seasons. 

From the biological standpoint, a knowledge of the 
separate factors is important because what might seem at 
first sight to be a simple character is really extremely 
complex. Obviously, then, it is necessary to attack the 
problem from this standpoint. 


LITERATURE CITED 
Castle, W. E. 
1915. Some Experiments in Mass Selection. Am. Nar., Vol. XLIX. 
1916. Can erin Cause Genetic Change? Am. Nar., Vol. XLX. 
Curtis, M, R. 
1914. A Piomar Study, ete. IV. Factors Influencing the Size, 
Shape, and Physical Constitution of Eggs. Arch. Ent. Org., 
Bd. XXXIX. 


Dryden, J. A 
1916. Poultry Breeding and Management. Springfield. 
Goodale, H. 
1918. Winter Cycle of Egg Production in the Rhode Island ao 
of Domestic Fowl. Journ. Agri. Research, Vol. 
Gowell, G. M. 
1902. reading for Egg Production. Maine Agri. rae Sta. Bul. 79. 
1903. Breeding for Egg Production. The same 
1905. Poultry Experiments. The same, Bul, 117. 
1906 oO Experiments. The same, Bul. 130, 


1908. Iodoa Proportions in a Mixed Population. Science, Vol. 28. 
Pearl, R. 


Nos. 618-619] EGG PRODUCTION 321 
+ 


1912. The ng of Inheritance of Fecundity in the Domestic Fowl. 

Jour. Exp. Zool., Vol. 13; also Maine Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 205. 

1915a. Seventeen Years Selection of a oe T Sex-linked 
ende 


lian Inheritance. AM. AT., Vol. 
1915b. Mendelian at ot ARA in ine Dada Fowl and 
Average Flock Product AM Vol. 49. 
1915c. pa of the Winter Cycle in de egt Production of 
estic Fowl. Jour. Agri. Research, Vol 


1916. The Effect of Feeding Pituitary Substance ait Corps Luteum 

Substance on Egg Production and Growth. XIV 
Pearl and Surface. 

1908. Poultry Notes. Maine Agri, Exp. Sta. Bul. 

1909. A Biometrical Study of Egg Production in pa ‘Domestic Fowl. 
I. Variation in Annual snag Production. U. S. Dept. Agri. 
Bureau Am. Ind. Bul. 1 

TOTE Ek dador Distribution p? Egg Production. The same, 
Part II. y 


Rice, J. E. 
1913. Some Practical poe in the Management of Poultry for Egg 
roduction in ultry Culture. Bull. 1. Issued by State 
Board of siise Boston. 
2 


AN EXAMINATION OF THE POLICY OF RE- 
STOCKING THE INLAND WATERS WITH FISH! 


PROFESSOR W. M. SMALLWOOD 


SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY 


Tue large sums of money annually expended by both 
the National Government and the several states in fish 
propagation fall into two general fields of activity,. the 
marine and the freshwater. The freshwater activity in 
turn may for convenience be divided into the production 
of food and game fish. 

It is always proper to examine the conditions which 
influence restocking; and just at this time it is especially 
fitting to enquire into the efficacy of the methods. The 
technique involved in securing the eggs and their care 
during hatching have been well worked out. It was a 
marked step in advance when these modern methods were 
first put into practice. The money used in carrying*out 
modern methods in the many fish hatcheries is efficiently 
expended so far as the writer has been able to determine. 
The fundamental scientific problems involved have been 
solved so that the regular fish foreman can successfully 
direct and supervise all of the steps in the process. 

After the eggs have been hatched and the young fed for 
a certain length of time, they are distributed to the ponds 
and streams. The last act in the series is the one con- 
cerning which we know the least. In order to gain an 
insight into the actual conditions, a typical Adirondack 
pond was selected for study. 

_ The whitefish is the only species that has become at all 
abundant as a result of the policy of the state. The fault 
does not seem to be connected with the number of finger- 

- lings placed in this lake, for the state has, indeed, been 

1 Contributions from ‘the Zoological Laboratory, Liberal Arts College, 

Syracuse University, C. W. Hargitt, director. 

322 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 323 


generous. The problem that confronted the writer was 
to discover the cause or causes for the obvious failure of 
this lake to support an abundance of fish after these thirty 
years of restocking. 

In the study of the life of any given body of water or 
area of land, a number of fundamental relationships have 


T Spawning-Bed Point 
& Tamarack Swamp Brook 
3 Outlet 


la Outlet Flow 
er, ” 


Seale L 2450" Lnlargrd From USGS. Sheet by HBWaha 
Fie. 1. 


to be established before an effective detailed study can 
be made. After examining the conditions in several 
Adirondack ponds and lakes, the writer felt the necessity 
of examining the broader aspects of the problem with 
the hope that such a study might reveal some of the 


324 ` THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


causes that are influencing the present general food 
supply for fishes, the future food supply, the plant growth 
and other general problems related to the successful re- 
stocking of waters in the Adirondacks. 

Such a study implies that one understand the soil and 
its origin. The Adirondack ponds are noteworthy for 
their abundance of sand. ‘This sand is in the final anal- 
ysis responsible for much of the modern life of these same 
ponds and lakes to-day. The geological history of the 
Adirondacks, especially its glaciology, is just becoming 
well understood by the experts. For the purposes of this 
paper it is simply necessary to keep in mind the fact that 
as the glacier receded, the Adirondacks were surrounded 
by a ring of ice. Within this ring of ice first the higher 
peaks and later the lower areas were exposed. The gen- 
eral result was that there were formed in succession a 
series of temporary glacial lakes, the remnants of which 
constitute the present Adirondack lakes and ponds. 

Lake Clear, formerly known as Big Clear Pond, is lo- 
cated near Lake Clear R. R. Junction. It is at the head- 
water of the Saranac Lake system, so is free from the 
usual migration that takes place when one pond receives 
an outlet from another. The lake contains nearly 1,000 
acres of water, which comes entirely from springs and 
mountain brooks. The water is clear, cool and pure—an 
ideal freshwater pond for restocking, one would say. 
What has thirty years of restocking by the state accom- 
plished? The following table indicates that this pond has 
received 17,535,850 food and game fish. 

In some regions, no less than eight successive lakes 
have been revealed by the recent critical studies of glaci- 
ologists. The net result is the accumulation of vast quan- 
tities of sand from which most of the organic food has 
been removed. 

Lake Clear is one of the remnants of a much larger 
glacial lake, the shores of which are easily made out. 
This lake it has been proposed to call Lake St. Germain.? 

2 From the unpublished account of Lake Clear by Mr. Harold Alling. 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 325 


FISH PLANTED IN LAKE CLEAR 


Brook Trout Lake Trout Rainbow Trout | Brown Trout | White Fish 
1887 20,000 30,000 
yeaa tii 20,000 50,000 
ic eel 4 A 150,000 5,000 
1890 .....| 25,000 100,000 1,000 
1891 .| 25,000 
1892 20,000 100,000 
1893 20,000 100,000 
1894 15,000 15,000 
1895 35,000 ,000 
1 35,000 50,000 
1897 11,000 10,000 100,000 
1898 1,600 10,000 
1899 5,000 10,000 
1 36,000 35,000 3,000 600,000 
1901 25,000 | 250,000 
1902 750 25,000 5,000 800,000 
,500 10,000 = 3,000 1,000,000 
1904 18,000 8,000 1,000, 
1905. 15,000 18,000 1,000,000 
50,000 ,000,000 
1907 5,000 50,000 760,000 
1 138,000 800,000 
=e 14,000 14,000 1,000,000 
1910". 358 20,000 178,000 
1011 ic: 35,000 1,000,000 
1912 10,000 1,500,000 
1012. 25,000 15,000 700,000 
mu. 55,000 | 25,000 | 1,000,000 
1915. .....). 3000 30,000 1,500, 
ine 30,000 | 65,000 | 1,500,000 
| 683,850 - | 1,067,000 | 91,000 6,000 15,688,000 
UPPER SARANAC, N. Y., (Signed) Mio F. Otis 


September 30, 1916 


Its total area was possibly twenty times the present size 
of Lake Clear and included the present St. Regis lakes as 
well as several others. Preceding this fossil lake there 
was a still much larger lake more than twenty-five miles 
long. The station at Lake Clear and all of the level area 
extending north to Gabriel’s Station is a small part of 
the floor of this large lake. | 
These conditions as outlined for Lake Clear in a gen- 
eral way apply to nearly all of the Adirondack lakes and 
ponds. Using Lake Clear as a center, there are in a 
circle, the radius of which is fifteen miles, more than 
seventy-five similar ponds and lakes, many of which are 
restocked by the state, so that the following study may ` 


326 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


be taken as describing typical conditions in the large area 
of the Adirondacks. 

Inasmuch as the past as expressed in the present 
physiography has played such a large part in influencing 
the present life of the lake, a brief description of the pres- 
ent conditions is necessary as well as the special stations 
at which collections were made. The names of these sta- 


Fic. 2a, The shore beige stations I and II, The beach is modified 
every spring by the ice. Note how free from vegetation this strip of the cee 
is clear up to the boathouse. 


tions are found in Fig. 1. To these should be added the 
names of the two small bays, one centering at station 5, 
which we will name Big St. Germain Bay, and the one 
south of this, which we call Little St. Germain Bay. 

The plant life, the ultimate source of fish food, is lim- 
ited to the area between the shore and the 15-foot con- 
tour line except for the floating algal forms. This is the 
part of the lake, then, that is important for our study. 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 327 


From just west of station 2 to half-way between sta- 
tions 4 and 5, the shoal is composed of rocks and sand. 
The rocks are from the glacial till and similar to the soil 
conditions in the ““fossil”? shore of Lake St. Germain as 
exposed by the road east of the hotel. In front of Lake 
Clear Inn at station 3, the glacial till and sand have been 
washed away, leaving a small exposure of anorthosite 
rock. Around stations 6 and 11 large rocks and glacial 
till are common. The character of the soil in these three 
areas determines the spawning habits of at least threg 


A See 


Fie. 20. 


The shore opposite station XII. 


species of fish*in the lake. The remaining part of the 
shoal around the lake is wholly sand derived from the 
anorthosite rock. Station 7 is a sand point, designated 
as Spawning-bed Point on the oldest maps, although the 
frost fish are the only ones that are known to spawn there 
now. 

The high water of early spring and the strong south- 
west winds cause the sand to be removed from under the 
trees and shrubs on the north and east shores. As the 
ice breaks up in May, a strong southwest wind frequently 
forces a large amount of ice on to the northeast shore and 
on the north side on to the road. On the east half of the 


328 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


north shore these ice-push shores form nearly every 
spring, to be later washed into the lake by the heavy rains 
of summer. These constantly shifting shores prevent 
permanent vegetation, thus tending to give a barren ap- 
pearance to much of the shore lines, Fig. 2a. 

The easily modified shore extending for the most part 
around the six miles of shore line may be taken as a good 
indication of the lake bottom adjacent to it. The wave 
action is constantly forming sand ripples which are as 
constantly being changed by a heavy rain or a different 


Fic, 3. Station 1, Mouth of Trout Brook, During @most of the summer 
except after a heavy shower, the water in this stream at this place is not over 
six inches deep. 


direction of the wind. This makes it difficult for plants 
to gain a foothold even if the sand were good soil for 
them to grow in. The general result is, then, that most 
of the shallow water is free from any but a very limited 
plant growth. 

The largest brook, station 1, Fig. 3, receives several 
tributaries from Big Clear mountain and flows into the 
lake the year round. The remaining brooks, especially 
Sucker, Meadow and Tamarack, frequently become en- 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 329 . 


tirely dry during August. But after a severe rainstorm 
all of the brooks carry a large amount of water, often 
more than double their normal flow, for from twelve 
to eighteen hours, when they return to the normal again. 
Thus again the large amount of sand in the soil in this 
region plays an important part in determining how long 
the water shall be retained before it runs off. After 
these rains the water in the lake around the mouth of the 
brooks is colored dark by the organic matter brought 
down by the water of these streams. Two important re- 
sults follow: First, as this organic matter settles to the 
bottom, a richer soil for plant growth is furnished; and, 
secondly, fish tend to come to these places for their food. 
The amount of water flowing from Trout Brook and the 
frequent strong winds constantly shifting the sands pre- 
vent plants from becoming established at this place. But 


- the water is so dark here and so much cooler that this is 


by all means the best place to 2... for brook trout, espe- 
cially by fly-casting. 

The summer food of fishes has been studied by so many 
investigators that the main facts for the several species 
are fairly well understood. But the more difficult prob- 
lem of determining what the available food is during the 
winter and what fish eat during this period is still prae- 
tically unknown. One naturally thinks that all aquatic 
life, like the deciduous trees, perhaps, enters into a rest- 
ing state for several months, but that this assumption 
is far from correct can be shown by the following obser- 
vations. 

Through the courtesy of Milo Otis, superintendent of 
the Saranac Inn Hatchery, I have had sent to the zoology 
department a large number of the so-called red hydra, 
each month beginning with November and ending with 
April. These red hydra come into the hatchery tanks 
through the intake pipes in Little Lake Clear. These 
pipes are from 30 to 40 feet below the surface of the water. 
The important fact is clearly established that this very 
simple organism, sensitive to temperature changes, lives 


380 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vow. LIT 


throughout the year and actively forms buds in January, 
February and March in the Adirondack waters. Micro- 
scopic sections of these hydra taken in February reveal 
the presence of minute Entomostracans in the enteron. 
Some of these minute Crustaceans taken from a jar con- 
taining the hydra were submitted to Dr. C. D. Marsh for 
identification. He reported that they were Cyclops 
americana. As cyclops is the common food of hydra we 
may assume that this species, which is very abundant, is. 
eaten by these red hydra. At any rate, hydra feed on 
minute animals so that animal food is a prerequisite for 
their active growth. 

The food of the cyclops in turn is the minute floating 
algal plants. These must be in relative abundance in 
order to support so many of the minute Entomostracans. 
Thus the conclusive proof of the active, reproductive 
habit of these red hydra throughout the winter estab- ` 
lishes the winter active life of cyclops and unicellular alge 
in Little Lake Clear. 

These observations indicate a greater amount of vital 
activity in such cold regions as the Adirondacks than we 
had been led to believe existed. If these minute and 
simple forms of life live throughout the winter in an 
active state, we may safely predict that most of the other 
forms of life except the larger plants are also active and 
that the winter food of fishes is probably similar to that 
of the summer in many particulars. 

During the summer of 1916, I had opportunity to ob- 
serve the habits of the red hydra which are common in 
Lake Clear, particularly at station 12. A number of col- 
lections were made early in the summer and I attempted 
to bring some of the live animals back to the university, 
but in each instance the hydra died before reaching the 
city. I then tried to acclimate them to aquarium life, 
placing them in regular aquaria jars in the boathouse, but 
- in each case the hydra died in from twenty-four to forty- 
eight hours after being taken from the lake. As they 
were kept in the lake water, the only explanation that 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 331 


seems applicable is that the water became too warm for 
them. During these same days, hydra were coming into 
the hatchery troughs at Saranac Inn and reproducing in 
such abundance that it was necessary to clean out the 
troughs every three days. 

In these hatchery troughs, they grow so thick that a 
perfect mat is formed, covering the bottom and sides in 
patches two or three feet long. In the center of these 
patches, the hydras become brown, and, if left for about a 
week, may become nearly white. They look as if they 
were dead, but when touched, contract. Hydra taken in 
late September in Lake Clear were all brown, with a few 
that were nearly white. This wide range in color is ap- 
parently due to metabolic changes taking place in the 
chloroplastic corpuscles. 

The red hydra are a source of food for fish, for the trout 
in the hatchery troughs eat them after they become a few 
weeks old. On first hatching, the small trout are killed 
by these hydra. After trout fry have eaten freely of 
red hydra, their droppings are colored red, indicating 
that the chloroplasts are not broken up in digestion. 
Doubtless the young fish in the lake and small minnows 
that secure their food from the stems of plants eat many 
of these hydra. 

A further question arises in the relation of the fish to 
the several physiographic conditions in the lake. This is 
determined by classifying the fish habitats. These are 
stream, barren sandy-shoal, barren stony-shoal, vegeta- 
tive and deep-water. 

There is no vegetation growing in the brooks except 
inside the bridge of Trout Brook where Potamogeton 
robbinsii and some filamentous alge are found. At the 
` mouth of Meadow Brook a few bullrushes and pond lilies 
are seen; while the Divide Brook meanders over organic 
débris in which a few scattering plants of P. robbinsii, 
succeed in growing. There is a narrow fringe of yellow 
pond lilies about twenty feet from the mouth of this latter 
brook, and between the shore and this fringe of lilies a 


332 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIL 


few scattered plants of the seven-angled pipewort may 
be seen. Ordinarily the stream habitat furnishes the 
most favorable ground for vegetation, yet we see in these 
streams a dearth of species and a limited growth that 
clearly indicates limited and restricted food for such ani- 
mals as live upon aquatic plants. 

The barren sandy-shoal, the barren stony-shoal and the 
deep-water habitats are each almost entirely free from 
plant life. This leaves the vegetative to supply the neces- 
sary food. Aside from two patches of bullrushes and two 
small groups of yellow lilies, the vegetative habitat is re- 

#stricted to the plants that form on the slope leading to 
the fifteen-foot contour. At station 12, for possibly an 
eighth of a mile, there is a thick fringe of aquatic plants 
composed of Potamogeton prealongus and robbins. In 
the southeastern part of the lake and also near station 8 
two other thick areas of plants occur. These consist of 
Potamogetons, with the addition of a third species; P. 
oakesianus. Of the possible four miles of this slope 
around the lake not more than one sixth supports plants. 

The study of these habitats then shows that the fish 
are limited to the vegetative habitat in their search for 
such food as lives in turn upon aquatic plants. 

In order to determine what the fish were actually living 
upon, a study of the cional: contents was made, of which 
the following is a summary 

Salvelinus fontinalis Mitchill. Brook Trout: The 
black-striped minnow (Leuciscus carletoni), grasshop- 
pers, crayfish, snail (Campeloma decisa), a few insect 
larvæ and a pumpkin seed made up the diet of the twenty 
stomachs examined. 

Eupomotis gibbosus Linnæus. Pumpkin seed. Col- 
lected at station 8, 20 to 25 mm. long.—Daphnia and 

cyclops with an occasional insect larva. Fish of the same 
size from station 5 were feeding entirely upon daphnia 
and cyclops. Judging from the number found in some 
of these fish, I would estimate that these small fish must 

- eat more than 1,000 crustacea daily. One specimen had 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 333 


more than 100 rotifers which belonged to the species of 
Hydatina. In all, about one hundred of these small fish 
were studied from various stations in the lake and all 
were found to be eating the same food, with but a small 
amount of individual variation. The same is equally true 
of the adults of this species. 

Ameiurus nebulosus Le Sueur. Common Bullhead.— 
The bullheads in Lake Clear vary their diet, as plant re- 
mains, crayfish, clams, snails, plumatella and daphnia are 
all found. 

Catastomus commersonii Lacépède. Common Sucker. 
—Plant remains, crustacean skeletons, sand, plumatella 
and débris are all found. 

Notropis cornutus Mitchill. Shiner.—Daphnia and in- 
sects constitute their diet. A number were found with 
honey bees in the stomach. 

Leuciscus carletoni Kendall. Black-striped Minnow.— 
Insect larvæ, rotifers, algæ, plumatella and daphnia were 
all found. ; 

In view of the importance of the whitefish as food fish 
the details of this study are given. 

Coregonus clupeiformia Mitchell. Common Whitefish; 
Labrador Whitefish.— These whitefish are by all means 
the most numerous fish in the lake, as from three to four 
thousand are taken in the fall nets at once. More white- 
fish are caught than all of the other species combined, so 
far as my observations go. One would naturally expect, 
then, that more of dead whitefish would be found along 
the shore than of any other species. If one happened to 
make his observations just when the whitefish are dying, 
the above would be correct; but not more than two or 
three times during a summer are any considerable num- 
ber of whitefish to be found dead upon the shores. The 
following notes illustrate this point. 

Dead whitefish collected between September 19 and 24, 
1916, just as they drifted onto the north shore between 
the small brooks stations 1 and 2, and the East Flats, give 
the daily record as follows: September 19, two males, 


334 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


124 and 83 inches long; September 22, 4 whitefish from 
shore; September 23, 5 whitefish from shore; 3 others 
partly eaten by crows. All of these eight fish appear to 
- be in a healthy condition and show no evidence of star- 
vation; September 24, 5 more whitefish from shore. The 
intestines of three others were taken as the body of the 
whitefish was already mutilated by crows. During this 
week a strong southwest wind blew. 

On July 2 and 3 a similar series of dead whitefish was 
found on this same stretch of shore. A dozen fish were 
noted, all of which were between 12 and 15 inches in 
length. These had all been partly eaten by crows when 
first observed, so that it was impossible to learn any- 
thing about their food. The crows begin their attack 
upon the body in the gill region and drag out the viscera 
through this opening. After the visceral delicacy is eaten, 
the dorsal muscles are gradually removed. The crows 
‘ake from two to three days to eat up a whitefish. None 
of these twelve fish was poor or showed any sign of star- 
vation. A strong southwest wind had been blowing for 
- several days. 

During the past ten summers I have noticed a similar 
series of conditions. Two or three times each summer, a 
large number of whitefish are found dead on the north- — 
east shore. Occasionally, I have noticed the skeletal re- 
mains of whitefish on the west and south shores. During 
these irregular times when whitefish are drifting on shore, 
there are more of them than suckers, bullheads, brook or 
lake trout. Rheighard (’13, p. 224) says: 

Great numbers of dead suckers are thrown up on the beach in South 
Fishtail Bay in July and August. Many of these have the character- 
istie form of starved fish. The back is thin and sharp instead of round, 
and the head is disproportionately large compared to the body... + 
The emaciated fish do not appear to be diseased and are not usually 
parasitized heavily enough to account for their emaciation. 

Colbert (’15, p. 35) names five causes of death in fishes, 
as follows: (1) Mechanical injury; (2) injury through 
attacks of other species; (3) the beaching of individuals 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 335 


while pursuing or swallowing prey; (4) the accidental 
beaching while attempting to escape enemies; (5) disease 
and parasites. 

These are the two most important of the recent obser- 
vations on death in fishes. The size and general healthy 
condition of the whitefish collected eliminate all but the 
first cause given by Colbert. It is well known that white- 
fish are easily killed by handling and do not have the 
tenacity of life so characteristic of suckers or bullheads, 
for example. The whitefish, although occupying the deep 
basins of the lake, frequently come to the surface to play. 
On a calm summer evening one can hear them as they 
spring out of the water. The splashes which they make 
are more numerous in the deep water, while the brook 
trout are seen in shallow water near the mouth of the 
brooks. This is a common habit of whitefish in Lake 
Clear, especially during July and August. That they 
come to the surface is also shown by the fact that at times 
many are caught with not more than six or eight feet of 
line. Their habit of coming to the surface makes it pos- 
sible to see how wave actions might cause their death. 
None of the other causes cited by the observer quoted 
explains the death of these whitefish. In the detailed 
study it was found that all of the dead whitefish collected 
this summer were males, which renders it all the more 
difficult to understand how wave action may be the only 
cause of death. 

The following study of the stomach contents of these 
dead whitefish throws a good deal of light upon their 
food habits: 


No. 1. Male. Length 113 inches. Intestine de of food. Stomach con- 
tents badly macerated and most of it impossible to identify. Apparently 
almost entirely Daphnia kahlbergensis. No apok The mesentery con- 
tained a large amount of fat 

No. 2. Male. Length 114 inches. Stomach and intestine contain many 
minute crustacean skeletons. The remains of three honey bees covered with 
saprolegnia. A small amount of fat in mesentery. 

No. 3. Male. Length 124 inches. Stomach and intestime contain nu- 
merous minute macerated erustacea. Mesentery loaded with fat. 


336 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


No. 4. Male. Length 113 inches. Thousands of minute macerated 
erustacea in stomach and anterior part of intestine. Remains of three 
honey bees. Small amount of fat in mesentery 

No. 5. Male. Length 12 inches. One honey bee. No fat in mesentery. 

No. 6. Male. Length 11 inches. Numerous Daphnia kahlbergensis. 


S; 
O. Male. Length 12 inches. One honey bee. Large amount of fat 
in mesentery and around stomach. 
Male. Length 114 inches. lag empty. Intestine partly 
tal he gesta food. Large amoun 
ale. Length 11 inches. a contained numerous Daphnia 
eto and Leptodora hyalina. No copepods. The intestine was 5 
inches long and +; of an inch in diameter and was packed full of cladocera 
skeletons 


The food in numbers 1, 6, 9 were identified by Dr. C. D. 
Marsh. It is probable that the minute crustaceans po 
in 2, 3, 4, 8 are the same as those found in 1, 6, 9. 
material was so badly macerated that it was + a Buaibtt 
to be confident of the identification. 

The large amount of food found in the stomach and 
intestine, and the presence of a great deal of fat in most 
instances, is convincing evidence that these fish did not 
starve to death. It seems strange that they were all 
males. The honey bees eaten had evidently been in the 
water several days, as practically every one was covered 
with saprolegnia. 

The following whitefish were collected by Milo Otis, 
superintendent of the Saranac Inn Hatchery. The fish 
were taken during November, 1916, in nets used to secure 
spawning fish. 

No. 10. Male. Length 11 inches. Stomach empty. Duodenum con- 
tained minute crustacea, too macerated to identify. In the intestine were 
found numerous winter eggs of Daphnia. These winter eggs appear to be 
uninjured by the digestive enzymes. Some were found in the rectum in a 
perfect condition, so that I feel P that most of them pass through 
the digestive canal and into the water ready to grow into Daphnia. This is 
an important fact besa the problem of an adequate amount of food is 
taken into considerati 

No. 11. Female. Sia 113 inches. gage: empty. Macerated 
eladocera in intestine. Many tapeworms pre 

No. 12. Male. Length 113 inches, con pt Intestine contains 


No. 13. Female. Length 11 inches. Stomach and intestine mostly 
m Parasites present. Ovaries full of eggs. 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 337 


No. 14, Male. Length 11 inches. Stomach empty. Intestine with 
cladocera skeletons. Parasites present. 

No. 15. Female. Length 84 inches. Stomach and intestine empty. 
Celome full of eggs. 


The following viscera taken from whitefish collected by 
Milo Otis were received November 24, 1916: 

No. 16. Stomach empty. Several parasitic flatworms present. 

No. 17. Stomach contained 3 pumpkin seeds (Eupomotis gibbosus) 1 
inch long; 1 partly digested gibbosus; 1 snail (Amnicola Limosa Say 
identified by F. G. Baker). Parasitic flatworms present. 

No. 18. aya contained many Daphnia kahlbergensis and Lepto- 
dora hyalina. No e ods, 

No. 19. Stomach ail numerous Daphnia winter eggs; 8 whitefish 
e, 

. 20. Stomach full. One pumpkin seed (Eupomotis egibbosus) and 
mee visten eggs. Era flatworms present. 
. 21. Stomach empty, with many parasites. 

ig 24. Stomach full of whitefish eg 

No. 25. Stomach contained 1 partly digested fish, probably gibbosus. 

Nos. 26, 27. Each contained many Dap 

No. 28. Stomach cel Daphnia = ite eggs. 


In the jar containing the viscera of the whitefish num- 
bers 16 to 28, there were, in addition to the above records, 
20 pumpkin seeds that had been in some of these stomachs 
and 107 whitefish eggs. 33 tapeworms were also found 
in this residue. 

Small pumpkinseeds were selected in order that the 
food habits of very young fish might be compared with the 
adults. Small fish 20 to 25 millimeters (about an inch), 
25 to 30 millimeters, and adults 100 millimeters long (3 to 
4 inches) were examined. 

These young fish live almost exclusively on small clado- 
cerans, with cyclops and daphnia predominating. Occa- 
sionally one was found having only rotifers. Insect 
larve do not play an important part in their food so far 
as my studies go. The adults include, in addition, plants 
and Plumatella. 

Baker (1916, pp. 184-188) gives a summary of the facts 
of the food habits of this species in which insect larve 
and mollusca are seen to be the most important. In 
Walnut Lake, Wisconsin, insect larve are mainly eaten; 


338 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


while in Douglas Lake, Michigan, and Oneida Lake, New 
York, molluses are the more important. In Lake Clear, . 
cyclops and daphnia may be said to be their main food. 
These two animals happen to be almost the only food of 
the whitefish. The pumpkin seeds in Lake Clear thus be- 
come a hindrance in the stocking of this lake. The num- 
ber of pumpkin seeds eaten by other fish does not appear 
to be large. Itis suggested that food fish which live har- 
moniously with whitefish but feed upon pumpkin seeds 
would make a valuable combination. 

Forbes (pp. 108, 1883) made numerous experiments to 

determine the natural food of young whitefish. He found 
that cyclops were more important than all the other or- 
ganisms combined. Hankinson (p. 239, 1914) also noted 
the almost exclusive diet of cyclops and daphnia. Baker 
(pp. 159-161) shows that not only crustacea, but molluscs 
are important as food for adult whitefish. My observa- 
tions emphasize the limited diet of large whitefish in Lake 
Clear where cyclops and daphnia are all that are eaten 
during the summer. In the fall some specimens were 
taken with the snail Amnicola in the stomach, but this 
snail is present in limited numbers only, so can not be 
very important as a source of food in Lake Clear. Dur- 
ing the fall, small pumpkin seeds and their own eggs are 
added to the daphnia-cyclops diet. It is to be noted that 
all of the dead whitefish were in good condition, most of 
them being fat. These all fed upon the daphnia-cyclops 
diet. 
These cladocerans produce winter eggs in large num- 
bers which are not destroyed by the digestive juices of the 
whitefish nor the other fish that feed upon them. These 
eggs pass through the entire digestive canal uninjured. 
This is an important factor in keeping up the number of 
these minute organisms. Were these winter eggs di- 
gested and used as food, it is probable that this, the most 
important source of food for whitefish, would soon become 
exhausted, 

The brook trout taken in Trout Brook or at its mouth 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 339 


feed for the most part on insects; while those taken in the 
lake eat minnows almost exclusively. The two taken 
early in the spring (the ice did not break up until after 
May first) had been feeding upon pumpkin seeds, cray- 
fish and insect larve. No molluscs were found. 

The food of the three species of minnows examined as 
well as the suckers indicates that these fish live largely 
on the same animals as the whitefish and the pumpkin- 
seeds. The bullhead is the most general in its diet of any 
of the fish studied, taking clams, snails, crayfish, minnows 
and plants. 

A detailed study of the food habits of the fish in any 
lake is necessary before one can tell just what the several 
species of fish actually eat. It is to be regretted that in 
this lake the number of organisms suitable for food for 
fishes is so limited. The result is that each species comes 
into competition with the other species for food. The 
result of this competition for the one abundant food, 
daphnia-cyclops, prevents this lake from permanently 
having large numbers of food fish. 

The consideration of the history of the lake, the specific 
babitatiou of the fish, the noteworthy dearth of aquatic 
plants, the actual food of the fish and the restocking that 
has taken place during the past thirty years leads to the 
conclusion that restocking has not been and cannot be a 
success. In estimating how many fish any given body of 
water will support, one must first consider the variety and 
abundance of aquatic plants. There can not be any more 
animal food for the small fish and fingerlings than can 
find subsistence on the aquatic plants of any given body 
of water. 

In this connection a second question might be asked, 
why stock any Adirondack pond with a distinctively food 
fish? Whitefish when not ‘taken in nets are caught at 
- baited buoys which are placed early in the spring by the 
local fishermen. I have counted 25 buoys scattered 
around the lake in early June. At these buoys a consid- 
erable number of whitefish are taken by relatively very 


* 


340 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


few people, probably not over fifteen separate families. 
Sportsmen who desire to fish for whitefish employ some 
one who has a buoy located advantageously as a guide. 
This guide ties the boat to his buoy. In a half day, from 
six to twenty whitefish may be thus taken. No one is ex- 
pected to tie to one of these buoys without the ‘‘owner’s”’ 
consent. The result then of this extensive stocking by 
the state has been to enable a few local families and 
guides to catch for their own use and to sell a few white- 
fish. The general vacation transients are not benefited 
nor is this excellent food fish taken in such numbers as 
to yield any considerable amount of food. If the state 
is to continue to restock such ponds as Lake Clear with 
whitefish, then some better method should be devised to 
take the whitefish. 

The fundamental reason why the extensive restocking 
of Lake Clear has not been a success is due to the glacial 
origin of the lake. The mere fact that the sand in which 
the plants try to grow has been resorted by the glacial 
waters until most of the organic material, plant food, has 
been washed away, produces a very limited number of 
aquatic plants. Such plants are indispensable as a source 
of food for the numerous minute organisms upon which 
fish normally feed. One can hardly appreciate what a 
large number of different animals fish eat unless he has 
given careful study to this problem. Baker (pp. 157- 
199) gives a summary of the different kinds of animals 
eaten by fish and the variety is in striking contrast to the 
one abundant group of organisms (daphnia-cyclops) in 
Lake Clear. In order to have a general growth of fish 
in a lake, I believe that an abundance of several kinds of 
fish food is indispensable. The conditions in Lake Clear 
well illustrate how the species that can most successfully 
utilize the form of food that is abundant survives and 
greatly increases in numbers, while the others remain 
few in numbers. 

The shores of Lake Clear are remarkably free from 


dead fish and one rarely finds any dead fingerlings. It 


' Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 341 


would seem as if there were but one conclusion, namely, 
that the most of the fingerlings are eaten by larger fish. 

The probabilities are that there would not, then, have 
been any more trout in Lake Clear, even if the state had 
placed many more than it has during the past thirty years. 
This lake really illustrates an instance of overstocking 
simply because there was not an adequate amount and 
variety of food. At present there does not seem to be 
any way to remedy this deficiency. 

During the past summer the states have been urged to 
increase greatly their production of food and game fish. 
This very general recommendation fails to recognize cer- 
tain fundamental facts. The next step in advance along 
fish propagation is one that will have to be taken slowly, 
as it necessitates a great deal of critical information. It 
is becoming more and more apparent that we must not 
only know the breeding habits of the small minnows, 
pumpkin seeds, etc., the fry of which serve as admirable 
food for the food-fish fingerlings, but also the natural his- 
_ tory of all of the life of a given body of water. It is a 
well-recognized biological axiom that no organism can 
live unto itself alone. This applied to our problem means 
that a clear and adequate supply of water is not the only 
factor that must be considered in deciding to restock great 
bodies of water with fish-fry. But rather the intricate 
and more or less obscure conditions that determine the 
sum total of life in each body of water must be taken into 
consideration. Such studies alone furnish a correct basis 
for determining the extent to which an animal may draw 
upon a given source of food, upon the available body of 
food, and many kindred problems. Before the state can 
wisely undertake to place more fingerlings in the ponds, 
it ought to know whether there is enough available food 
to keep them at least from starving. 

The extensive restocking of most of the Adirondack 
ponds is done mostly for the benefit of the sportsmen. 
The benefit that has accrued to these and many other 
vacationists is very great, but one can not help wondering 


342 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von.LII * 


if this policy should not be restricted and adjusted. One 
or two trout hatcheries would probably be able to pro- 
duce all of the trout needed, while the rest might be 
turned over to the production of food fish which should 
be placed in the larger bodies of water that support an 
abundant aquatic plant life. The conditions in Oneida 
Lake are in such striking contrast to those in the Adiron- 
dacks that one can unhesitatingly suggest that this lake 
could support an incredible number of fish. 

Intimately associated with this general problem is the 
question of disease in fishes. Under this heading are in- 
cluded the several forms of parasitism. Reference will 
be made to two or three only. This is the field in which 
the greatest progress has been made in the cure and pre- 
vention of the diseases affecting man. But before pre- 
vention can be applied, the life history of the parasite 
must be understood. In the main, the work of the na- 
tional and state governments has been confined solely to 
hatchery problems. Here is a field that they should en- 
ter, as many of the problems are too large and involve 
too much expense for the individual. 

Salmincola edwardsii (Olsson). 

This parasite belongs to the copepod group of crus- 
taceans, many of which are familiarly known as ‘“‘fish- 
lice.”? Wilson says: ‘‘This family (Lernwopodide) of 
parasites is widely distributed amongst fishes in both salt 
and fresh water. Some of our best food and game fish 
are infested with them, and when they once obtain en- 
trance to a stock pond, fish hatchery, or aquarium they 
usually multiply so rapidly as to become a serious 
nuisance, and may even kill the fish”” (p. 569). There 
, Are some one hundred and thirty-six different species of 
animals that belong to this family, all of which are para- 
istic during their adult life. In the genus to which our 
specimens belong, there are twenty species, eighteen of 
which live exclusively upon the several kinds of trout. 

Salmincola edwardsii is found exclusively infesting the 

brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). All of the specimens 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 343 


taken in Lake Clear were attached to either the dorsal or 
anal fin. ` The gills of these fish were examined but no 
fish-lice noticed upon them. This seems strange as 
Fasten (1911-12) reports them as especially abundant 
upon the gills. They were found on trout ranging from 
four inches in length to those fourteen inches long, which 
were caught in Trout Brook, in the lake near the mouth 
of this inlet, station 1, and in the bay near station 5. 
They were taken upon both large and small fish in each 
of these locations. My specimens were collected during 
July, August and September. The last specimens were 
on a nine-inch male caught in Big St. Germain Bay, Sep- 
tember 28, 1916. The egg-sacs were full of embryos. 

This common ‘‘fish-louse’’ is easily recognized. From 
the main part of the body two large egg-saes are sus- 
pended. With an ordinary hand lens, the numerous 
small embryos can be noted, and the small beak which 
attaches the parasite to its host. Fasten has recently 
worked out the life history and the habits of this inter- 
esting parasite, which undergoes an extensive degenera- 
tion after becoming parasitic. 

These parasites are widespread in the United States in 
the native trout streams, and in Canada and Europe. 
The first scientific record of this particular parasite is by 
Linneus in 1761. It seems strange that an animal could: 
be known for so long and its habits not be understood 
until within the past five years. The fact that it is so 
widespread and has been known for so long indicates that 
it is not a serious pest except under very favorable 
living conditions. These are best found in the hatcheries 
or stock ponds, where many fish live in a small enclosure. 
The numerous parasitic larve then have little trouble in 
finding a host. In the streams and ponds of this state, 
we need not fear that the trout will be killed by them. 
The chief reason is that the trout are few in numbers in 
any given place, so that when the embryo parasites make 
their escape, there is small chance of their ever becoming 

attached to a trout. The result is that each trout in a 


344 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


wild state does not usually harbor more than a half dozen, 
and this number does no serious harm to the trout, espe- 
: cially where they are attached to the fins. i 

When this pest gets into a hatchery, but little can be 
done. The infested trout at the Wild Rose Hatchery in 
Wisconsin were treated with ‘‘solutions of copper sul- 
phate, potassium chlorate, sodium chloride, and mixtures 
of sodium chloride and potassium chlorate, but these had 
no effect upon the parasite” (Fasten, 1911-12, p. 17). 
About the only remedy that is effective is to destroy all 
of the parasitized trout, which can be done after the 
spawning season; for there is no reason to believe that 
these parasites can be carried from one place to another 
except in the manner described by Fasten. We do not 
know how these parasites pass the winter, but in view of 
the fact that they are not known to eat during their free- 
swimming period, it is probable that those which live 
through the winter do so as parasites upon trout. Dur- 
ing the cold weather the growth changes would not take 
place as rapidly, so that a given parasite might remain 
on a trout for five or even six months during the winter. 
Clinostomum marginatum. 

This is a small Trematode that lives for a part of its 
life embedded in the muscles of several food and game 
fish. The popular name of ““grubby”” is used to describe 
this condition. So little is known about this parasite that 
renders thousands of dollars worth of fish unsuitable for 
food that any new facts are welcome. In this connection, 
the following field observations are recorded upon this 
very annoying parasite. In an earlier paper (Smallwood, 
"14) attention was called to the fact that these worms may 
voluntarily leave the body of their host after the host dies. 
On May 28, 1914, about 50 perch were taken from MeCau- 
ley Pond between Saranac Lake village and Lake Clear 
Junction. After returning to camp, it was noticed that 
these perch were ““grubby”” and they were all left in a 
pile on the ground. The next morning, I examined the 

pile of perch and was able to pick up more than 100 flat- 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 345 


worms that had crawled out of their cyst during the night. 
If I had cared to do so I could have gathered several 
hundred specimens during the day as they continued to 
escape from the cysts. 

This observation answers one question, namely, that 
these parasitic worms remain in the body of the perch 
all winter, as the worms were in the same stage of ma- 
turity as those taken in July, August and September. 
It further suggests, also, that Clinostomum marginatum 
may return to an aquatic habit directly from the body of 
the fish. 

Guides and fishermen claim that perch are free from 
““grubs”” at certain seasons of the year, a belief which I 
am unable to confirm. But if more extended studies show 
that their belief is true, the method by means of which 
the ‘‘grubs’’ leave the fish has been found. 

So far as we know, these parasites are mainly confined 
to members of the bass and perch families, although a 
few cases are on record of trout being infested with them. 
Occasionally one finds a few bullheads that are ““grubby.”” 
In Lake Clear Lepomis gibbosus and the minnows are 
largely infested by them. 

I can also confirm my observations (p. 11, 14) that fish 
eating parasitized minnóws are not themselves infected 
through this avenue. One brook trout was found with 
a partly digested minnow in its stomach. In the flesh 
of the minnow a dead parasitic clinostomum was ob- 
served. : 

I would say that the number of fish harboring this 
parasite in Lake Clear is on the increase. 

The following observations upon some larval stages in 
Trematodes may help to start some one upon this prob- 
lem without losing a season experimenting. 

During the past three years, I have frequently found 
in the muscles of perch and pumpkin seeds minute cysts. 
Each of these cysts contains a larval Trematode. 

The wall of the cyst is tough and easily ‘‘shells out”” of 
the muscles, but is not readily penetrated by the ordi- 


346 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


nary killing fluids. This has resulted in my not being 
able to secure suitable sections for detailed study. It 
will probably: be necessary to make most of the observa- 
tions upon living material, which will require that one 
have a microscope and microscopic reagents while doing 
field work. 

The following general facts may help to direct atten- 
tion to this important stage in the development of the 
life history of Trematodes. Possibly some fish contain- 
ing them may be found near a laboratory and thus readily 
studied. 


y | @ 
F 4. Lepomis megalotis (Rafinesque), long-eared sunfish. Taken in 
Lake Clear, 1915. A portion of the skin has been removed to show the position 
that the larval stages of certain undetermined Distomes occupy in the flesh. 


Fig. 4 shows the usual position of these larval stages 
in the muscles of the long-eared pumpkin seed taken in 
Lake Clear during July, 1915. Each cyst is accompanied 
by a small amount of pigment in the more advanced 
stages, although I have seen many of them with no pig- 
ment and nearly the same appearance as the muscle (Fig. 
7). One must often pick the muscle fibers apart in order 
to find the cyst as most of them do not show on the sur- 
face. I have not been able to discover that they are 
found in any definite region of the body, although they 
are more numerous near the dorsal fin. 

A photomicrograph of a young cyst shows a number 
of blood vessels entering one end of the cyst. The cyst 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 347 


itself contains numerous blood corpuscles, as if they had 
been emptied into the cyst. The difficulties of fixation 
have prevented me thus far from studying the character 
of the blood in these cysts. 

As the cyst grows, the wall of which is made up of con- 
nective tissue, partitions are formed which grow in from 
the main outside wall. The result is that in the older 
stages three to five separate cavities are found in each 
eyst (Fig. 6), although but a single larval Trematode is 
present in each cyst. I have opened a large number of 
these cysts and thus far have found no exceptions. 


Fie. 5. The perch (Perca flavescens) showing minute distomes embedded 
in the skin and fins. These parasites ‘can be recognized in the photograph as 
minute, black spots. The black pigment surrounds the parasite. 


Not much can be said at this time in regard to the struc- 
ture and changes through which this larva is passing. 
That it is growing there can be no doubt, as different 
stages showing the presence or absence of some of the 
mature organs were found. In most of the whole larve 
dissected and mounted, the excretory ducts are com- 
pletely formed, while the digestive tract is limited chiefly 
to the anterior end. Two suckers can be recognized and 
a part of the reproductive organs. The whole animal is 
so very small that it can scarcely be seen with the un- 
aided eye. It will require better fixation before the spe- 
cies can be determined accurately. I am inclined to 


348 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


believe that it is the larval stage of either some species 
of Holostomum or Clinostomum. The latter is more nu- 
merous in this lake; but the size and pigment strongly 
suggest Holostomum, the adult appearance of which is 
shown in the photomicrograph (Fig. 7 

From the studies thus far made, I am inclined to think 
that it takes one season for this larva to transform into 
the adult worm. My reason for this conclusion is that 


viens taie aa of the pin cyst of ey undetermined distome. 


Fic. 6. 
Each cmi contains but e young worm, although there are several parti- 
tions. The cyst is surrounded by dica! layers of connective tissue and is 


embedded in the muscles 


there is so little difference between the several stages that 
I have secured. 

In the hope of throwing some light upon the relation of 
Trematodes to fish, the writer urged several years ago 
that some ‘‘grubby’’ perch be placed in a separate tank 
in one of the hatcheries and fed for one year to see what 
happened, but the suggestion was rejected as not prac- 
tical, although a number of specific experiments were out- 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 349 


lined. It is unnecessary to say that many thousands of 
dollars’ worth of fish would be rendered available through- 
out the United States, if this one disease alone could be 
prevented. Perch and bass which are so generally in- 
fected with Trematodes are delicious pan fish and usually 
easily caught in large numbers. It would seem as if the 
mere calling attention to this large amount of food an- 
nually wasted would stimulate some organization to 
finance the necessary scientific investigation. Such an 
investigation would need to continue at least two years 
and possibly longer; but the expense involved would be 
a small fraction of the returns, if the disease could be pre- 
vented. 

““Grubby”” perch are but one illustration of the diseases 
that occur in our fresh-water fish. There are a number 
of diseases due to bacteria and others caused by certain 
Soporozoa, Fig. 7. These diseases are usually epidemic, 


Fic. 7. Leuciscus carletoni (Kendall), black-stripped minnow. vera in Lake 
Clear, 1916. Infected with Myxobolus, a sporozoan para 


killing large numbers of fish in a few weeks. The main 
fact that is known now is that the fish die and several 
specific microorganisms are observed to be associated 
with certain ulcers, cysts, ete. But as to what causes 
lead up to the fatal termination of the diseases, little is 
known. 

An admirable monograph upon carcinoma of the 
thyroid in the Salmonoid fishes was prepared, but left in- 
completed because of lack of funds. This is about the 
only serious study of fish diseases that has been made in 
the United States. 

At this time, when all are anxious to help in whatever 
way that they can, it may be permissible to suggest that 


350 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


scientists may render real service along the general lines 
indicated in this paper. To be more specific, they may be 
summarized as follows: ` 


1. A critical study of the life of the fresh-water ponds and streams is 

very pat ble. 

a seer the life history and food habits of the small fish and in- 

ttebrates present. 
(b) Yo determin e the amount and conditions of plant life—the ultimate 
of food for all animals. 

(e) m determine if more plants can be made to grow in water naturally 
ng sufficient plant li 

(d) To 4 determine if it is somible to introduce enough natural food for 

fry and fingerlings to keep them from starving, as many of them 

probably do now in such ponds as many of those in the Adiron- 


dacks, 
(e) To determine to what extent the natural food of the fish is eaten by 
invertebrates living in the same water 


When these problems are solved, the next step in effi- 
ciency in fish culture can be taken. It will require the 
cooperation of many scientists. The result will be the 
substitution of an intelligent method of restocking in 
place of the present one, which is often unintelligent or 
politically influenced. 


2. A detailed study of the several diseases occurrin 
(a) It is necessary to know the complete life history of dc parasites as 
the Trematodes before any one can formulate la meas- 
- There are at present at least four different species of Tre- 
idos found in our fresh-water fish and the ARNO life his- 
tory of each is unknown. 
(b) The causes leading up to the usual epidemies in fish must be deter- 
i these can be prevented. This is a problem for the 
bacteriologist and the protozoologist. 


When these problems are worked out, an enormous 
amount of fish food will be conserved for human needs. 
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY. 
October 29, 1917 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


The an all list of references includes only those works cited in the 
; pages. A more extended reference to the literature will be found 
in E. c. Baker’s paper, which is the first one given in the list below. 


Nos. 618-619] RESTOCKING INLAND WATERS 351 


Baker, Frank Col 
1916. The sade of Mollusks to Fish in Oneida Lake. Technical 
Publication No. 4. The New York State College of Forestry 
at Syracuse University, pp. 1-366. 
Bean, Tarleton H. 
1903. Catalogue of the Fishes of New York. Bull. No. 60. New 
ork State Museum, pp. 1-784 
Calkins, Gary N 

1899, Baport upon the Recent Epidemic among Brook Trout (Salve- 
linus fontinalis) on Long Island. Fourth Annual Report of 
the Commissioners of the Fisheries, Game and Forests of the 
State of New York. Report for the year 1898, pp. 175-189. 

Colbert, Roy J. 

1915. An Ecological Study of the as of the Douglas Lake Region, 
Michigan, with special reference to the morta some of the spe- 
sa Michigan Geological sie Biolo ge T Publica- 

on No. 20, Biology Series No. 4, pp. 

1911-12. Te Brook Trout Disease in Wisconsin Tun Report of 

e Wisconsin Commission of Fisheries, pp. 11-21. 
1913. is Behavior of a Parasitic Copepod. Jour. Animal Behavior, 
i 6-60. 

1914. Fertilization in the Kenio aes Lerneopoda ‘edwardsit. 

Biol. Bull., Vol. 27, pp. 
Fenneman, N. M. 

1910. Lakes of epr Wisconsin. Published by the State of 

i 


ra ae 
The zo Food of the Common Whitefish (Gorogonus -ni 
formis Mitchill). Bull. Ill. State Lab. Nat. Hist., I, No. 
pp. 95-110. 
Gaylord, H. R., and Marsh, M. C. 
1912. Carcinoma of the Thyroid in the Salmonoid Fishes. Bull. Bur. 
Fisheries, Vol. XXXII, 1912. Document No. 790. Issued 
April 22, 1914 
Gurley, R. R. 
1894. The Myosporidia or Psorosperms of Fishes, and the Epidemics 
Produced by Them. U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries. 
Co mer Seu a. Published 1894. Pp. 65-359. 
Hankinson, Thomas L. 
4. Youn pa > Whitedsh 3 in Lake Superior. Science, N. S., Vol. 40, No. 


1024, p. 239. 
1915. serrat on the Fishes of A County, Mi chigan. 
Michigan Geological and Biological Survey. Publication No. 
20, Biological Series No. 4, pp. 11- 
Needham, J. C., and others. 
1903. Aquatic Tiset i in New York State. Bull. 68. New York State 


Museum. 
Needham, J. C., and others. 
1905. May Flies and Midges. Bull. 86. New York State Museum. 


352 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vor. LIT 


nen Paul 
1908. A Plan of Promoting the Whitefish Productions of the Great 
es. Bull. U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, XXVII, pp. 643-84. 

Smallwood, W. M. 

1914. Preliminary Report on Diseases of Fish in the Adirondacks. 
A Contribution to the Life History of Clinostomum margi- 
natum. Technical Publication No. 1. The New hase State 
College of Forestry at Syracuse University, pp. 

Smith, Henry I 
1874. The Crustacean pies of the Fresh-water Fishes of the 
United States. U. S. Fish Commission. Report for 1872-73. 

e. Charles B. 

15, North American Parasitic Pl os Belonging to the Lernæo- 
poda, with a revision of the entire family, No. po Pro- 
ceedings U. S. National prada Vol. 47, pp. 565-72 


SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 
MODIFICATIONS OF THE 9:3:3:1 RATIO 


A. CHEMICAL EXPERIMENTS PARALLELING THE SEVERAL POSSIBLE 
MODIFICATIONS OF THE MENDELIAN F, DI-HYBRD PHENO- 
YPIC NON-BLENDING Ratio 9:3:3:1 


Tue foundation F, di-hybrid ratio 9:3:3:1 consists of 9 in- 
dividuals having somatic traits both ‘‘A’’ and ‘‘B,’’ 3 individ- 
uals having ‘‘A’’ only, 3 having ‘‘B”’ only, and 1 having neither 
“A” nor ‘‘B.’’ Or, if each allelomorphie pair consists, not in a 
gene and its absence, but in genic entities contrasted in quality 
or quantity and showing clean-cut dominance and recessiveness, 
in 9 ‘‘A’’ and “*B”” both dominant; 3 ‘‘A’’ dominant, ‘‘b’’ pe 
cessive; 3 ‘‘a’’ recessive, ‘‘B’’ dominant; 1 ‘‘a’’ and ‘‘b’’ both 
recessive. This di-hybrid ratio was one of de early discoveries 
of Mendel! himself, but after the revival of genetical studies in 
1900 experimental breeding had not continued long before modi- 
fications of this ratio became apparent. Thus Bateson? men- 
tions a number of cases in which the 9:3:4 F, ratio is found. 
It is apparent in such cases that two unit trait-pairs are in- 
volved, that the dominant phase of one of them standing without 
that of the other in 3 individual F, somas is not to all patent as- 
pects different from the 1 individual possessing the dominant phase 
of neither of the two trait-pairs involved. In the gametes of in- 
dividuals of families that produce the 9:3:4 ratio the segrega- 
tion and recombination of genes are, however, just as clean-cut 
and follow the same rule as in pedigrees giving the unmodified 
foundation ratio 9:3:3:1; only the somatie working out of the 
genes is different in the two ratios. 

Barring blending, linkage, crossing-over, non-disjunction, sex- 
limited inheritance and other special phenomena, which limita- 
tions preserve intact the numerical entities 9, 3, 3, and 1, the 

1 Mendel, G., ‘‘ Experiments in Plant Hybridization’’ (reprinted in Eng- 
lish in Bateson ’g ‘*Mendel’s Principles of Heredity,’’ pp. 334-379), p 
351, 1866. 

2 Bateson, W., ‘‘Mendel’s Principles of Heredity,’’ p. 80, 1913, 


354 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


Bim omar Illustrative of Black Skin-Pigment ees wis 
h of the 16 zygote tubes 


Male Gam 


HUMAN SKIN-COLOR 
IN WHI AGRO Fa M eles 
passing 16+ 162 
+ L 
CUMULATIVE ae PS 
GENES. 
AB At as ae 


> 
e 2 Black 
ES 
GE © 
¡Ms 
as A fe 
T q Y 
El E) Cea 
vB) y k 
54 O y 
on 6 
®| © pS 
Ra Ù P Octoroon 
CARS 
A (pass-for-while 
3 
J 
a a deville: hake 
2 Az4cc. on of as. and 17.5 clear water: 
Gene Bo ace of cantina tice ri eb ea ce Lee a 
@=40.c. of. c.Ifnóta Ink and 940.5 c.c. clear water. 


following table presents in orderly fashion all of their possible 
ratio-recombinations : 


Series A 
Case E... 93:85 L 
Case IL 9:3:4. 
Case III. 9:6:1. 
Case IV. 9:7. 
Case V- 10:3;:3, 
Case VI. 10:6. 
Case VII. 12:3:1. 
Case VIII. 12:4, 
Case IX. 13:3. 
Ca o- X., 15:1, 


Nos. 618-619] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 355 


FiFemale Gametes 
e O LS ES 
=z 
xXXAB OIC AS Xan HINA 
R 
w 
X 
y AABB AABE- AUBB AQ BE 
Y y 
¿O 
z X 
gy AABE AAC E AQ BE- AQE E- 
an 
1 
3 X 
= AQBB AaBe @aBB aaBe 
y ee 
E H 
$ . AQBE AQEE aaBe aace 
Fz Zyqgotes: Phenotypic Ratio 9:3:3:4 


/Hustralive 
Suéstralum xx = ban nce less). 
ETa E ta bear om of Fe Ch e H CI (Yeller). 
Gene B= Agueoys solution of Rides € PISA 


The chemical experiments described in the accompanying fig- 
ures parallel chemically what must happen to the F, genes in 
their development into traits in the F, somas in each case of a 
modified somatic di-hybrid ratio. Each drawing represents a 
2-inch wooden block 74 inches square, with twenty-four ¿-inch 
holes, 14 inches deep, suitable for holding test-tubes. The four 
holes at the top hold test-tubes containing chemicals representing ° 
the four types of F, female gametes possible when di-hybridism 
is being considered ; the four to the left perform the same service 
for the four male gametes. The sixteen holes blocked off in the 
square hold test-tubes for the sixteen types of zygotes resulting, 
by the checker-board method, from all possible unions of the 
four male and the four female gametes. X X represent the sub- 
stratum or the sum-total of hereditary qualities other than the 
traits under consideration. The lettering under each test-tube 
circle is the genetic formula for the gamete, or zygote as the 


356 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


Fy Female Gametes 


DO FO RO 
ORO 


O 
g 3 AQ@BB AQBe 
hs y 
JO 
1,8 x 
Q AABE AQBE aaee 
S$/38 
JO =, 
= x 
Q AQBB AABE aaBB aaBe 
$ 
©; 
AGBE aaBe aaee 
Fz Zygoles:Phenolypic Ratio 9:2:4 
illustrative E: : 
MAR r Colfer toca) 
Gene A= Age f: fi 


Gene B = Dilute EI CCaloriasa 5). 


case may be. A word within a test-tube circle names the color 
of the reaction-product, which color is the index or analog of the 
somatic working out of its accompanying genetic formula of the 
soma. 

Instructions for performing the experiment illustrative of 
each ratio-modification are found in detail in the drawing for 
the selected case. The chemicals representing gene ‘‘A’’ and 
gene '*B”” and the substratum are, as indicated, poured into the 
test-tubes representing the F, female and the F, male gametes. 
Each gamete-holding test-tube should contain approximately 20 
c.c. of the appropriate genes and substratum, Of this mixture 
4 c.c. represent 1 gamete; and 1 such gamete is to be poured into 
each one of the 4 zygote-holding test-tubes, directly below or 
directly to the right, as the case may be, of particular gamete- 
holding test-tube, following the checker-board method. Thus 
each of the 16 zygote test-tubes will contain chemicals appro- 


Nos. 618-619] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 357 


Fy Female Gameles 
Case 
Wiis 


XXLAE xXxxXaAB 


xXXIAB 


X 
Ñ 


Xx 


= 
Gy 
X 
N e 
AABB AABE AQBB AQBe 
¿ $ 
d 
KOF 
IO} 
y AABE AAL E ACBe AQC e 
S q 
e 
= A@QBB AaBe aa,» acaBae 
> 
u y 
8 
O eu vey 
Aa BE AQ EE aaBeée aa eec 
Zyqotes:Phenolypic Ratio 9:6-1 
Saks coco mae d 


A= Ag Sak, KI cj A a ob theatosrn t Le Er 
“Gene B' (White). a y 
E B- Ho Hur 7 £ PL (C>-Mx05). (White). 


priately representing 1 F, male and 1 F, female gamete free, 
like the constituents of a united sperm and egg, to interact in 
the zygote and in subsequent ontogenesis. 

Some of these ratios, such as exist in Cases Nos. V, VI and 
IX, are much more difficult chemically to contrive than others, 
such as Nos. I, II, III, IV and X. It is not surprising, then, 
that nature provides more readily cases in inheritance repre- 
senting the latter ratios, while the former are being found only 
by the most diligent genetical study. Not all of these ratios 
have yet been found in nature by experimental breeding, but, 
from time to time, a geneticist reports the discovery of a new 
di-hybrid F, ratio which proves to be a member of this series. 
Doubtless all of them will be found in time, but without intro- 
ducing the special phenomena earlier referred to, Series A, con- 
sisting of 10 cases, exhausts the possibilities of F, phenotypic di- 

hybrid ratios. 


358 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIL 


Fi Female Gametes 
Case C) 
TY 
XXAB xxAs xxan xxa s 
O; 
: 
y AABB AABE AQBB AaBe 
y 
O! (om) 
y X 
$ AABE AALS AGBEe AQLE 
Ol © © 
8 
$ x 
| AQBB AaBE QQBB aaBe 
y $ 
8 
Oj 
AQBE Aaee aque  aqQee 
ante” Phenolypic Ratio 9:7 


ee of AE oh ba ia z pre ta te A as fone Ao Poa. 
cae Benen a slightly clouded with phenol- 


B. A CHEMICAL EXPERIMENT PARALLELING A MODIFICATION OF 
THE MENDELIAN F, Di-HyBrRD PuenNorypric Ratio 1:2:1:- 
2:4:2:1:2:1 INvotvine Somatic BLENDING AND GENIC 
SEGREGATION IN THE F, GENERATION 

The ten cases described in the Series A are non-blending, in 
which the entities 9, 3, 3, and 1 are kept intact, that is, they are 
simply recombined. The mono-hybrid ratio on which they are 
based is the normal dominant-recessive 3: 1 relation. The typical 
blending ratio in the F, mono-hybrid is 1:2:1. Carrying this 
- latter ratio into the di-hybrid classification in the same manner 
as the 3:1 ratio was carried into the 9:3:3:1 classification 
gives us the following: 1:2:1:2:4:2:1:2:1, a total of sixteen 
individuals divided into 9 classes. 

In Davenport’s® study on the ““Inheritance of Skin-Color in 


3 Davenport, C. B., **Skin-Color in Negro-White Crosses,’’ Pub. 188 Car. 
Inst. Wash., 1913. 


Nos. 618-619] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 359 


Fz Female Gametes 


se OOO, 


dese 

e 3 AABB: AABE AQBB AQBE 

loleses 

© 

TERRE 

Y 

NOS cocos 
AQBE AQE QABE aaee 


F2 Zygoles: Phenotypic Ratio 20:3:3 


Mustrative Experime 
Ena pes Mss ARE irre ay TOR 


Negro-White Crosses” he found that the amount of black skin- 
pigment in an individual is determined by two genes in each > 
parental gamete, and in measuring the intensity of black skin- 
pigment in the members of a great many highly hybridized 
families he found 5 definite maxima in the curve plotting the 
distribution of individuals according to the per cent. of black 
skin-pigment carried. Theoretically (unless genes “A” and 
“B” are exactly equally potent in developing into a definite 
per cent. of blackness showing in the unweathered skin) there 
should have been 9 maxima in the above-described distribution 
curve. Arbitrarily giving the genes the following potentiality 
for somatic expression, ‘‘A’’ 16 per cent., ‘‘B’’ 19 per cent., 
‘Sa’? 1 per cent., ‘b’ 2 per cent. (which is not far from the 
che facts of the eas) the somatic frequencies and black skin- 
color percentages would run as follows: One 70 per cent., two 
54 per cent., one 36 per cent., two 55 per cent., four 38 per cent., 


360 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIL 


F1 Female Gametes 


XXAB XNAS XXaB Meta E 
-- 
ae es) 
X . 
Y AABB AABE AQBB AaBe 
y $ 
+ 
X N 
3 AABE AACE AQBe AQee 
y R 
<= 
CC 
= AQBB AGBE ea BB aaBe 
Q y 
8 
CA 6 
AQBE aaee aaBe aaee 
aa aa a A AA 
Fz Zygotes: Phenotypic Rato 10:6 
Illustrative bxperiment:—_ ý 


xx 
Gene A= Dilute H CI + fein lo match “Gene B” (White). 
ERN E TO" IDEN 


two 21 per cent., one 40 per cent., two 23 per cent., and one 6 
per cent., in a total of 16 individuals. 

But practically 5 instead of 9 somatic types were actually 
found because gene ‘‘A’’ and gene ““B” are so nearly equal in 
value that it is not possible in a given individual, simply by 
measuring the skin-color pigment, to determine whether gene 
““A”” or gene ‘‘B’’ is responsible for the quantity of melanin 
possessed. Thus in the 5 classes the two 54 per cent. cases 
(AABb) and the two 55 per cent. cases (AaBB) constitute the 
three quarters blacks or ‘‘sambos,’’ the two 21 per cent. (Aabb) 
cases and the two 23 per cent. (aaBb) cases constitute the one 
quarter blacks or ‘‘quadroons,’’ while the one 36 per cent. 
(AAbb) case and the one 40 per cent. ( aaBB) case are so nearly 
like the four 38 per cent. (i. e., the ““mulatto?” AaBb) that they 
constitute a single class of six individuals. Hence the contracted 
ratio 1:4:6:4:1. 


Nos. 618-619] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 361 


Fy Female Gametes 
Case 
Wz 
XXAB LLAC xxaB XX ae 
A 
el 20 
X a 
7 AABB AABE AQBB AQBE 
+ 
y - | 
OÀ ~ 
RS AABE AAEE AQBL AQE£Ee 
Y 
JO] S 
X 
= AABB AQaBe aaBB aaBe 
a y 
T: + 
a AQBe AQ e aaBe aaee 
Fz Zygotes: Phenolypic Ratio 12:3:1 


Mustrative Experiment: 


= Water poe 18 rhexs}. 


As Davenport clearly points out in the matter of black skin- 
pigment, each gene finds its definite somatic expression regard- 
less of the presence of other genes. Since the two genes work 
out into the same somatic trait (i. e., are duplicate genes) which 
somatic expressions differ only in quantity, they might well be 

called cumulative genes. The accompanying diagram (Ex- 
periment Illustrative of Black Skin-Pigment Inheritance) gives 
specific directions for running this experiment in a manner very 
closely paralleling what Davenport found in nature. 
experiment illustrates only one case in a long possible 
series of modifications of the foundation F, di-hybrid phenotypic 
blending ratio 1:2:1:2:4:2:1:2:1. 


C. Orner F, Di-HyBRID SERIES 


In a case in which gene ‘‘A’’ does not blend with its allelomor- 
phic mate ‘‘a’’ in the F, soma, but presents a typical case of 


362 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vor. LII 


t 
i 


Fi Female Gametes 
a) SAS 
XXAB XXAG  XXAB  xxas 
LA] 
<- 
or 
X 
n AABB AABE AQBB AQBE- 
v 
De 9 
Y < 
O} 
0 AABE AACE AQBL£ Aaee 
k] 
3O} 
G X 
= x 
AQBB AQBe aaBB aaBe 
Ty 
O 
x 
AQBe aace aaBe aage 
E Zygotes: Phenolypic Ratio 12:4 
IHustralive 2 Experiment :— 


Water (Colorless). 
Gene lz guezas solution of Fe Cl, and litmus (Red). 
Gene B= Dilute H CI (Colorless). 


Mendelian dominance, while gene ‘‘B’’ blends with its mate 
““b”” in the F, soma, the di-hybrid F, ratio resulting from com- 
bining two such trait-pairs is found by multiplying the F, mono- 
hybrid dominant relation 3 + 1 by the F, mono-hybrid blending 
relation 1+ 2 + 1, giving when expressed as a ratio the somatic 
F, di-hybrid relation 3:6:3:1:2:1. Among other special cases 
to be considered are those involving crossing-over, non-disjune- 
tion and sex-limited inheritance. 

When the genic and somatie specifications of a ratio are 
known it is not difficult to contrive a chemical parallel for it. 
The use of such experiments consists not only in clarifying the 
conception of the particular situation at hand, but also in pro- 
viding in the laboratory a nearer approach than is usually used 
for demonstration to what is actually happening in heredity. The 
chemical analogy between what happens in the zygote-holding test- 
tube and what actually happens in the somatic working out of the 


Nos. 618-619] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 363 


Fy Fernale Gametes 


O 
E 
O 


xxXAB XLAC xxaB xxasL£ 
A 
ls EDI, 
u X 
Y AABB AABE AQBB AQBE 
¡el 
9 X 
10] AABE AAGE AQBE AQE- e 
y 
=~ 
Ol be 
= x 
My ACBB AaBe aass aaBe 
$ 
Or > 
w 
AQBE Aate aaBe aace 


F2 Potes: Phenotypic Ratio 153:3 


Hiustralive E 


Subctralum xx ey PERES REA JO PAC AGAR pisa volume 
Gene A= Golution of NAg OH a volume to 2 time 
Ge 


ze B= D hake Ba GY Times (Rea, 


segregable genes in the members of the F, ratios is doubtless 
much closer than any completely mechanical contrivance can 
show. In the experiments the blending quite properly is shown 
complete in the zygote and soma, but if the analogy were carried 
still further one should be able to dip into the gamete-holding 
test-tubes and there find that some of the original F, genes remain 
unchanged—the unchanged germ-plasm which is left behind—and 
to lift out well-defined gametes with ‘‘A’’ or ““a”” and “B” or 
‘bh’? variously combined, according to the constituent genes of 
the zygote, for in the living germ-cell cycle, not the blending of 
the soma, but clean-cut segregation is the rule. Representing 
the gametes by capsules containing genes in solid form, which 
capsules and genes would be slowly soluble in the substratum of 
the zygote, would drive the analogy a little closer to nature. 


364 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


Fy Female Gametes 


| Care ©) 


23 AB XXA€ xxaB LLAC- 


PRAS 
OJO 
© 
® 1 


AABB AABE AQBB AQBE 


AABE AAEE AaBE AQC 


AQBB AQBE- aaB aaBpe 


Aa Be AGEs aaBe aate 


Male Gametes 


XXaQOB 


Fz Zygotes:Phenolypic Ratio 15:1 
Mustrative we Experiment: _ 


Sent Bo Wate Wee ada a A E 
Gene B= Dilute Hz SOg (Colorless). 


REFERENCES 
Johannsen, W. Elements der Exakten Erblichkeitslebre, pp. 526-8, 1913. 
Laughlin, H. H. The F, Blend Accompanied by Genie Purity. AMER. 
Nar., pp. 741-751, 1915. 
Shull, G. H. A Simple Chemical Device to Illustrate Mendelian Inherit- 
ance. Plant World, Vol. 12, pp. 145-153, 1909. 
CoLD SPRING HARBOR H. H. LAUGHLIN. 


THE FACTORS FOR YELLOW IN MICE AND NOTCH IN 
DROSOPHILA 


IN a recent number of THE AMERICAN NATURALIST! appeared a 
paper by Ibsen and Steigleder on ‘‘Evidence for the Death in 
Utero of the Homozygous Yellow Mouse.’’ In summing up (p. 
751), after stating that ‘‘our evidence tends to confirm the con- 
elusion of Castle and Little that in mice homozygous yellow zy- 
gotes are produced in the yellow X yellow mating, but that these 

1 Vol. LI, No. 612, December, 1917, pp. 740-752. 


Nos. 618-619] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 365 


zygotes fail to develop normally after implantation in the 
wees ” they suggest “that in mice there may be a ‘lethal fac- 
tor,’ similar to those so well known in Drosophila, which is so 
closely linked to the factor for yellow that they are practically 
at the same locus and there is consequently no crossing-over.”” 

If the postulated factors are indeed so closely linked that 
crossing-over never occurs, would it not be simpler and even more 
logical to assume that but a single allelomorphic pair of factors 
is involved? Such an assumption necessitates a second, namely, 
that one of the factors of this pair is dominant in one of its ex- 
pressions (yellow) and recessive in a second (lethal). 

Morgan? has recently made a similar assumption for the mu- 
tant sex-linked factor in Drosophila which causes ‘‘notch’’ in 
the wings. He states that it is ‘‘dominant in regard to the wing 
character but recessive in its lethal effect. A female with notch 
wings carries the gene in one of her X-chromosomes and the nor- 
mal allelomorph in the other X-chromosome. Half of her sons 
get the former and die, the other half get the latter X-chromo- 
some and live. As there are no lethal bearing males, the females 
must in every generation be bred to normal males.”’ 

If Morgan is right in his assumption, there seems to be no rea- 
son, a priori, why factors having both dominant and recessive 
expressions should be limited to sex-chromosomes. 

Stating that crossing-over has not been observed in a certain 
number of generations, even though the number of both individ- 
uals and generations is large, is, however, a very different matter 
from proving that crossing-over never occurs. Just where the 
evidence ceases to be negative and becomes positive, perhaps de- 
pends upon the ratio between the space occupied by a factor 
and the total length of the chromosome bearing it, in its relation 
to the law of probability, and to possible factors restricting 
erossing-over. 

The data necessary for such a calculation does not appear to 
be available for either mice or Drosophila. Which interpretation 
is assumed must therefore for the present be a matter of per- 
sonal preference. The continued failure to find crossing-over 
will in each case tend to make the one involving a single allelo- 
morphic pair of factors more probable. 
LIAM A. LIPPINCOTT 
KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 

January, 1918 


2 Amer, NAT., Vol. LI, No. 609, September, 1917, pp. 513-544, 


NOTES AND LITERATURE 


Genetics in Relation to Agriculture. By E. B. Bascock and 
R. E. Cuausen. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1918. Pp. ix-xx 
+ 675, Fig. 239, Pl. 4. 

Every geneticist who opens this volume in a spirit of hope 
and expectation will close it with appreciation and satisfaction, 
with a feeling that a tremendous task has been worthily accom- 
plished. Unquestionably it will fill a real need as a text-book. 
In addition it should be of great service to the general biologist 
—using that term in its broadest sense—who wishes to have a 
compendium of genetical facts for ready reference. 

The work is divided into three parts; it is really three vol- 
umes in one. In the first part the fundamental principles of 
. genetics are outlined, in the second plant breeding is discussed, 
in the third animal breeding is considered. 

There are thirty-nine chapters and an excellent glossary. The 
bibliography of twenty-four pages is not complete and does not 
purport to be complete. It is a list of the actual titles consulted 
in the preparation of the manuscript, truly no light undertaking. 

The reputation of both authors as careful investigators is so 
firmly established that one is not surprised to find the immense 
volume of genetic literature of the past eighteeen years judi- 
ciously weighed and sifted, but that they found the time during 
the selection of material for so much constructive and illumi- 
nating criticism is perhaps not to have been anticipated. More- 
over, since an investigator is not necessarily a good text-book 
writer, one suspects that the general excellence of the book from 
the pedagogical standpoint is due largely to Dr. Babeock’s spe- 
cial training and long experience as a teacher. 

After an introductory chapter on the methods and scope of 
genetics, the authors have chosen to open the volume by treat- 
ing variation. Several modifications of older classifications of 
variation are given which may or may not prove useful. They 
were probably included rather tentatively as introductory to 
the main business of the chapter, the action of external stimuli 
in modifying development and causing germinal variation. 
Some of the illustrations here are not all that might be desired, 


Nos. 618-619] NOTES AND LITERATURE ` 367 


for example, the work of T. H. White on making new varieties 
of tomatoes by adding large quantities of fertilizers, which is 
rather hesitatingly cited. But perhaps one should eriticize mat- 
ter which does not appear rather than matter which does appear. 
In other words, if the reviewer may express his own hope in the 
connection, it is to see a more extended, well-rounded discussion 
of the action of the factors of environment in a later addition. 

The statistical study of variation has been given a very pleas- 
ing treatment. The mathematician will undoubtedly complain 
that it is amateurish because it is given with a minimum of 
technical language. But just there lies its value in such a 
text-book. The necessary statistical tools are described so 
clearly that the elementary student can hardly err in their use. 
The more advanced student is properly directed elsewhere. 

The physical basis of heredity is also discussed with great 
independence. The chromosome hypothesis is accepted without 
reservation. Cytological details not bearing directly on the sub- 
ject in hand are not even mentioned, while those described— 
though accurate as far as they go—are somewhat diagrammatic. 
-It will be interesting to see how this treatment works out in the 
classroom. No doubt many will find it a welcome change from 
the interminable details of unknown significance that often fill 
the pages of books on genetics. At the same time it is perhaps 
to be regretted that the difference between the higher plants and 
the higher animals in gametogenesis, and the bearing on genetics 
of the conflict between supporters of pea re and tele- 
synapsis, are not given more space. 

A hundred and fifty pages are devoted to Mendelian inter- 
pretations of breeding facts. A wealth of illustration is used, 
and almost all types of Mendelian ratios are represented, 
although it is not easy to gather them together in a general 
ensemble. The older treatments of Plate and of Goldschmidt, 
where every theoretical modification of the Mendelian ratio was 
mentioned and then a case in point cited, had their value from 
a pedagogical standpoint, and it is rather to be deplored that 
their use was not continued. The newer data, in particular the 
work of Morgan and his students, is admirably presented, how- 
ever. For the first time text-book treatment of crossing over, 
interference, and the various other phenomena discovered in 

osophila, is given in such a manner that the beginning student 
should be able to grasp the essential points without difficulty. 

Interesting chapters on species hybridization; pure lines and 


368 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vow. LII 


mutations comprise the remainder of part one. The discussion 
of mutations will probably not please DeVries, but it certainly 
is more in accord with all the facts than most other essays on 
the subject. 

The applied genetics, animal breeding and plant breeding, 
filling twenty-four chapters, ought to be received with great 
approbation. Its compilation must have been very difficult, 
and its usefulness should be in direct proportion to the work 
involved. There is a great deal of new material of a strictly 
practical nature such as the origin of sweet pea varieties, breed- 
ing disease-resistant plants, etc. On the other hand, there is 
really no definite line to be drawn between part one and parts 
two and three. Theoretical genetics runs all through the book. 
For example one finds the treatment of heterosis, graft-hybrid 
chimeras and bud mutations in part two; and in part three dis- 
cussions of Mendelian inheritance in domestic animals, acquired 
characters, non-Mendelian theories of sex-determination, the hor- 
mone theory, ete. The work is so well done that it must be read 
to be appreciated. The reviewer has but one suggestion to make 
concerning it, and this not in the nature of a criticism. Par- 
tially sterile hybrids between species, as is shown in Chapter 12, 
supply particularly useful material for the improvement of do- 
mestic animals and cultivated plants. If one studies carefully 
the history of domestic species, fragmentary as it is, he is as- 
tounded at the enormous number of cases in which the ancestry 
involves two or more species. Would it not be well to empha- 
size this point by extended illustrations in a book on plant and 
animal breeding? : 

The authors are to be congratulated on having brought to- 
gether the material for a classical text-book on genetics. Re- 
vision will doubtless soon be necessary as is suggested in the 
preface. If it is made with the care that such an excellent 
foundation deserves the work will unquestionably go through 
many editions. 

The McGraw-Hill Company deserve no little credit for the 
generous way in which they have seconded the authors’ efforts. 
The typography, illustrations, paper and binding are extremely 
good. Weunderstand that this is their first contribution toward 
a series of agricultural ¢ext-books under the general editorship 
of C. V. Piper. A standard has been set that is a good augury 
for the future. 

. E. M. E. 


THE 
AMERIC ¿AN NATURALIST 


VoL. LII. August-September, 1918 Nos. 620-621 


THE RELATION BETWEEN COLOR AND OTHER 
CHARACTERS IN CERTAIN AVENA CROSSES! 


PROFESSOR H. H. LOVE anv W. T. CRAIG 


IN COOPERATION WITH THE OFFICE OF CEREAL INVESTIGATIONS, U. $. 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE - 


SPECIES crosses among oats have not been studied to 
any great extent, yet they offer some very interesting 
problems. Trabut? says: 

Hybridization between the cultivated species of oats has not yet been 
methodically attempted to my knowledge, and there is here a very 
interesting open field. It is true that we have yet to determine in what 
degree a true hybridization will be possible. If Avena fatwa sativa 
may be crossed with A. sterilis culta, a progeny may be produced having 
very useful mixed characters. A. abyssinica will gain by being crossed 
with the really superior A. strigosa. But in the matter of hybridization 
there is much more to be gained from experimentation than from the 
mere discussion of theoretical views. 

Since this paper was read (1911) some studies have 
been reported on with different species crosses in oats. 
Zade? discusses results obtained from a cross between 
fatua and sativa. He found F, to be intermediate and 
that the F, gave types resembling fatua, sativa, and the 
F, intermediate type. These with respect to awns and 
hairs gave a 1:2:1 ratio. 

Surface* has described rather fully some results ob- 


1 Paper No. 70, ette of Plant Breeding, Cornell University, Ithaca, 
N. Y. 


2 Journal of Heredity, Vol. 5, pp. 84-85, 1914. ee from the 
original article published 1912.) 
3 Der Flughofer, Deut. Landw. Gesell. Ab., side ces 1912. 
4 Genetics, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 252-286, May, 1 
369 


370 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


tained from a cross between Avena fatua X Avena sativa 
var. Kherson. The two parent forms differ in a number 
of characters some of which may be given here. The 
Avena fatua is brown or black in color, has both kernels 
awned and pubescent and has the typical wild type of 
base surrounded by a tuft of basal hairs. The Kherson 
is yellow in color, has few or no awns and lacks pubes- 
cence on the glumes and has the typical sativa base on 
which is found an occasional hair. 

The F, type is intermediate between the two parents. 
The colic of grain is brown but somewhat lighter than 
the wild parent, and the larger kernel in the spikelet is 
usually awned,> while the smaller or upper kernel is 
never awned. The lower grain exhibits a medium pubes- 
cence while the upper grain is always smooth. The base 
is intermediate between the two parent forms with tufts 
of hair on each side but not all around the base. 

Some of the results of the F, generation it be given 
in Surface’s conclusion: 


The data show that the wild parents carry genes for gray and prob- 
ably for yellow color in addition to the black. These three colors seg- 
gregate independently of each other. The observed ratio closely approx- 
imates the expected and confirms Nilsson-Ehle’s conclusions. 

The cultivated base of the grain is dominant to the wild and segre- 
gates independently of the color genes. The heterozygous condition in 
the lower grain ean be recognized in the majority of plants. 

In this cross seven pairs of characters are completely correlated with 
the character of the base. The characters associated with the wild base 
are (1) heavy awn on the lower grain, (2) awns on the upper grain, 
(3) wild base on the upper grain, (4) pubescence on the pedicel on the 
lower, and (5) on the upper grain, (6) pubescence on all sides of the 
an of the lower grain and (7) pubescence on the base of the upper 


The gene for pubescence on the back of the lower grain is partially 
linked with the black color factor. The F, generation is too small to 
determine the exact degree of linkage but dinates that there are about 
0.7 per cent. of crossovers. 


5 Surface, on page 258 of Genetics, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1916, says, ““the ma- 
jority of the lower grains show a weak, straight awn’’ and on page 265 says 
““the majority of F, spikelets show no awn whatever.’’ It i is not elear just 

ich i 


Nos. 620-621] COLOR IN AVENA CROSSES 371 


The gene for pubeseence on the back of the upper grain segregates 
independently of the color factor except that in the absence of the gene 
for pubescence on the lower grain the gene for pubescence on the upper 
is unable to act. In this sense the gene for pubesence on the lower grain 
is a basie pubescence factor similar to the color factor (C) found in 
many animals and plants. 


MATERIAL AND METHODS 

The present authors have been working with oat 
species erosses for several years. A number of dif- 
ferent combinations have been made and studied, includ- 
ing several species and many of their derivatives. It is 
planned here to emphasize certain results obtained with 
a cross between Avena fatua and Avena sativa var. 
Sixty Day. This Sixty Day variety is identical with the 
Kherson as used by Surface so far as general varietal 
characteristics are concerned, yet no doubt there are 
many strains of both sorts. 

The Avena fatua in appearance was similar to the type 
used by Surface and has the characters described above. 
The Sixty Day oat is yellow and seldom do any awns 
appear. There are no dorsal hairs but an occasional 
basal hair may be found. 

The plants used in making these crosses were grown 
in the greenhouse since a greater number of successful 
pollinations can be made than when the plants are grown 
in the field. The Avena fatua was used as the female 
parent and a number of flowers were emasculated and 
pollinated. Three seeds developed and each produced a 
plant. The F, generation plants were also grown in the 
greenhouse since they may receive greater care and more 
seed may be obtained. All later generations were grown 
in the field, spacing the plants two to three inches in the 
rows. 

Discussion oF RESULTS 

The F, type was as described by Surface, generally 
intermediate in type. The color was brown somewhat ' 
lighter than the wild type. The large kernel of the 
spikelet was often awned and was covered with dorsal 


372 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


hairs. The small kernel of the spikelet was never awned 
but had an occasional sprinkling of dorsal hairs. The 
base was more like the sativa type, yet appeared to be 
more intermediate in type with some basal hairs on either 
side of the base but not at the back. 

When the seeds from the first generation plants were 
sown, a number of different types appeared in the second 
generation. There were some that resembled the two 
parent forms and also other types different in color, 
amount of awning, pubescence, and the like. 

As regards color there appeared four’ types, black, — 
gray, yellow and white. The white ones, of which there 
were only four, were tested later and proved to be gray, 
thus leaving only the three color types. The black oats 
were of two general types, those having the two strong 
awns and pubescence on both kernels and the wild base, 
and those having pubescence on the large kernel and 
sometimes on the small one and with an intermediate or 
sativa type of base. Some of these forms were awnless 
and others possessed varying amounts of awn which were 
in some cases strong and in others weak. 

The gray colored oats were both pubescent and smooth, 
some fully awned, some partially awned, and some awn- 
less. They also segregated as to type of base. 

The yellow oats, however, were all smooth and pos- 
sessed very few or no awns. No yellow oats developed 
the strong awns similar to the wild type. 

The segregation as to color and percentage of awns of 
the second generation plants is shown in Table I. 


TABLE I 
SHOWING THE SEGREGATION AS TO COLOR AND PERCENTAGE OF AWNS. SERIES 
687, Avena fatua X Avena sativa VAR. Sixty Day 
Percentage of Awns 


Color |o | 1-9 10-10! 20-29] 30-39) 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89| 90-99 100 Totals 
. Black... 46 | 25. 20 | 23 12| 17} 21| 23| 14] 8| 2 | 90| 310 
Gry. nS e w| ay el staja 28| 92 
Yellow...| 9} 7| Iio | wad 18 
a | | i 4 | 
Totals -| 66 | a1 | 27| 34| 15| 27| 27 | 28| 15| 11 | 2 |127| 420 
! E y 1 | | 


Nos. 620-621] COLOR IN AVENA CROSSES 373 


The percentage of awns was determined by taking a 
typical head from each plant and counting the total num- 
ber of spikelets and the number of awned spikelets, and 
then determining the percentage of awned spikelets. 
Since there are a number of plants having no awns and 
also a number having 100 per cent. it seems best to ar- 
range the classes as has been done in this table; that is, 
separate classes have been made for the 0 and 100 per 
cent. values. 

From this table it is clear that the black oats possessed 
varying degrees of the awned condition from awnless to 
fully awned. The grays too showed about the same 
range of distribution. The yellow types, however, 
showed a tendency to be grouped in the lower classes. 
No yellow types were found having more than 30 per 
cent. of awns. It seems quite evident that there may be 
some relation between the yellow oat and the lack of 
_ awning. 

Nilsson-Ehle® has discussed a case of a cross in oats 
where there was an apparent inhibition of awning pro- 
duced by a yellow oat. He concludes that there was some 
inhibitory effect of the yellow color or that the yellow 
color factor acted also as an inhibitor of awns. The 
oats Nilsson-Ehle worked with were domestic types and 
it is a well-known fact that the domestic sorts vary as to 
the amount of awns with the change in environment. 
For that reason it is felt that results obtained from wild 
crosses will be more definite since the wild type produces 
its fully awned condition under very diverse growth con- 
ditions. This is all the more evident from a cross of 
this same Sixty Day type used in these crosses with a 
black cultivated oat. It was found that the yellow oats 
segregating from this cross contained fewer awns than 
did the blacks, whites, and grays but that the percentage 
of awns on the black parent was so variable that the ru- 
sults obtained are not definite. Such is not the case for 
the awning of the Avena fatua as stated above. 

6 Zeitschrift für induktive Abstammungs- und Vererbungslehre, Bd. XII, 
Heft 1, 1914. 


374 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


These results show that the segregation as to color, as 
mentioned above, produces three types, black, gray and 
yellow. On the assumption that the wild oat carries 
genes for black, gray and yellow we would expect a segre- 
gation of 12 black : 3 gray : 1 yellow. These figures ap- 
proach this result, but there are too few yellows and too 
many grays. Instead of the numbers obtained we expect 
315.00 blacks : 78.75 grays:26.25 yellows. It is very diffi- 
cult to always distinguish between pale grays, yellows 
and whites, a fact which is well known to those working 
with oats. This is especially true in unfavorable seasons 
when oats are likely to weather badly. No doubt this 
difficulty is one of the reasons for the deviation of the 
gray and yellow classes. When we group the non-blacks 
together we have a very fair approximation to the 3:1 
ratio, which ratio would be expected on the above assump- 
tion. 

The relation between color and pubescence for these 
same second generation plants is well illustrated by Table 
IL. 


TABLE II 
SHOWING THE RELATION BETWEEN COLOR AND PUBESCENCE OF THE SECOND 
GENERATION PLANTS OF SERIES 687, Avena fatua X Avena sativa 
VAR. Sixty Day 


Pubescence 
j ! 
ad 
Color | geo neg | oe ee Smooth | Totals 

Biel Leer ce) Gk ke eitan orias | 310 
AE OS 2 42 24 92 
Vow re O | 18 | 18 
Foa o SS USO e eee 


Certain interesting facts are brought out by this table. 
It is apparent that all of the black oats are pubescent, 
some having both kernels pubescent and a larger number 
having only the one kernel pubescent. It is very sig- 
nificant that there are no smooth black oats. The gray 
oats, on the other hand, have a certain number of which 
both kernels are pubescent, a larger number with one 


Nos. 620-621] COLOR IN AVENA CROSSES 375 


kernel pubescent, and still another lot of smooth oats. It 
seems that the gray oats segregate as to pubescence on 
what may be a 1:2:1 ratio. Regarding the yellow oat it 
is very significant that all of them are in the smooth class. 
That is, no yellow oats are found which are pubescent. 
Certain ones which were found appeared yellow but 
which proved on testing to be gray instead of yellow, so 
that at present no true yellow oats which are pubescent 
have been obtained out of this cross. 

From these data it seems without any doubt that yellow 
oats in some way or another tend to inhibit the factor for 
pubescent. It is also apparent that there is one factor 
for pubescence which is linked with the black color fac- 
tor. There sems to be another factor for pubescence 
which is independent of any color factor and for this 
reason we obtain gray oats in approximately the ratio of 
1:2:1 so far as pubescence is concerned. Owing to the 
inhibiting effect of the yellow oat, there are no pubescent 
forms obtained. From this material it is clear then that 
we are working with a fatua form which has two factors 
for pubescence, one of which is linked with the black 
color factor and one which is independent. More will be 
said regarding these facts later in this paper, when an- 
other cross will be mentioned. 

Another interesting relationship is that shown between 
the color in the F, generation and the segregation as to 
type of base. As mentioned earlier in this paper, the 
type of base differs from the wild form which is the typ- 
ical sucker-mouth shape while that of the cultivated oat 
is of the typical sativa form. The sativa-like form is 
dominant or partially so to the wild type. A study of 
this and a large number of other crosses in which the 
wild type has been used as one of the parents indicates 
that the segregation of the base follows the 1:3 ratio, 
wild being the recessive type. 

The relation between color and type of base for the 
second generation plants of this cross is shown in Table 


MI 


376 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


TABLE III 
SHOWING THE SEGREGATION AS TO COLOR AND TYPE OF BASE. SERIES 687. 
Aventa fatua X Avena sativa VAR. SIXTY Day 


Type of Base 
Color Wild | Sativa Totals 
Wat ei ee rin n | 97 213 310 
PRI a o E A a | 26 92 
Yellow .. | 18 18 
Wie 123 297 420 


From this table it is clear that the black oats segre- 
gates into the wild and sativa forms as also do the grays. 
On the other hand, the yellow oats exhibit no wild type 
of base but are all of the sativa class. It is also appar- . 
ent from these data, then, that in addition to the inhibi- 
tion of awn production and pubescence there is also some 
factor or factors which inhibit the production of the wild 
type of base when this particular cross is made. That 
1t must be due to some factor or factors related to the 
yellow oats is clear from the fact that with a large num- 
ber of crosses in which white oats and other forms have 
been used, the grays and whites as well as the blacks ex- 
hibit the wild type of base in about the ratio that would 
be expected. 

TABLE IV 
SHOWING THE RELATION BETWEEN COLOR AND PERCENTAGE OF AWNS FOR THE 
THIRD GENERATION FAMILIES PRODUCED FROM THREE HETE 
ZYGOUS PLANTS OF THE SECOND GENERATION, SERIES 
687. Avena fatua X Avena sativa VAR. 
IxTY Day 
Percentage of Awns 


Color 0 ¡1-9 10-19 | 20-29 | 30-39 | 40-49 | 50- 59 | 60-69 | 70- 79 80-89 90-99 100 | Totals 

Back. PEAS AS a gg lg | 58 | 230 

‘Grey. e BD OP alaa 1 18 | 57 

Yellow ...| 10 7| 2 | tisi 21 
| 

Totals. .!104'65! 25/10 | 5 | 6|814{4141/ 76 | 308 


_ Seed from a large number of F, plants were tested in 
the F, generation but all of these will not be discussed 
here. Three of these which exhibited the segregation 


Nos. 620-621] COLOR IN AVENA CROSSES 377 


similar to that obtained in the F, generation have been 
brought together and the results are here shown for the 
three classifications made on the second generation. 

The relation between color and percentage of awns of 
these three families mentioned above is shown in Table 
IV. 

Here again, it is apparent that the black oats ranged 
all the way from awnless to 100 per cent. awns as do the 
gray oats. The yellow oats, on the other hand, are 
grouped near the lower percentage classes. Two indi- 
viduals, however, exhibited about 50 per cent. of awns, 
one being in class 40 to 49, one in 50 to 59. It may be 
that these will be found to be grays instead of yellows. 
However, in general, the tendency is for the yellows to 
exhibit only a few awns. This is in accordance with the 
results obtained on the second generation and substan- 
tiates the conclusion drawn from the study of that ma- 
terial. It may be worth while to call attention here to 
the segregation as to color which fits the hypothesis more 
closely than does the material of the second generation. 
The segregation exhibits what is without doubt a 12:3:1 
ratio. The observed numbers are 230 black: 57 gray: 21 
yellows while the expected numbers are 231.00 blacks : 
57.75 grays : 19.25 yellows. 

The relation between color and pubescence on these 
third generation families is shown by Table V. 

TABLE V 


SHOWING THE SEGREGATION AS TO COLOR AND PUBESCENCE OF THREE F, 
FAMILIES GROWN FROM HETEROZYGOUS F, PLANTS. SERIES 687 


Pubescence 
Color aoan padron Smooth Totals 
A A ee 91 139 — 230 
Gray.. i 19 12 -s 57 
Yellow — 5 16 21 
TE AR 110 156 42 308 


Here it is clear that again all the black oats are pubes- 
cent while the gray oats fall into the three classes. The 


378 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


segregation of the grays does not follow the 1:2:1 ratio 
here but it is possible that some of those classed as non- 
pubescent may have a few hairs when examined more 
closely. It was found with the second generation ma- 
terial that it was necessary to use a lens with certain ones, 
especially where there was very little pubescence show- 
ing. This has not been done with all those in this table 
and, therefore, it is possible on later examination that 
some of them may fall into the group of one kernel pubes- 
cent. The yellow oats also, instead of all being in the 
non-pubescent group, have a few in the class having one 
kernel pubescent. It is likely that on later examination 
these will be found to be gray oats. This can not be said 
at present. In general, it may be said that this segrega- 
tion agrees very closely with that of the second genera- 
tion with the exception of the five yellow plants which 
seem to exhibit some slight amount of pubescence. 

The relations between color and type of base for these 
same three third generation families is shown in Table 


TABLE VI 


SHOWING THE RELATION BETWEEN COLOR AND TYPE OF BASE IN THREE THIRD 
GENERATION FAMILIES. SERIES 687, Avena fatua X Avena sativa 
var. Sixty Day 


Type of Base 


Color | Wild | Sativa | Totals 

Hk a 57 173 230 
Gray. A IA 18 39 57 
Yellow ze 21 21 
Totals in T ee ee 


IS AE ELSIE 


_ On examining this table it is clear that the segregation 
of these third generation families agrees very closely 
with that of the second generation material. The black 
and gray oats have both wild and sativa bases in appar- 
ently a 1:3 ratio. The yellow oats, on the other hand, 
have only the sativa base. This material tends to sub- 
stantiate the conclusions drawn from the second genera- 
tion material, which is to the effect that it does not seem 


- 


Nos. 620-621] COLOR IN AVENA CROSSES 379 


possible to produce a yellow oat from this cross having 
the type of base of the wild parent. 

Further information may be had regarding pubescence 
and color on examining the results on three other third 
generation families which have been grouped according 
to color and pubescence. The parent plants which pro- 
duced these three families were black, pubescent on one 
kernel and nearly awnless. 

These results are shown in Table VII. 


TABLE VII 
SHOWING THE RELATION BETWEEN COLOR AND PUBESCENCE FROM THREE 
THIRD GENERATION FAMILIES OF SERIES 687, Avena fatua X 
Avena sativa VAR, SIXTY DAY 


Pubescence 
| 
Color Qae mnel | Smooth fo Totals 
Black nia A 231 
Yellow | | 88 
O A A Sas o ea 231 | 88 319 


The segregation shows that no gray was present and 
that the segregation is only for blacks and yellows so 
far as color is concerned and follows an approximate 3:1 
ratio. In regard to the pubescence it is clear that all of 
the black oats are pubescent while all the non-blacks or 
yellows are smooth. This material further substantiates 
the statement made earlier in this discussion to the effect 
that there is a pubescent factor linked with the black oat. 


GENERAL DISCUSSION 

The foregoing data show that there is a very definite 
relation between color of glume and production of awns. 
On the black and gray oats awns are produced in varying 
amounts while few or no awns are produced on the yellow 
oats. Regarding the inheritance of awns, it has been 
shown” that the weak awn is inherited on a 1:3 ratio, 
the fully awned condition being recessive. The data 

“Love, H. H., and Fraser, A. C., ‘‘The Inheritance of the Weak Awn in 
Certain Avena Crosses,” AMER. Nar., 51, No. 608, August, 1917. 


380. THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


that have already been collected show also that the strong 
awn is inherited in the same manner. These data (Tables 
I and IV) give 203 fully awned : 525 partially awned or 
awnless, giving 2.92:1.12 per 4. We would expect on a 
1:3 basis 182:546. The action of the yellow factor is to 
reduce the amount of awns on the yellow glumed oats. 

It was stated earlier that there was apparently a 
pubescence factor linked with the black and also another 
pubescence factor which was not linked with any color. 
If this were true and there was no inhibitory effect pro- 
duced by the yellow oats we would expect to obtain 15 
pubescent to 1 non-pubescent form in the second gen- 
eration. It may be well to state here that it has been 
found by experiment that the wild form used in this cross 
was of such a type that it had two factors for pubescence. 
We have also found another form which has only one 
factor for pubescence. When this form is crossed with 
a white oat, all of the non-blacks are smooth, showing 
that this form has the pubescence factor which is linked 
with the black while the forms having the two factors for 
pubescence give both pubescent and smooth non-blacks. 
This is well brought out by the data presented in Table 
VIII. Here the same white sort, Tartar King, was 
erossed with two forms of Avena fatua. 

This table is made up of data of the second generation. 
It is possible that later experimentation may change the 
relationship of the colors particularly so far as the grays 
and whites are concerned. In these tables all those not 
showing blacks and grays are classed as yellows and 
whites. The further study of these has not proceeded 
far enough to determine just the relation here. It seems, 
without doubt, that we have two types of fatua, one giv- 
ing the 15:1 ratio (Series 351a1) and one the 3:1 (Series 
351b1). Again in the 3:1 distribution all the non-blacks 
are smooth. 

At will be of interest here also to state when the type 
having one factor for pubescence was crossed with the 
Sixty Day type similar to the one used in Series 687 that 
all of the non-blacks, both grays and yellows, were 


1 


Nos. 620-621] COLOR IN AVENA CROSSES 381 


TABLE VIII 


SHOWING THE SEGREGATION AS TO COLOR AND PUBESCENCE ON A CROSS BE- 
TWEEN Avena fatua and Avena sativa, VAR. TARTAR KING 


Series 35lal Pubescence 
Both Kernels One Kernel | 
Color Pubescent Pubescent Smooth | Totals 
Pake O 30 74 104 
ay eben aes ces 9 19 3 | 31 
White and yellow ...... 3 3 5 11 
pe alba era ae 42 96 8 | 146 
Se | 
138 8 
Series 351b1 Pubescence 
Color Beo y cad Smooth Totais 
rary wie aici ata E heen ed 72 144 216 
Cae pee ee ee 61 61 
White and yellow...... 18 18 
TOTAL PE NA 72 144 79 295 
216 79 


smooth, showing that this form has the pubescence factor 
closely linked with the black color gene. 

The results as obtained from Series 687 so far as color 
and pubescence are concerned may be explained in the fol- 
lowing manner. We may assume the Avena fatua to be 
represented by BBGGYYPP, that is, possessing the fac- 
tors black (B) which also produces pubescence, gray 
(G), yellow (Y) and another factor (P) for pubescence. 
The Sixty Day oat then may be bbggYYpp. We then 
assume Y to inhibit the production of pubescence in the 
absence of B or G. 

It may also be well to state that the results here found 
can also be explained by assuming Y to have the effect 
of producing pubescence in the presence of G. We 
would then not assume any pubescence factor (P) for 
this explanation. This assumption would account for 
the results as well as the one chosen. On the other hand, 
from data already obtained on other crosses it does not 


382 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIL 


seem that this latter explanation is the one which should 
be used. 

On the first hypothesis the F, individuals are, there- 
fore, BbhGgYYPp forming eight kinds of gametes. From 
this assumption then we would expect 48 black pubes- 
cent:9 gray pubescent:3 gray smooth:4 yellow smooth. 
The ratio of pubescent to non-pubescent would be 57:7. 
The observed numbers in the second generation were 
378 pubescent : 42 smooth. We would expect 374.06 
pubescent : 45.94 smooth. The observed numbers from 
the three third generation families gave 266 pubescent : 
42 smooth, while we would expect 274.31: 33.69. Consid- 
ering the two groups together we have 644 pubescent: 84 
smooth, while we would expect 648,375:79.625. We see 
that the observed facts agree very well with the theory. 

While it is not intended to go into details regarding 
the F, generation, it may be said that a number of ob- 
served facts tend to substantiate this hypothesis. For 
example, we should have some families segregating in 
the third generation giving 15 pubescent : 1 smooth. 
This we find to be so. Again we would, according to 
theory, expect to find some F, families segregating into 
blacks and grays where the grays would all be smooth. 
This we find also. We would also expect some gray oats 
to segregate into 9 pubescent : 7 smooth. This combi- 
nation has also been found. 

Regarding the base, it might be well to state that in 
studying the segregation of this series into the third and 
even into the fourth generation as yet no yellow oat has 
been found exhibiting the wild type of base. These re- 
sults do not agree with those obtained by Surface al- 
though in general we might expect them to be similar 
since the yellow Sixty Day oat and the Kherson type are 
classed by some as the same variety of oat. Yet when 
we know that it is possible to obtain different strains out 
of a variety, particularly so far as the inheritance is 
concerned, it is not surprising that these results should 
not agree. Let. us illustrate this by some results we have 


Nos. 620-621] COLOR IN AVENA CROSSES 383 


obtained from crossing two black oats which by those 
studying classification of varieties of oats have been 
classed as the same variety and exhibit the same general 
botanical characters. When these two forms were 
crossed, both being black, the first generation plants were 
black but when the second generation was grown it was 
found that a segregation was obtained, giving 15 black 
to 1 non-black. This point then illustrates the statement 
made above that we shall probably obtain different segre- 
gations even though we are supposed to be using the same 
variety. This is also brought out by the fact that from 
the wild form, Avena fatua, we have been able to obtain 
different types so far as pubescence is concerned. How 
many other types may exist in the wild form of fatua we 
do not know, but experiments are underway to deter- 
mine whether it is not possible to find other types as re- 
gards color and certain other characteristics. 

From what is here said we do not intend to convey the 
idea that yellow color as found in oats will inhibit the pro- 
duction of awns, pubescence and base but mean merely 
that the yellow as exhibited in this series does that. In 
fact, we know from the crosses we have already studied 
where other yellow forms have been used that it is pos- 
sible to obtain the yellow pubescent form and yellow ones 
with the wild base. Therefore, the statements made here 
hold only for the particular cross here reported. 


CONCLUSION 


The studies here presented show that we have some re- 
lation between these yellow oats and the absence of awns, 
- pubescence, and the wild base. We also find that there 
are two types of pubescence, or better stated, two factors 
for pubescence, one of which is linked with black and one 
which is independent of any color factor. Owing to the 
inhibitory effect, we do not get a definite Mendelian ratio 
from these studies. It is also clear that the third gen- 
eration material tends to substantiate the conclusion ar- 
rived at from the study of the second generation plants. 


STUDIES IN PALEOPATHOLOGY. 


III. OPISTHOTONUS AND ALLIED PHENOMENA AMONG 
Fosst. VERTEBRATES 


PROFESSOR ROY L. MOODIE 


DEPARTMENT OF ANATOMY, COLLEGE OF MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY 
or ILLINOIS 


Every student of the fossil vertebrates who is fortunate 
enough to collect a number of complete or approximately 
complete skeletons of fossil vertebrates is almost sure to 
be impressed with the frequency of the peculiar curve to 
the backwardly bent neck and the rigid appearance of the 
limbs, if these members are preserved in anything like 
the position assumed by the animal at death. This atti- 
tude of the skeleton is very common in the petrified re- 
mains of extinct animals and it is doubtless what is known 
to medical men as opisthotonos. Williston! in describ- 
ing the remains of Cimoliosaurus Snowii, a long-necked 
plesiosaur, from the Cretaceous of Kansas, says: 

The specimen comprises the skull and twenty-eight cervical vertebra, 
all attached and with their relative positions but little disturbed. They 
lie upon the right side, with the usual opisthotonie curve to the neck, 
and are all laterally compressed. 

The attitude has been noted among many other fossil 
vertebrates, but its significance, so far as I am aware, has 
never been commented upon. 

Many of the beautifully complete skeletons of the smal! 
pterodactyls (Fig. 1), Pterodactylus longirostris, P. brevi- 
rostris, P. elegans, from the lithographic slate of Aich- 
stadt, which were described many years ago by Goldfuss, 
Cuvier, Wagner and Soemmering, exhibit a marked opis- 
thotonic curve to the neck and a more rigid appearance 
to the skeleton as a whole than is common among the 
skeletons of these remarkable vertebrates. Pterodactylus 

1 Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 1890, p. 1. 


Nos. 620-621] STUDIES IN PALEOPATHOLOGY 385 


longirostris Cuvier has the jaw gaping as if trismus was 
not an accompaniment of opisthotonos, such as is usually 
- the case in recent times, or else the jaw was secondarily 
moved by the action of the water after the dissolution of 


Pter zea a micronyx H. v. Meyer from the lithographic slates 

of Eichstädt in Bayar: The original is in the paleontological collections at 

unich. This specimen shows a typical ade position. One half natural 
size. After Bro! 


the muscles. Other pterodactyls, such as Pterodactylus 
scolopaciceps, P. longicollum, and others described by ` 
Plieninger? from the Jura of Swabia show no indication 
of any spastic distress. 

The toothed bird (Fig. 2), Archeopteryx macroura, 
from the lithographic slates, commonly figured in the 
textbooks of geology, zoology, and paleontology, exhibits 
a pronounced opisthotonos, which may be slightly exag- 
gerated in all the slender-necked vertebrates having a rela- 
tively heavy head. The weight of the head may have 
added to the curve, but the position is none the less a 
genuine opisthotonos. The skeleton of a small dinosaur, 

2 Paleontographica, Bd. LIII, pp. 210-313, 6 Tafeln, 1907. 


386 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST  [VoL.LII 


Fie. 2. Archaeopteryx macroura from the lithographic slates, showing a typical 
: opisthotonos, x 4. 


about the size of the modern turkey, described and figured 
by Hoernes as Compsognathus longipes Wagn. (Fig. 3) 
from the lithographic slate of Kelheim, exhibits an un- 
usually well-developed opisthotonos, the skull lying far 
back over the pelvis. 

Probably the most complete representation of opis- 
thotonos among fossil vertebrates is that seen in the skele- 
ton of the small cursorial dinosaur, Struthiomimus altus 


Nos. 620-621] STUDIES IN PALEOPATHOLOGY 387 


(Fig. 4) described by Osborn? from the Belly River series. 
The skeleton of this interesting dinosaur is mounted in 
a panel mount where the skeletal parts are placed ap- 
proximately as found (Fig. 4). The attitude is typically 
opisthotonos, the jaws exhibiting trismus, with the head 


Fig. 3. Compsognathus longipes Wagner, from the slates of Kelheim. The 
position | va nis head and tail are characteristic expressions of a tetanic spasm. 
After Hoe 


thrown sharply back over the sacrum, the tail thrown 
na up; the toes strongly contracted, with the 
8 Osborn, H. F., 1917, nig ate Someone of Ornitholestes, Struthi- 
of the Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. 35 


Vittles: on EA er. 
Pp. 733-771, Pl, XXIV 


388 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vow. LIT 


phalanges closely appressed. The whole attitude of the 
body strongly suggests some severe spastic distress. The 
animal may have been a plant feeder and its death and 
spastic distress due to feeding on some poisonous plant, 
such as to-day causes tetanic spasms in animals. It may 
have suffered death from a severe cerebrospinal infection, 
but whatever the cause of its death, the attitude of the 


Fig. Skeleton of Struthiomimus altus, Genotype specimen, Amer 
Mus. 5339. !/æ natural size. In this panel mount the animal is re ooog: 
mately as found. The attitude is typically opisthotonos. After Osbo 


animal strongly suggests the effect of disease, and in 
discussing the history of disease among animals the opis- 
thotonie position exhibited by fossil skeletons must be 
- considered as indicating a possible diseased condition. 
The correlative phenomenon, pleurothotonos, is less 
common among the higher vertebrates, but is not uncom- 
mon among the fishes. This is evidently the attitude as- 
sumed by the skeleton of the plesiosaur, Plesiosaurus 
macrocephalus (Fig. 5), collected by Miss Mary Anning 
from the Lias of Lyme Regis, England, and figured by 
William Buckland in his ‘‘Bridgewater Treatise.’’* It is 
improbable that the head of this long-necked plesiosaur 
could have been turned into its present attitude by a cur- 
rent of water, since a force sufficiently strong to have 
moved the heavy head to one side would doubtless have 
+ Vol. II, Pl. 19, Fig. 1, 1837. 


Nos. 620-621] STUDIES IN PALEOPATHOLOGY 389 


disturbed other portions of the body, and there is no evi- 
dence of this in the skeleton. 

The remarkable specimen of Geosaurus gracilis H. von 
Meyer, from the upper Jurassic lithographic slate of 
Eichstádt, Bavaria, as described and illustrated by von 
Ammon, shows a clearly marked instance of pleurotho- 


Fic. 5. Plesiosaurus macrocephalus, a skeleton from the Lias of England, pre- 
seryed in a pleurothotonic attitude. After Buckland. 


tonos. The body, slightly twisted, is bent into a strong, 
uniform arch toward the left, the animal having been pre- 
served on its belly. 

The fishes often assume at death and are fossilized in 
the pleurothotonic attitude. This is clearly indicated in 
the fishes from the Solenhofen, Leptolepis sprattiformis, 
as figured by Dreverman, Gaudry and others, though 
this attitude is also clearly that of fishes attempting to 
flop out of the soft mud back into the water. It is nota 
necessary sequence that all laterally compressed verte- 


390 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vow. LIT 


brates assume the pleurothotonic attitude, since often 
the ganoid fishes (Fig. 6), especially, assume the opistho- 
tonos. It is true that the majority of fishes which are 
preserved in an approximately complete manner exhibit 
no trace of either of these attitudes. The great series of 
Triassic fishes from Connecticut seldom exhibit indica- 


Fic. 6. Acanthodes gracilis F. Roemer, a ganoid fish from the Permian of 
Klein-Neundorf, Lower Silesia, showing an opisthotonic position. After Hoernes. 
Hoernes. 


tions of either of these phenomena. A single specimen of 
Catopterus gracilis, of those figured by Eastman,* exhibits 
the opisthotonos, and a single one, Ptycholepis marshi, 
exhibits pleurothotonos. Of the scores of specimens of 
these fishes described by Newberry and Eastman a very 
small percentage show any sign of spastic distress. 

As a clinical manifestation of great severity, opistho- 
tonos and the correlative phenomena, pleurothotonos and 
emprosthotonos (episthotonos), have long been well 
_ known in human beings as accompanying certain phases 
of tetanus, abscesses of the brain, otitis media, hysteria. 
cerebrospinal meningitis, strychnine poisoning, and other 
afflictions, in which toxins affecting the nervous system 
are liberated. In these manifestations the muscles of the 
body, the spine and the extremities are strongly flexed. 
This characteristic attitude of the spasm has been graph- 
ically figured (Fig. 7) by Sir Charles Bell in his ““Anato- 
my of the Expressions,” where he says: 

I have here given a sketch of the true Opisthotonos, where it is seen 
that all the muscles are rigidly contracted, the more powerful flexors 
E s Poea 18, State of Connecticut, State Geol. and Natl. Hist. Survey, 


Nos. 620-621] STUDIES IN PALEOPATHOLOGY 391 


prevailing over the extensors. Were the painter to represent every 
circumstance faithfully, the effect might be too painful, and something 
must be left to his taste and imagination. 

Opisthotonos has also been described by Falls* as occur- 
ring in the fetus in utero, the cause for which is still 
unknown. 

It is a matter of great interest to find these same mani- 
festations represented in the fossilized skeletons of 
ancient vertebrates. The majority of the attitudes as- 
sumed by the fossils may be due to the spasm usually inci- 
dent to death, the Todeskampf of the Germans, or to acci- 


Fie. 7. Charles Bell's drawing of a man in opisthotonos, 


dental shifting after death. Many of the vertebrates 
whose skeletons are found in anything like a complete 
state of preservation do not show these manifestations. 
It is on the whole unusual for fossil vertebrates to show 
opisthotonos and much more common in the slender- 
necked species. It is possible that the animals whose 
skeletons are preserved in the above-mentioned attitudes 
had suffered death owing to diseases similar to tetanus, 
cerebrospinal meningitis, or similar disturbances. 

The skeleton of Mesosaurus brasiliensis from the 

6 Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, January, 1917, pp. 65-67. 


392 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


Permian of Brazil’ exhibits a slight degree of opisthotonos 
(Fig. 8) such as is common in the death struggle of many 
modern vertebrates. There can be, I think, little doubt 
that many of the opisthotonic attitudes assumed by fossil- 
vertebrates are easily explained as a phenomenon accom- 

panying the ‘‘Todeskampf,’’ but whether all can be sa 


Fie. 8. aa brasiliensis MeGregor from the Permian: of Brazil, showing 
slight opisthotonos. After McGregor 


explained on this basis is extremely doubtful. It is cer- 
tainly not true that all vertebrates exhibit indications ot 
such spasms. While complete skeletal remains of fossil 
vertebrates are relatively rare, yet there is a sufficient 
number preserved which have been described to determine 
the relative frequency of these positions. 
In the many complete skeletons of fossil reptiles from 
the Eocene of France described by L. Lortet® only four, 
7 McGregor, J. H., 1908, ‘‘Commissao de Estudos das Mines, ete.,’’ Pl. IV. 
8L. Lortet, 1892, ‘‘Les Reptiles du Bassin du Rhéne,’’ Archives du 
Museum d’Histoire Naturelle de Eos: Tome V, pp. 3-139, Pl. I-XII. 


Nos. 620-621] STUDIES IN PALEOPATHOLOGY 393 


Alligatorium Meyeri (PL X), two specimens of Alliga- 
torellus Beaumonti (Pl. XI), and Crocodileimus robustus . 
(Pl. IX), exhibit any degree of the opisthotonie attitude. 
Only one, Pleurosaurus Goldfussi (P1. VIT), exhibits the 
pleurothotonos. The majority of the remaining skeletons 
figured show no spastic distress whatever. So that while 
we may say that these two positions are common they are 
rather the unusual than the usual state of affairs. 

On the other hand the dinosaurs Struthiomimus altus 
and Compsognathus longipes, many specimens of small 
pterodactyls and the fossil bird Archeopteryx exhibit 
such a marked opisthotonic attitude as to lead one to infer 
some cerebral-spinal or other intracranial infection which 
would have been easily possible in the poorly protected 
brain case of these early vertebrates. It requires but a 
glance at the nature of the brain case of the early verte- 
brates to see how poorly protected the cerebrospinal 
spaces were. Ingress of infecting bacteria may have been 
through any of the numerous nerve or vascular foramina, 
through the thin cancellous walls separating the brain 
case from the sphenoidal sinus, and through the anterior 
end of the brain case which was often protected only by a 
membranous covering, by cartilage, or by very thin bony 
plates. 

The possible presence of the infecting bacteria has been 
so well established by the investigations of Walcott,’ van 
Tieghem and Renault,” that little need be said here 
concerning them. Walcott has described and figured bac- 
teria from fossilized Pre-cambrian alge of central Mon- 
tana, supposedly Micrococcus, the bacteria being ar- 
ranged in groupings characteristic of the Staphylococcus 
isolated from a case of Pemphigus neonatorum by Falls, 

9 Walcott, C. D., 1915, ‘* Discovery of Algonkian Bacteria,’’ Proc. Natl. 
Acad. Sci., Vol. 1, p. 258, Figs. 2 and 3; 1914, ‘‘ Pre-Cambrian Algonkian 
Algal Flora,”? Smith. Misc. Coll., Vol. 64, No. 2 (Publication 2271). 

10 Renault, B., 1900, **Mieroorganismes des combustibles fossiles.’’ Bul- 
letin de la Société de 1’Industrie minerale Saint-Etienne, Serie III, 1899, 
Tome 13, pp. 865-1161; 14 (1-2), pp. 5-159, 1900, with Atlas, 1898-1899, 
Pl. X-XXV, Atlas, 1900-01, Pl. 1-V. 


394 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


by whose courtesy a photograph has been used for com- 
. parison. ‘Renault has described a great variety of bac- 
teria, many of which are apparently similar to the bacteria 
of to-day. 

In searching for evidences of disease among fossil 
vertebrates I have been interested in making the above 
comparisons. In the light of the above study it seems 
probable that some of the instances of opisthotonos and 
pleurothotonos among fossil vertebrates may be due to 
acute cerebrospinal infections, the petrified skeletons 
exhibiting trismus, rigidity of the limbs, and the peculiar 
backward curvature of the vertebral column so common 
to-day as clinical manifestations of spastic distress. This 
is especially probable in the cases where the skeletons 
exhibit such marked opisthotonos and pleurothotonos as 
do many of the specimens above referred to. It may 
then be said that opisthotonos as seen in the skeletons of 
fossil vertebrates indicates disease only in those exag- 
gerated cases of spastic distress as is evidenced by the 
attitudes assumed by fossil vertebrates, such as the small 
dinosaur, Struthiomimus altus, and the bird, Archeop- 
teryx macroura. Not all vertebrates preserved in opis- 
thotonus were victims of disease, but many of them sug- 
gest a strong neuro-toxic condition. 


CANCER’S PLACE IN GENERAL BIOLOGY 


W. C. MacCARTY, M.D. 
Mayo CLINIC, ROCHESTER, MINN. 


Tae condition which has been called cancer by the laity 
and the medical profession has been studied by the latter 
largely from the standpoint of disease. Investigators 
have considered its great destructive action, cause, pre- 
vention and treatment, all of which study has been stimu- 
lated by the urgent necessity of its eradication from the 
ills of man, and not in its relation to the known biologic 
facts concerning the universal conflict between living 
normal cells and their natural enemies. In order to ap- 
proach correctly this biologic phase of the condition it 
will be necessary to answer the question : What is cancer? 

To the pathologist, cancer is a cellular overgrowth 
which occurs in some multicellular organism, especially 
in man, and which is characterized by its anparently un- 
limited proliferation, during which it destroys tissues, 
and is fatal eventually to the whole organism. This, in 
general, is the conception held by the members of the 
medical profession, but to the scientific mind which is 
interested in and trained in the fundamental or more 
specific factors operating in living nature, it is neither 
satisfactory nor sufficient. 

An analysis of the condition from such a biologic point 
of view necessitates also for its elucidation a study of the 
facts relative to the evolution of multicellular organisms 
from single cells as units of life. Biologists agree that 
the cell is the visible unit of life, and that all cells have 
certain fundamental structural and functional character- 
istics which are common to all. They further agree that 
all multicellular beings evolve by a process of division 
or segmentation of a single cell which has been stimu- 
lated automatically, or by the process of extrinsie fertili- 
zation to such activity. 

During the process of segmentation certain dominant 
facts present themselves. A fertilized ovum, for exam- 

395 


396 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


Fic. 1. Some of the differentiated cells (textocytes) of the o body: 


iologic Terminology edical Termino 

$ os cytes, Red blood corpuscles 
2. Lymphocytes (small), ymphocytes (small). 

phocytes (large), Lymphocytes en 2 
4. Transiti Transitional 

Leukocytes, Po ymorphonuclear leukocytes. 
6. Eosinocytes, Eosino 
T. Mastocytes, Mast 
8. Fibrocytes, brous nective tissue cells 
9. Rhabdomyocytes, Striated le E 
10. Melan ; igme lls. 
A 11.. Myx A aoe 
12. Cardiomyocytes, art ‘decks cells, 
13. Lipocyt Fat de 
14. Leiomyocyt mo ells. 
15; 19. Adenocytes, Glandular epithel 
16, 24. Neurocy Nerve sty neurones) 
TE cytes, Bone 
ndotheliocytes, en ae cells 
` ondrocytes, Cartilage cells 

22. Epitheliocytes, Epithelial cells 
23. Tendocytes, endon cells 
25. Sudorocytes, Sweat popi 4 
26. - 4 : Sebaceous 
27. Gustocytes, j Taste pan ise a taste bud). 


Nos. 620-621] CANCER’S PLACE IN BIOLOGY 397 


ple, divides; the cellular divisions divide; these continue 
to divide and form eventually, in a definite period, the 
millions of cells which constitute the organism. This is 
a simple statement of general facts, but coincidentally 
with these facts there is an orderly sequence of cellular 
changes which seems to be foreordained in the original 
fertilized ovum; the cellular progeny does not retain, to 
the same degree, all of the structural and functional char- 
acteristics of the original cell (ovocyte). There is a 
grouping of cells which is coincident with morphological 


Fic. 2. In the embryonic evolution of adult tissues there are certain arbi- 
trary stáges of differentiation in which the cells may be given certain names. 

During segmentation of the fertilized ovum (ovocyte) e daughter cells do 
not show any special morphologic characteristics of adult t =p) but are never- 
theless sera ers of such tissues and may be called taal 

The textocytes, or tissue cells, are represented in this a by symbols 
derived soli the char ainia outlines of the cells of specific tissues (Fig. 1). 

After the prot ¿cule s align themselves into the positions of subsequent 
tissues they become the Ea e forebearers of the tissues and may be calle 
textoblasts. These cells develop by differentiation and specialization into the 

t life. S of 


tissues (textocytes) of embryonic and p e. Some the cells remain undif- 
ferentiated (textoblasts) in adult life S ions the reserve or aripa cells 
for specific tissues when the latter are a ed. 


and functional differences. Out of such differentiation 
and specialization of cells, types of cells arise, groups of 
which constitute what are called tissues (adenotex, chon- 
drotex, endotheliotex, epitheliotex, erythrotex, fibrotex, 
etc.) (Fig. 1). Two or more of the different tissues be- 
come grouped to form organs (tongue, esophagus, stom- 
ach, liver, kidneys, skin, ete.) which likewise are group 

to build up structural and functional systems (respira- 
tory, alimentary, nervous, osseous, etc.), the combined 
qualities of which form the complete multicellular organ- 


398 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LI 


ism or being. Such orderly evolutional facts apply to 
the development of all animal and vegetable multicellu- 
lar beings (Fig. 2). 5 

Out of the essential living properties of a single cell 
other cells develop which have in them an exaggeration 
of some essential initial quality, each tissue representing 
an exaggeration of some one quality. Such evolutionary 
cytologic organization produces a communism of living 
units, the combined apparent and dominant purpose of 
which is to live and reproduce its kind. 

A biologist, if asked the ultimate purpose of life, would 
shake his head and say he did not know, but asked the 
immediate and dominant purpose, would say the protec- 
tion of life and this protection even at the expense of life, 
an apparent contradiction which has been recognized but 
not comprehended even by scientists. The evidence of 
this great protective purpose of living matter is too uni- 
versal to be called to the attention of the least observing; 
it works automatically and in a large degree independ- 
ently of the will of living beings. 

This fundamental vital protective purpose forms the 
basis of the following consideration of cancer’s place in 
general biology: It presupposes, and observation sub- 
stantiates it, that all living cells have natural antagonists 
against which protection is necessary; and that there is 
a conflict in nature during which there is constant build- 
ing up and tearing down of things living. The human 
body is no exception to this rule, as every physician and 
layman knows. The tearing down is called disease, and 
the rebuilding is called regeneration, repair and healing. 

The partial destruction of a human tissue by animate 
or inanimate antagonists may be followed by its regen- 
eration; the complete destruction may be followed by 
repair or replacement, but not by its regeneration! The 

1 This statement may not seem to be true when applied to some of the 
lower forms of life such as the earthworm (Allolobophora, fetida) and the 


such. because the normal regenerative power resides in other cells, 
which by the process of metaplasia build up tissues they do not form in the 
normal sequence of evolution. 


Nos. 620-621] CANCER'S PLACE IN BIOLOGY 399 


degree of regeneration of tissues, according to the obser- 
vations of biologists, is in an inverse ratio to the degree 
of their specialization and differentiation. One finds, 
therefore, this regenerative factor a variable and un- 
equal quantity among tissues of the human body. The 
protective tissue cells (epitheliocytes) of the skin, for 
example, are readily regenerated if not completely de- 
stroyed over a large area; the cells of the retina, in all 
probability, are never regenerated even after partial 
destruction. Fibrocytic, erythrocytic, epitheliocytic and 
leucocytic tissues, in all probability, represent types, the 
special functions of which show the highest degrees of 
regeneration. 

In many tissues of the body, coincidentally to normal 
communistic activity, there is constant or periodic normal 
destruction with constant or periodic regeneration, both 
of which depend on communistic functional activity and 
a constant or periodic destructive action of antagonistic 
agents. The amount of regeneration depends on the 
amount of destruction, which depends on the quality, 
quantity and duration of action of the destructive agent 
or agents. 

Tissue destruction and regeneration were made the 
subject of investigation by the writer, in the protective 
cells of the human skin (Fig. 3) and in the secretory 
epithelium of the human mammary gland (Fig. 4). One 
finds in these organs that some unknown irritant or irri- 
tants of an apparent low degree of virulence, acting over 
a prolonged period of time, produce certain reactive cel- 
lular phenomena; there is first a destruction of the spe- 
cialized and differentiated cells (textocytes). This de- 
struction is associated with an hypertrophy of the so- 
called basal cells (cells of the stratum germinativum, or 
textoblasts) and a lymphocytic infiltration in the sup- 
porting stroma. 

Space does not permit a consideration of the factor of | 
lymphocytic infiltration. The hypertrophy of the so- 
called basal cells, however, is of great importance from 
the standpoint of the subject under consideration. 

One sees clearly that nature, in building up the special- 


Fic. 3. Three diagram- 
matic histologic stages of re- 
ction of tex 


ion 
epithelium showin 
tive i 


he hyperplastic undif- 
ferentiated textoblasts, 


THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 


[ Vou. LIT 


ized and differentiated protec- 
tive cells of the skin and the se- 
eretory cells of the mammary 
gland, has also made provision 
for an anticipated destruction, 
an anticipation which is no more 
remarkable in nature than that 
of the butterfly which deposits 
its eggs in a safe place and dies 
with the inherent assuredness 
that the eggs will some day de- 
velop into caterpillars and event- 
ually into butterflies to continue 
the existence of the kind. In the 
ease of the cells of the skin and 
the mammary gland, if the irri- 
tant is removed, complete regen- 
eration of differentiated or spe- 
cialized cells takes place, pro- 
vided the basal cells themselves 
have not been completely de- 
stroyed. 

Continuance of the action of 
the destructive agent or agents 
produces hypertrophy, hyper- 
plasia and migration of the basal 
or regenerative cells (Figs 3 and 
4). Coincidentally with such a 
hyperplasia the basal cells (text- 
oblasts) do not always become 
differentiated to the form of the 


‘specialized squamous or secre- 


ory cells according to their com- 
munistic normal foreordination; 


they retain their oval or spheroidal form, become larger 
and produce a massed overgrowth of undifferentiated 
cells (Figs. 3 and 4). The degree of hyperplasia and 
migration varies under different and perhaps the same 
irritative circumstances, depending on inherited variable 


Nos. 620-621] CANCER’S PLACE IN BIOLOGY 401 


factors in the basal cells the neighboring tissue cells, 
their food supply, natural drainage, and perhaps some 
unknown factors. The significant biologic facts rest 


4 Mf, 4 s x a = >" Y aa 
H A W 
h yl = SR ¢ x 
A9 N T. AANE a N op 


Fic, 4. Diagrammatic relation of the glandular units to the other tissues. 


in the attempted cellular regeneration by hypertrophy 
and hyperplasia and the effort to change environment by 
migration, all of which may be seen not only in the breast 
and skin, but also in the specific cells of the hair follicle, 
prostatic gland and stomach (Figs. 5, 6 and 7). 

A change of environment through overgrowth or mi- 
gration often stimulates or allows an attempt at differ- 
entiation into the specific tissue-cells for which the origi- 
nal reserve or regenerative cells (textoblasts) were 
apparently foreordained in the normal evolution of tis- 
sues. This is evident in cancerous new growths which 
have migrated into other tissues, and in regional lym- 
phatic glands, which are the favorite locations of envi- 
ronmental change for such migrants. 

Cellular regenerative reaction takes place in one or 
both of two ways; there is hyperplasia with or without 


402 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


differentiation. An hyperplasia with differentiation into 
specific tissue-cells may be called texto-typic in contra- 
distinction to that without differentiation, which may be 


IG. 5. The reaction to destruction of textocytes in the hair follicle. cd 

pasa pilo-cytoplasia. B. Secondary pilo-cytoplasia. ©, Tertiary pilo-cyto- . 
. 6. The reaction to destruction of textocytes in the prostatic acinus. 

A. primary adeno-cytoplasia. B. Secondary adeno-cytoplasia. ©. Tertiary adeno- 

cytoplasia 

termed cytotypic. This occurs before and after mi- 

gration. 

According to writers on the subject of cancer the prin- 
cipal criterion for the denotation of a condition by this 
term consists of the destructive migration of tissue-cells. 
Such neoplasms have been often considered to be direct 
derivatives of tissue-cells, because their cells sometimes 
resemble those of specific tissues of organs from which 
they have arisen. As a matter of fact the malignant 
neoplastic cells (neocytes) do sometimes resemble the 


Nos. 620-621] CANCERS PLACE IN BIOLOGY 403 


A 
Y 


Ce 


23000000 


Pepere 


S 


= 


Primary Cytoplasia 
rg. o The E 


condary Cytoplasia sia 
eaction to destruction of textocytes in the gastric tubules 
mary adeno-cytoplasia. B. Secondary adeno-cytoplasia. C. Terti 
adeno-cytoplasia. 


Tertiary Cytopla: 


ary 


specific tissue-cells of the site of origin, but this is not 
evidence that the tissue cells themselves have been con- 
verted into the cells, which at best never are morpho- 
logically and functionally identical with the original 
tissue-cells. 

According to the observations of the writer, the cells 

which constitute cancer are the progeny of the partially 
differentiated or reserve cells (textoblasts) which have 
for their natural communistic function the protective 
restoration of the specific tissues when the latter have 
been destroyed. It may be asked, how can a condition 
which will certainly destroy the whole organism be the 
result of a protective principle? This perfectly natural 
question can only be answered by stating a general prin- 
ciple in biology, namely, that regenerative changes do 
not always consider the communistic adaptation of the 
whole organism. It is a manifestation of a principle 
which is inherent in cells, cytologic life being primary, 
and tissue or organic life secondary. Thus, the plana- 
rian in response to certain stimuli produces a new head 
when it already possesses one; the actinian produces a 
new mouth on the side of its body under certain regen- 
erative conditions. Protective migration of animals as 
a result of food famine leads to their complete destruc- 
tion not infrequently. 


404 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LI 


In the case of the human being there is no more fitting 
example of a fatal, protective communistic action of cells 
than that which occurs when a human being obtains a 
severe and destructive burn about the mouth or in the 
esophagus. Under such circumstances the fibroblasts in 
the region become hypertrophic, hyperplastic, differen- 
tiated and specialized into dense, contracting scar-tissue, 
which, if the destruction has been great enough, may, as 
a communistic, regenerative, protective process, inherent 
in the fibroblasts, completely close the orifice of the mouth 
or esophagus, the result of which is starvation and de- 
struction of the whole organism. The fibroblast’s evo- 
lutionary duty in the communism is that of replacing 
losses of other tissues, and the duty is performed in this 
incidence at the expense of its own life and the life of 
the organism. Thus, it may be seen that communistic 
life is secondary to the life of the cells even in such a 
wonderful and complex organization as the human body. 

The hyperplasia or neoplasia does not even have to be 
migratory from a cellular standpoint to destroy the 
whole organism and thereby be clinically malignant; a 
term which has been utilized by the medical profession 
largely to differentiate cancer from other neoplastic con- 
ditions which are generally conceived of as benign. 
Thus, a fibroid tumor of the uterus may be clinically ma- 
lignant and still not show cytologie signs of the malig- 
nancy so characteristic of cancer. 

Biologically speaking, protection may be divided into 
types—cytotypic, textotypic, organotypic, systemotypic, 
organismotypic, familiotypic, raciotypic and speciotypic, 
ete. Cancer represents the cytotypic protection which 
is of primary importance in all protection of living pro- 
toplasm. 

From a biological standpoint the three reactions of 
regenerative cells of tissues to antagonistic influences are 
hypertrophy and hyperplasia with differentiation, hy- 
perplasia without differentiation, and hyperplasia with 
migration, with or without partial differentiation. These 
three conditions have been termed eytoplasias (condi- 


Nos. 620-621]  CANCER’S PLACE IN BIOLOGY 405 


- tions of cells) and have been numerically classified by 


the writer as primary (restauro-), secondary (expando-), 
and tertiary (migro-) cytoplasia. This classification is 
applicable to the regenerative cells of epithelial tissue of 
the mammary gland, prostatic gland, skin, hair follicle, 
stomach, fibrous connective tissue, erythrocytic tissue 
(red blood corpuscles) and lymphocytic tissue. These 
represent eight tissues out of possible nineteen or more 
known specific tissues in the human body. Doubtless 
there are other specific tissues in the human economy and 
perhaps some of those already mentioned may be even- 
tually divided into other specific tissues. In all of the 
following tissues, adenotex, cardiomyotex, chondrotex, 
endotheliotex, epitheliotex, erythrotex, fibrotex, leucotex, 
leiomyotex, lipotex, lymphotex,, melanotex, myxotex, 
neurotex, osteotex, pilotex, rhabdomyotex and tendotex, 
with the exception of the neurotex and perhaps the myxo- 
tex, the fact has been demonstrated that all are regener- 
ated after loss, the degree of THE seen varying con- 
siderably in the human body. 
The following classification of the three biologic reac- 
tive phenomena which take place in the regenerative cells 
of tissues may be made: 
adeno- 
cardiomyo- 
chondro- 

| endothelio- 
epithelio- 


Primary (restauro-) $ : 
Secondary (expando-) } leiomyo- | eytoplasia. 
Tertiary (migro-) lympho- 


p - 
rhabdomyo- 
tendo- 

ete.. 


406 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


Such a nomenclature of known reactive facts has 
served the writer as a convenient, simple and practical, 
biologic, histologic and clinical terminology. The writer 
does not mean that these terms should be utilized to des- 
ignate neoplasms. They apply only to the tissue-reac- 
tion, which is, after all, the essential thing to be consid- 
ered. Animal and vegetable neoplasms represent only 
phases of such reaction. 

From a clinical standpoint, a hypertrophy and hyper- 
plasia with complete tissue differentiation (restauro- 
eytoplasia) represents tissue regeneration, which is a 
benign condition, since it is normally reconstructive from 
a communistic standpoint instead of destructive. A 
hyperplasia without tissue differentiation (expando- 
cytoplasia) represents a condition of the cells in which 
no one can foretell whether the cells will become differ- 
entiated into tissues, and thereby be constructive, or mi- 
grate and become destructive. 

Such a condition is, therefore, in the presence of sci- 
ence, a questionable condition. Its benignancy or malig- 
nancy, in so far as the organization is concerned, with 
our present knowledge, can not be forecast. The proba- 
bility of possible migration may be suspected from the 
frequent morphologic identity of these undifferentiated 
cells to the migratory cells of a known malignant or can- 
cerous condition, the only difference being their location. 

Biologically considered, primary cytoplasia represents 
a tissue regenerative condition, the secondary cytoplasia 
represents a neoplastic condition, and tertiary cytoplasia 
represents a neoplastic migration to regions foreign to 
the cells in question. The whole field of tissue replace- 
ment, tissue regeneration and benign and malignant (can- 
cerous) neoplasmata (new growths) is comprehended in 
these three groups. 

The following diagram represents the relation of ma- 
lignant (cancerous) and so-called benign neoplasms to 
the evolution and organization of the human body: 


Nos. 620-621] CANCER’S PLACE IN BIOLOGY 407 


Fertilization (Ovoeyte and spermatocyte). 
| 
Segmentation (Protexto-blasts). 


Pro-ditferentiation? (Texto-blasts). 


Differentiation dom Acacia neocytes) 
(textocytes). (Benign? or malignant?). 
Differentiation (textocytes) (Migrat 
(Benign nopploam ms). Bi merg neoplasms). 
Incomplete differentiation Undifferentiation (neocytes 
(Less malignant) (Pseudo-textocytes). (More malignant). 


Briefly, in conclusion, the writer makes the following 
generalizations from his experience in his studies of can- 
cer’s place in general biology: 

1. All multicellular organisms represent communisms of cells which have 
divided their labors and become specialized and differentiated to form 


tissues. 
2. Nature has provided for the regeneration of most, if not all, tissues 
a 


3. In many animal an 
to aR Oa in three degrees, i. ¢., hypertrophy, hyperplasia and 
atio: 


: hyperplasia with or without migration the cells sometimes at- 
tempt to aen tiate. 

5. Limited hyperplasia with complete apaa produces tissue re- 
placement. Unlimited hyperplasia without complete differentiation pro- 
gnan neoplasms 


E nu ited pb he of regenerative cells of 
tissues plus migration without complete differentiation 
7. neration (hyperplasia) without &ierentintin’ is a eytotypic pro- 
tective process. 

8. Regeneration (hyperplasia) with differentiation is a textotypic pro- 
tective proces 

9. Cancer is a nee instead of a ae abi renn process. 

i es sometimes fatal to the 


11. All of the reactions may be designated Wa a simple eaa termi- 
nology which standardizes clinical, histologie and biologie facts. 
REFERENCES 
MacCarty, W. C., and Willis, Ba 
1911. Carcinoma of the Breast. Old Dominion Jour. Med. and Surg., 
XII, 189-198, 
2 The stage of pro-differentiation exists prenatally and postnatally and 
may be ished terminologically by calling the prenatal cells of- 
segmentation protextoblasts and the regenerative postnatal cel ells textoblasts. 


408 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST  . [Vou.LII 


MacCarty, W. C., and Blackford, J. M. 
1912. Yavolichoat of Regional Lymphatic Glands in Carcinoma of the 
‘Sto . Ann. Surg., a 811-843. 
T W. C., and Sistrunk, W. 
913. Dara pe Malignant cade Cysts. Surg., Gynec. and Obst., 
XVII, 41-50, 


MacCarty, W. C., and Broders, A. C. 

1914. ced => Ulcer and its ea to Gastric Carcinoma. 
Arch, Int. Med., XIII, 208-22. 

MacCaty WwW. C 

913. The eninge of Cancer of the Breast and pe voga Sig- 
Surg., Gynec. and Obst., XVI, 441-4, 

1914. Pare Suggestions Based on a Study of econ Secondary 
(Carcinoma?) and Tertiary or Migratory (Carcinoma) Epi- 
thelial ibi of the Breast. Surg., Gynec. and Obst., 

289. 


XVIII 
1913. The Histogenesis of Carcinoma in Ovarian Simple Cysts and 
ystadenoma. Collected Papers, Mayo Clinic, V, 380-390. 
MacCarty, W. C., and. McGrath, B. F. 
1914 


- The Frequency of Carcinoma of the Appendix. Ann. Surg., 
I 5-678, 


MacCarty, W. C. 
1915. The Biological Mini of the Carcinoma-cell. Pan-Am. Surg. 
and 


Med. Jou 
1914-15, _Proeaneerons Conditions. Jour. Iowa State Med. Soc., IV, 
1915. ne ibi of Cancer of the Stomach. Am. Jour. Med. 
9476. 


1914, Note on the ‘Beguiacity and Similarity of Cancer Cells, Col- 
ected Papers, Mayo Clinic, VI, 600-602. 
1915. No Facts about Cancer o their Clinical Significance. Surg., 
Gynec. and ee XXI, 

Irwin, H. C., and MacCarty, W. C. 

1915. Papiloma of the dde Ann, Surg., LXI, 725-729. 
MacCarty, W. 

1915. Evolution of Cancer. Collected Papers, Mayo Clinie, VII, 903- 


Broders, A. o a MacCarty, W. C 
A 1916. Me ladosplihidlisine. A réport of 70 cases, Surg., Gynec. and 
st., XXIII, 28-32. 


MacCarty, W. C. 
1915. ae versus Speculation in the Professional Conception of 
ncer. Teras State Jou r. Med., XI, 165-1 
1916. A New ca of Neoplasms. and it. Clinical Value. Am. 
06. 


1916. The Relation between Chronic Mastitis and nigan of the 
Breast. St. Paul Med. Jour., XVIII, 1 167. 


x) 


A SURVEY OF THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 


VAUGHAN MacCAUGHEY 


PROFESSOR oF Botany, COLLEGE or Hawan, HoxoLuLu, HAWAN 


During a residence of nearly ten years in the Hawaiian 
Archipelago the writer has had opportunity of visiting 
and exploring many of the coral reefs, and has been much 
interested in thetr formation, flora, and fauna. The pres- 
ent paper aims to present the salient and significant facts 
relating to the natural history of these remarkable reefs, 
in compact and largely non-technical form. There is a 
large scattered literature (inaccessible to the average 
reader), dealing with the coral reefs and their life, but 
the writer believes this to be the first time that the follow- 
ing data have appeared within the confines of a single 
paper. 

The Hawaiian Archipelago is situated in the midst of 
the North Pacific Ocean. It lies between latitudes 18° 
34' and 22° 14’ and 154° 48’ and 160° 13’ West Longitude, 
being about 2,020 miles southwest of San Francisco. Its 
east and west extension is nearly two thousand miles. 
the islands are but the apices of a titanic mountain range 
that rises to heights of from three to five miles from the 
floor of the ocean. l 

This long archipelago, comprising about twenty-two 
islands, is remarkable for the simplicity of its geologic 
formations. Only two classes of rock material are known 
in the entire group—lava and coral. There are numerous 
subdivisions of these groups (for example, there are many 
varieties of lava), but all the known rock-formations give 
conclusive evidence of having originated from either one 


of two sources—voleanic or coralline. It is extremely 


interesting to consider that all of these islands are com- 

pounded of two such diverse elements—one from a roar- 

ing lake of incandescent lava; the other from the age-long 
409 


410 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


labors of coral polyps. A strange ‘‘partnership,’’ with- 
out parallel in the annals of natural history. 

The islands of the Hawaiian group may be classified on 
this basis. The large, high islands of the eastern por- 
tion of the archipelago are composed almost wholly of 
lava, with small fringing reefs. The low, small islets that 
comprise the western extension of the archipelago are 
made almost wholly of coral, that i is, in so far as their ex- 
posed portions are concerned. The coral formations un- 
doubtedly rest upon a voleanic substratum. The group- 
ing may be expressed as follows: 

I. Large mountainous lava islands, forming a compact 
group at eastern end of archipelago; elevations 
over 1,000 ft. 

A. With well-developed fringing reef: 
Niihau, 1,300 ft.; Kauai, 5,250 ft. 
Oahu, 4,040 ft. 
Molokai, 4,958 ft.; Lanai, 3,400 ft.; Kahoolawe, 
1,472 ft. 
B. With scanty fringing reef: 
Hawaii, 13,825 ft.; Maui, 10,032 ft. 
II. Small, low islets, scattered along the western axis of 
the archipelago; elevations below 1,000 ft. 
C. Eroded volcanic blocks, 120-900 ft., with fringing 
coral reef: Nihoa, French Frigates Shoals, Gard- 
ner I. 
D. Elevated coral islands, 45-55 ft., with fringing 
reef: Laysan, Lisianski. 
E. Typical coral atolls: Pearl-and-Hermes, Midway, 
Ocean. 
D. Reefs with visible surf, but no exposed coral: 
Maro Reef, Dowsett’s Reef. 

The entire series, named in sequence from east to west, 
is: Hawaii, Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, 
Kauai, Ni TOR Nihoa, Necker, French Frigates Shoal, 
_ Gardner, Dowsett’s Reef, Maro Reef, Laysan, Lisianski, 
Porland: Hermes, Midway, Ocean. The two extremes— 
Hawaii and Ocean Island—present a contrast of wonder- 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 411 


ful vividness. Mauna Loa, the greatest active voleano 
on the planet, dominates the island of Hawaii. Its colos- 
sal dome is crowned by a summit lake of reverberating 
liquid lava, with spectacular displays of high-jetting fire 
fountains. The bulk of the island is still growing, 
through intermittent outpourings of lava. Ocean Island, 
on the other hand, is the last white fragment of a subsid- 
ing coral-crowned mountain—perhaps a dead volcano, 
that may have resembled Loa in many respects, but which 
has been drawn inexorably into the abysses of the Pacific. 
One represents the culmination of the voleanic forces; 
the other the climax of coral work—an atoll on a tropic 
sea, 
Of the larger eastward islands, Kauai and Oahu are of 
particular interest, as they have the largest coral reefs, 
and support the most luxuriant marine life. The reefs 
are all of the fringing or platform type, and vary in width 
from a few hundred feet to half a mile. Reefs are well 
developed along the southern or leeward shores of the two 
Islands mentioned, and also, to a lesser degree, along the 
northern coasts. Oahu is almost encircled by coral reefs, 
whereas Kauai, Molokai, and Maui have numerous coastal 
stretches wholly free from coral. The little island of 
Niihau, to the west of Kauai, has considerable coral reef. 
It is significant to note that although the majority of 
corals, particularly the more massive reef-building forms, 
occur only in the shallow waters of tropic seas, there are 
a number of species that inhabit deep, cold waters. 
Lophohelia prolifera and Dendrophyllia ramea, for ex- 
ample, form dense beds at depths of from 600 to 1,200 
ft. off the coasts of Norway, Scotland, and Portugal. 
The general requirement, however, is shallow water whose 
mean temperature does not fall below 68° F., and the 
reef-building species do not flourish unless the tempera- 
ture is considerably higher. Although a single Hawaiian 
species of mushroom-like coral (Bathyactes Hawaitensis) 
was dredged by the Albatross from a depth of nearly 
7,000 ft., most of the Hawaiian forms live in waters of 


412 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


6-150 ft. depth. Of the 34 Hawaiian genera, 14 habituate 

this shallow-water zone throughout the archipelago, and 

10 of these oceur on the leeward reefs of Oahu between 

Leahi and Pearl Harbor. 

Dana’s! comprehensive statement concerning the reef- 
building corals may be compactly summarized. He 
states that it is important to have a correct apprehension 
of what are those reef species as distinct from those of 
colder and deeper seas. The coral-reef species of corals 
are the following : 

In the Astrea tribe, all the many known species. 

In the Fungia tribe, almost all the known species. 

In the Oculina tribe, all of the Orbicellids; part of the 
Oculinids and Stylasterids; some of the Caryophyl- 
lids, Astrangids, and Stylophorids; all of the Pocillo- 
porids. 

4. In the Madrepora tribe, all of the Madreporids and 

Poritids; many of the Dendrophyllia family. 

5. Among Alcyonoids, numerous species of the Aleyontum 

and Gorgonia tribes and some of the Pennatulacea. 

6. Among Hydroids, the Millepores and Heliopores. 

7. Among Alge, many Nullipores and Corallines. 

He further states that 
Through the torrid region, in the central and western Pacific, that is, 

within 15° to 18° of the equator, where the temperature of the surface 

is never below 74° F. for any month of the year, all the prominent 
genera of reef-forming species are abundantly represented. The Ha- 
waiian Islands . . . are outside of the torrid zone of oceanic tempera- 
ture, in the subtorrid, and the eorals are consequently less Juxuriant and 
much fewer in species. There are no Madrepores, and but few of the 

Astraea and Fungia tribes; while there is a profusion of the corals of 

the hardier genera, Porites and Pocillipore. 

The more abundant reef builders, at moderate depths, 
are the madrepores, astreids, porites and meandrines. 
At depths of 90-120 ft. the millepores and seriatopores 
predominate. The great field of coral development thus 
lies between low water and 120 ft. 

Dana’s classification of reef-formations is useful in sur- 
veying the Hawaiian reefs: 

1 James D. Dana, ‘‘Corals and Coral Islands,’ 1872. 


cl de el 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 413 


1. Outer reefs, or reefs formed from the growth of 
corals exposed to the open seas. Of this character are all 
proper barrier reefs, and such fringing reefs as are un- 
protected by a barrier. All of the larger Hawaiian reefs 
are of this character. 


2 Y < 3 


Nautical Miles 
Fic, 1. Midway Island. A nearly complete circular coral atoll, about 16 
miles in circumference; area of lagoon about 38 sq. miles; several low sand 
islets in the lagoon 


2. Inner reefs, or reefs formed in quiet waters between 
a barrier and the shores of an island. The reefs of this 
type are very rare in Hawaii; usually they are mere hum- 
mocks in the lagoon of the fringing reef. 

Kaneohe Bay and Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, are essentially 
large drowned valley regions, converted by subsidence 
into land-locked bays, which have become more or less 
completely barred and filled by coral growths. Were 
there not such large quantities of fresh, mud-laden water 
poured into these bays, they would be veritable coral 
wonderlands, for it is in protected waters of inner chan- 
nels or lagoons that corals attain their finest develop- 
ment, and the Parhon. so are presented to the: ex- 
plorer of coral scenery.’ 

The marine flora and fauna in these bays presents 


a 


414 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


many contrasts with those of the true lagoons and outer 
reef rims. All of the pure-sea-water-requiring organisms 
are wholly absent or rare, and in their places one finds a 
large series of brackish water and silt-loving forms. The 
generalization is quite accurate for the Kaneohe and Pearl 
Harbor inner reefs that 

The main distinction between the inner and outer reefs consists in the 
less fragmentary character of the rocks in the former ease, the less fre- 
quent accumulations of débris on their upper surface, and the more 
varied features and slopes of the margins. . . . There is to be found 
about inner reefs, over large areas, solid white limestone, showing 
internally no evidence of its coral origin, and containing rarely a shell 
or other imbedded fossil. It is a result of the consolidation of the fine 
coral sand or mud that is made and accumulated through the action of 
the light waves that work over the inner reefs. Other portions of reef . 
consist of branching corals, with the intervals filled in by sand and 
small fragments; for even in the stiller waters fragments are to some 
extent produced. A rock of this kind is often used for buildings and 
walls on the island of Oahu. It consists mainly of Porites, and in 
many parts is still cavernous, or but imperfectly cemented.? 

3. Channels or seas within barriers, which may receive 
detritus either from the reefs, or from the shores, or from 
both these sources combined. These channels correspond 
to the lagoons of the fringing reef, except that the chan- 
nels are much larger. The Hawaiian lagoons are gen- 
erally floored with coral sand, indicating that reef erosion 
is more rapid than coast erosion. 

4. Beaches and beach formations, produced by coral 
accumulations on the Shore through the action of the sea 
and winds. Beaches and dunes of coral sand are com- 
mon on the islands of Molokai, Oahu, Kauai, Laysan, Mid- 
way, Ocean, etc. 

Of the three great classes of coral reefs—fringing, bar- 
rier, and atoll—the first and last only have representation 
in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The fringing reefs are 
platforms of coral limestone which extend but a relatively 
short distance from the shore. The seaward edge of the 
platform is characteristically somewhat higher than the 
inner portion, and is usually awash at low tide. The reef 

2 Dana, loc. cit. 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 415 


_ is cut by more or less numerous channels, which mark 
those places where streams flow down from the land. 
There is usually a lagoon—of sufficient depth to be navi- 
gable by canoes or small boats—between the reef rim and 
the shore. The outer wall of the fringing reef is steep, 
and in the Hawaiian Islands descends abruptly into deep 
water. The reef rim is the region of most active coral 
growth, the shoreward coral being gradually killed by 
fresh water and the deposition of mud and sand. 


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Fic. 2. Pearl and Hermes Reef. An irregular, oval coral atoll, 42 miles 
circumference; area of lagoon about 80 sq. miles; numerous low sand islets 
in the lagoon. The soundings (2) are in fathoms. 


Barrier reefs may be considered as fringing reefs upon 
a large scale. Although rare in the North Pacific Ocean, 
there are many fine examples in the South Pacific. The 
grandest in the world is the Great Australian barrier reef, 
which is 1,250 miles long, and supports a wonderfully 
rich marine life. 

An atoll is an annular or ring-shaped reef, either awash 
at low tide or surmounted by several islets, or less fre- 
quently by a complete circle of dry land surrounding a 
central lagoon. The outer wall of the atoll generally de- 
scends with a very steep but irregular slope to a depth of 


416 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


3,000 ft. or more. The central lagoon is seldom more 
than 60 ft. deep, and is often much less. There are 
usually one or more navigable passages leading from the 
lagoon to the open sea. 

The thickness of the Hawaiian reefs is an engaging 
subject for speculation. Many of the reefs are undoubt- 
edly several thousand feet thick at their seaward margins. 
Dana writes: 

Could we raise one of these coral-bound islands from the waves, we 
should find that the reefs stand upon submarine slopes, like massy struc- 
tures of artificial masonry; some forming a broad flat platform or shelf 
ranging around the land, and others encircling it like vast ramparts, 
perhaps a hundred miles or more in circuit. 

The late Dr. S. E. Bishop, of Honolulu, estimated the 
depth of the coral at Barber’s Point, Oahu, to be 2,300 ft. 

Our first exploration of a Hawaiian coral reef, some 
ten years ago, made a lasting impression, so novel and 
vivid were those initiatory experiences. The tropic 
morning was fine and clear, with the clouds heaped along 
the mountains, and the seaward sky flawless. The trade 
winds were unusually quiet and the tide was at lowest ebb. 
All conditions were most favorable for a detailed exam- 
ination of the reef. My comrade and I embarked in a 
native outrigger canoe and paddled from the well-known 
Waikiki Beach, near Honolulu, to the white surf-lines of 
the reef-rim. This is one of the richest portions of the 
Oahu fringing reef, from the biological standpoint. We 
were clad in bathing suits and provided with suitable col- 
lecting apparatus and water-boxes —glass-bottomed boxes 
by means of which the sunlit translucent waters are easily 
surveyed. 

Arriving at a suitable location, a thousand feet from 
the shore, where the water was scarcely two feet deep, we 
anchored the canoe and prepared for wading. We were 
equipped with old shoes to protect our feet from the coral 
(which can cause very painful and slow-healing wounds) ; 
with broad-rimmed hats to protect eyes, face, and neck 
from the intense glare of sun and water; with hammers 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 417 


for breaking up the coral blocks and for loosening ma- 
terial; and with sundry haversacks, wide-mouth bottles, 
formalin, etc. For three entrancing hours we wandered ` 
over the ledges, knolls, and sandy pockets of the reef, 
bewildered by the luxuriant diversity of marine life. 
Fantastic clumps of living coral, a large number of 
strange molluscan species; bright-spotted crabs and other 


N 
9 
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8% 
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If 
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Ee eee Mi 
i Sea mile. 


Fie. 3. Laysan Island. An elevated coral island, with a central lagoon. 
The soundings are in fathoms, as in all the maps. The dotted line indicates the 
reef rim; this also applies to all the maps. 


crustaceans in an array of shapes and sizes; colonies of 
sea-urchins ; spidery-armed brittle-stars ; exquisitely beau- 
tiful hydroid colonies; bizarre-hued holothurians; and 
everywhere marine alge of many tints and shapes, repre- 
senting a long list of interesting genera. Gorgeously col- 
ored fishes, small and large, lurked in the shadowy reef 
pools, and evaded prolonged inspection. It is impossible 
to describe the profound impression produced by one’s 
first sight of the strange and fascinating reef-world. 

The coral fauna of the Hawaiian reefs, although not as 
rich nor as diversified as those of more tropical waters, is 
not to be regarded as scanty. Dr. T. Wayland Vaughan, 
who thoroughly investigated the Albatross and Bishop 


418 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


Museum collections, reports 15 families, 34 genera, and 
123 species, varieties and forms. As Bryan? states, 

Some idea of the richness of the coral fauna of any given locality 
can be gathered from the fact that the reef and shallow waters along 
the south side of Oahu, but especially at Waikiki, yielded examples of 
thirty-four of the species enumerated. 

Of the Hawaiian stony corals (Madreporarians) the 
genus Porites is the most abundant and is represented by 
the largest number of species and varieties. Pocillopora 
ranks next in importance, followed by Montipora, Pa- 
vonia, Favia, Leptastrea, Cyphastrea, and Fungia. The 
last-named genus merits special mention because of the 
unique shape of the skeleton, which closely resembles the 
inverted head of a fully expanded mushroom, hence the . 
‘name mushroom coral. These are solitary, and fairly 
common. They are usually found lying flat on the floor 
of little pools or pockets along the outer edge of the reef. 

The corals, like many other groups of marine or- 
ganisms, are remarkable for the variety and brilliancy of 
their color during life. Those who know only the bleached 
museum specimens have little conception of the living 
tints, some of rare delicacy, others of brilliant hue. The 
Hawaiian reefs, although they do not show colors as 
striking as those of the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, 
are not lacking in color, and the ‘‘Coral Gardens’’ are 
becoming far-famed as tourist attractions. Pink, yellow, 
green, brown, purple and scarlet are represented in many 
shades and combinations. 

One of the most beautiful of the Hawaiian corals is a 
highly precinctive species, Dendrophillia Manni, which is 
known only from Kaneohe Bay, on the island of Oahu. 
The living coral is a rich deep orange red. There are 
numerous short branches, each of which is surmounted by 
a single bright orange polyp. When fully expanded the 
polyp is about three quarters of an inch long, and re- 
sembles a miniature sea-anemone. The polyp can with- 
draw completely within its cup. This species is rare, 
e Alanson Bryan, ‘‘The Natural History of Hawaii,’’ Honolulu, 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 419 


occurring only here and there along the margins of the 
little coral islands in Kaneohe Bay. 


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Nautical miles 

. 4. Lisiansky Island. A low, oval island of coral sand, two miles by 

three miles; the lagoon empty of water. The surrounding reef extends six or 
seven miles from the isle 


The famous black coral, Antipathes abies, is absent 
from the Hawaiian reefs, although it has a wide distribu- 
tion in the Indian and South Pacific Ocean. It grows to 
considerable size in the tropical waters of the Great Bar- 

* rier Reef of Australia. 

The eight-rayed corals (Alcyonaria) are very rare on 
the reefs, but occur in fair abundance in the deep offshore 
waters. The Albatross collected about 70 new species, 40 

` of which were new to science. The Red or Precious Coral 
of commerce, Corallium rubrum, does not occur in the 
Hawaiian Archipelago. It is most abundant in the Medi- 
terranean Sea, although also occurring off the coasts of 
Treland and Africa. Related species of slight commer- 
cial value have been obtained off Mauritius and near 
Japan. 


420 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


The Alcyonacea, organ-pipe and blue corals, are repre- 
sented in Hawaii by only five species; the Gorgonacea, 
sea-fans, by 16 species; and the Pennatulacea, sea-pens, 
by 48 species. Many of the Hawaiian members of these 
groups are of great beauty, but are never found in situ 
on the reefs, and when rarely washed ashore are badly 
mutilated by the waves. Some of the species are phos- 
phorescent. 

The typical Hawaiian fringing reef exhibits five dis- 
tinctive biological zones. This zonation parallels the 
shore-line, and is best developed on those reefs which 
possess wide lagoons and a well-defined outer margin or 
rim. 

1. Beach or Inshore Waters.—The shallow inshore 
waters, varying in depth from 6 to 36 inches, sustain a 
number of the quiet-water alge, such as Enteromorpha 
spp., Hypnea nidifica, Gracilaria, Chetomorpha, Ulva, 
Chondria, Liagora, ete. The bottom is of coral sand or 
mud, more or less contaminated by voleanic soil washed 
from the lowlands. The water is often mingled with rela- 
tively high percentages of fresh water. The nature of the 
bottom depends largely upon the proximity of fresh- 
water streams and of the reef-rim. In many places 
where the surf is heavy and reef material abundant, the 
bottom is pure white coral sand, with practically no rock 
or mud. In other districts there are large mud-flats ex- 
posed at low tide; the limestone pavement is covered with 
a thin sheet of mud, with little sand. Every gradation 
may be found between these two extremes. At the mouths 
of streams and at numerous other places along the coasts 
where fresh-water springs exist below tide-level, the in- 
shore water is so fresh as to prohibit the development of 
the strictly marine species, 

2. Partially Submerged Rocks.—In some places the 
_ beach and shallow waters are devoid of rock masses, but 
in general one finds partially submerged rocks scattered 
all along the coasts. These may be either close inshore, 
in the form of ledges or detached fragments, or may lie 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 421 


at varying distances from the shore. In any case they 
distinctly indicate, by their horizontal banding of algal 
and hydroid life, the ranges of high and low tide. The 
rocks are either of consolidated reef coral or of black 
basaltic lava; tufa rocks, and sedimentary coral sand- 
stone are infrequent. Some groups of marine organisms 
show strong preference for the coral rock, others for the 
lava rock. The rocks may be in somewhat protected 
situation or may be exposed to the full force of the surf. 
The following genera contain alge which are representa- 
tive of the kinds that withstand the constant battering of 
the waves: Gymnogongrus, Codium, Haliseris, Aspara- 
gopsis, Dictyota, Gelidium, Ahnfeldtia, Porphyra. The 
controlling factor in the alga-flora of the partially sub- 
merged rocks seems to be the circulation of pure, well- 
oxygenated sea water. Rocks in stagnant or impure 
water support a scanty flora as compared with those of 
the surf-swept localities. 

3. Pools.—Beyond the rock litter, although sometimes 
interspersed by it, lies the zone characterized by numerous 
pools or pockets. These cup-like depressions in the 
lagoon floor vary in size from little pockets two or three. 
feet in depth and diameter to large pools twenty or thirty 
feet in depth and diameter. In wading or paddling over 
the reef, the pools are easily distinguished by the darker 
tint of their waters as contrasted with that of the shallow 
lagoon. These pools in the floor of the lagoon are not to 
_ be confused with the tidal pools, that lie along the beaches, 
and are entirely detached at low tide. The lagoon pools 
are inhabited by a great variety of alge and animals that 
prefer these shadowy havens to the exposure of the 
shallows or the outer reef. The bottom of the pool may 
be covered with clear coral sand, or coral débris, or 
masses of living coral; its alga-flora will depend upon its 
depth and the resultant intensity of illumination. 

The following are typical alga genera that have repre- 
sentatives in the lagoon pools: Corallina, Peysonnelia, 
Grateloupia, Ceramium, Amansia, Polysiphonia, Chon- 


LA 


422 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vor. LIT 


dria, Laurencia, Martensia, Champia, Wrangelia, Galaz- 
aura, Padina, Sphacelaria, Hydroclathrus, ete. 

4. The Lagoon.—The entire region between the beach 
line or strand and the seaward rim of the reef is properly 
designated as the lagoon, but for the purposes of this de- 
scription the term will be restricted to the deeper waters, 
which are usually located about midway between the beach 
and the reef-rim. As one approaches the lagoon wading 
becomes impossible, the water deepens to eight, twelve or. 
twenty feet, but again becomes shallow as the outer edge 


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5. French Frigates Shoal. Crescentic atoll, with numerous low sand 
islands, and several high rocky volcanic isles; area of shoal about 30 sq. miles. 
The reefs are extensive. 


of the reef is reached. The water of the lagoon is placid, 
clear, and in normal weather very translucent, so that the 
bottom receives good illumination. Although a number 
of the smaller alge grow upon the floor of the lagoon, the 
region is comparatively barren as compared with the shal- 
lower waters on either side. The lagoon floor is a region 
of coralline and animal life, rather than of plant life. 
The quantities of sand and silt that are constantly washed 
over the floor from the disintegrating reef-rim render it 
difficult for plants to maintain themselves. The floor is 
so irregular in topography that collecting is very difficult; 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 423 


dredging is almost impossible, and diving is both labori- 
ous and unsatisfactory. 

5. Reef-Rim.—Upon paddling across the lagoon to the | 
outer rim of the reef, one comes to shallow water, where 
the heavy combers break and where wading is again pos- 
sible. This zone is a favorite fishing-ground of the native 
Hawaiians, as it abounds with plant and animal life. The 
highest portions of the rim are usually exposed at low 
tide; at high tide they are covered by 18-24 inches of 
water. There are many table-rocks or shoals, with deep 
channelways between. The rim is not regular or sym- 
metrical; there are many indentations, crags, débris 
slopes, pools, hoammocks and sandy spots. Almost all of 
the visible coral of this region is living coral, associated 
with an abundance of corallines, bryozoans, hydroids and 
red and brown alge. Some of the algal genera that are 
confined largely to the outer reef-rim are: Codium, As- 
paragopsis, Gymnogongrus, Porphyra, Turbinaria, Dic- 
tyota, Haliseris, Gelidium, ete. Many of the speties that 
inhabit these turbulent and surf-churned waters are not 
the tough, cartilaginous forms, but are very delicate and 
fragile species, that apparently survive the wave action 
because of their very delicacy. This is particularly true 
of some of the finer red alge.* 

Highly important on the Hawaiian reefs are the coral- 
line or stony algæ or nullipores. A number of genera— 

4Some of the representative marine alge of Hawaii that are common on 
the coral reefs and ‘shallows are: Oscillatoria bonnemaisonii, Phorm: idiu 
crosbyanum, Lyngbya semiplena, L. majuseula, Hydrocoleus cant 'OSMUS, 
Nodularia Hawaiiensis, Hormothamnion is. Scytonema fuliginosum, 
Calo tihe æruginea, Ulva spp., Enteromorpha spp., Chetomorpha pacifica, 
Cladaphora spp., Bryopsis poneros peo se Halimeda spp., 
Codium spp., Valonia spp., Dictyo ia favulosa, Microdictyon umbili- : 
catum, Ectocarpus spp., po aaa rei SPP., eo cancellatus, Aspero- 
coccus aii te dabas ornata, Sargassum spp., Padina pavonia, Dic- 
tyota spp., gora decussata, Galaxaura lapidescens, Scinaia furcellata, 
Gelidium ain ici Diada Gymnogongrus spp, Ahnfeltia concinna, 
Gracilaria spp., Hypnea nidij . armata, Plocamiwm sandvicense, Mar- 
tensia. flabelliformis, ocd ed ea guia spp., Chondria 
tenuissima, Polysiphonia spp., , Ceramium spp., Grate- 
loupia filicina, Fiii ihe mere het spp., or hothamnion 


424 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


Lithothamnion, Corallina, Mastophora, and others—are 
abundant on the reefs, and undoubtedly have been active as 
reef-builders. The importance of the lime-secreting alge 
was overlooked by the earlier students of coral reefs, but 
is now receiving adequate consideration. Howe? shows 
that these forms work effectively at greater depths, and 
at lower temperatures than do the true corals, and that 
they are much more generally and widely distributed 
than the latter. > 

The Hawaiian coralline alge inhabit the shallow waters, 
as well as occurring at considerable depths. In the 
former situations they form beautiful rose, purple and 
lavender incrustations. On the faces of cliffs that are 
washed by the sea these incrustations appear as con- 
spicuous bands, extending from high-tide mark or the up- 
permost wash of the surf down to the zone of minimum 
illumination. The lower margin of the coralline zone has 
not been investigated in the Hawaiian Islands, but in 
other island groups they flourish at 1,000 ft. depth. In 
the coralline zone are also many of the calcareous hydro- 
zoa. 

Sponges of many species, sizes and colors abound in all 
protected portions of the reefs, but have never been made 
the subject of critical taxonomic study. They range from 
tiny, fragile forms, the size of a shoe-button, up to coarse 
horny masses as large as a man’s head. The lesser 
species are common on the coral-rock litter in the lagoons. 
The larger forms inhabit the deeper waters, and are torn 
from their anchorage only by the occasional severe storms. 
After a period of southerly storms, for example, the lee- 
ward beaches are littered with these large, tough sponges, 
_ which average eight inches in diameter. 

The range of color is bizarre and striking. In a single 
afternoon’s collecting one may pick up, in the shallow 
water, species of bright red, pale yellow, rich purple, dull 
brown, creamy white, green, and dead black pigmentation. 
Dredging reveals others which add to the chromatic series. 
Most of the sponges are of the encrusting type, the body 

5M. A. Howe, ‘‘Building of Coral Reefs,’’ Science, 36: 837-842, 1912. 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 425 
conforming to the substratum and having no definite 
shape. The Calcarea are not uncommon in the littoral 
region, especially in sheltered situations among rocks and 
seaweed. These and the true horny sponges (Ceratosa) 
have not been found below 2,700 ft. The sponges found 
at the greatest oceanic depths are members of the Hexac- 
tinellida and Choristida of the Non-Calcarea. 


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Fig. 6. Island of Oahu. Showing extensive development of coral reefs 
and elevated coral limestone We Note the abundance of coral in the vicinity 
of Pearl Harbor (the fan-shaped bay h 


uth coast), Kane-ohe Bay 
northeast coast) and along the southern shores. 


The Hawaiian sponges have few or no natural enemies, 
and do not appear to be edible to fishes, crustaceans or 
molluses. Innumerable lowly forms, however, inhabit 
their tissues, for shelter, if not for food. The interior 
of any one of our common reef sponges is almost sure to 
be found teeming with minute crustaceans, annelids, mol- 

luses and other invertebrates. 

None of the Hawaiian species have been utilized com- 
mercially and no serious attempts have been made to in- 


426 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


troduce and establish the valuable species from other 
parts of the world. All of the commercial sponges be- 
long to the two genera Euspongia and Hippospongia, 
which do not occur on the Hawaiian reefs. Such an en- 
terprise, if undertaken with thorough scientific supervi- 
sion, would unquestionably meet with success. There are 
many areas along our reefs where the sponges could be 
established. With adequate labor and marketing ar- 
rangements a steady development of the industry would 
be assured. 

It is of interest to note that of the fresh-water sponges, 
Spongilline, a group which is widely distributed in «all 
parts of the world, no representatives have been taken 
in the Hawaiian Islands. 

Jellyfish are of casual occurrence along our reefs. The 
smaller forms are chiefly Hydrozoan meduse; the larger 
ones are Seyphozoans. A relatively few species are 
known and the life-cycles of these are not known in detail. 
A number of the tiny species are phosphorescent, and on 
clear nights when the sea is calm and other conditions are 
favorable, they give beautiful luminous effects. In pad- 
dling along the reef in an outrigger canoe, on such a night, 
the paddles, at every stroke, drip with tiny stars. Many 
of the larger species have gonads, tentacles, radial canals, 
or other organs brilliantly pigmented. 

The large forms attain diameters of 8-12 in. and some- 
times appear in great numbers in quiet, protected waters. 
Pearl Harbor, for example, which is almost wholly land- 
locked, is a favorite habitat. At low tide, in other parts 
of the islands, along the coral beaches one sometimes finds 
great numbers of jellyfish stranded and slowly deliquese- 
ing 

En addition to the true jellyfish the reefs support a rich 
hydrozoan« or marine hydroid fauna. The littoral species 
have not been studied taxonomically ; the Albatross collec- 
tions were made at depths of 60-3,000 ft. These latter 
comprised 49 species, representing 27 genera and 11 fami- 
lies. The shallow-water zoophytes or hydroids are abun- 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 427 


dant in all protected situations; many forms also inhabit 
the surf-beaten rim. Sertularia, Plumularia and Cam- 
panularia are well-known genera. The species are all of 
small size and superficially resemble in habit, color and 
habitat the more delicate marine alge. 

The false corallines or Hydrocoralline are also very 
abundant and have played an important rôle, as have the 
coralline alge, in the construction of the Hawaiian reefs. 
These colonial animals resemble delicately branching 
corals; their bleached and rather fragile skeletons are 
common on the beaches. When alive the corallines are 
of various tints of pink, orange and salmon, and add 
bright touches of color to the brilliant ensemble of the 
reef. The Hydrocoralline occur only in tropical seas; 
Millepora and Stylaster are typical genera. 

That remarkable order of free-floating colonial hy- 
droids, the Siphonophora, is well represented in all trop- 
ical waters, and has numerous forms in the Hawaiian 
marine fauna. This group exhibits the greatest diversity 
of form. The common ‘‘Portugese man-of-war,’’ Phy- 
salia utriculua, with its brilliant peacock-blue float and 
long retractile tentacles, is abundant along the reefs and 
shallows, and like the jellyfish, is often cast ashore in 
enormous numbers. The tentacles contain powerful bat- 
teries of stinging capsules ; the wounds are intensely pain- 
ful, and so this lovely evanescent creature is dreaded by 
bathers. Other well-known genera are Halistemma, 
Diphyes, Porpita and Vellelo. Porpita pacifica, the sea- 
money, is a beautiful blue-fringed dise about 13 in. in 
diameter. Vellela pacifica is also abundant at certain 
seasons. It resembles Physalia, but has much shorter 
tentacles. 

Sea-anemones, Actiniaria, are abundant along. the 
Hawaiian reefs, but no taxonomic studies have been made. 
A number of species inhabit the inshore pools whose 
waters are periodically renewed by waves or tides; others 
may be found on the floor of the lagoon, and still others 
on the protected sides of rocks which stand in the heavy 


428 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


surf. The colors most frequently observed are shades of 
tan, olive and purple; some forms have tentacles which 
are beautifully pigmented. The size varied from species 
so minute as to almost escape detection up to fine showy 
forms 1-2 in. in diameter. They form considerable colo- 
nies, sometimes covering areas of several square feet. 
Isolated individuals, particularly of the larger species, 
are not rare. Usually their rosette of tentacles and bril- 
liant color renders them quite conspicuous, but many 
kinds are embedded more or less completely in the sub- 
stratum, and upon the slightest alarm contract into shape- 
less lumps, and are thus easily overlooked. 


p 


of repeated subsidence and elevation, The crater on the right is Diamond Head 
(Leahi) ; the channel to the left is Kalihi Channel. Honolulu Harbor is the 
middle channel. 


The Ctenophore have about 20 known species in 
Hawaiian waters, but these are so rare and fragile that 
they are practically unknown to the reef-collector. They 
are all pelagic, delicate, transparent creatures, with long 
tentacles and peculiar comb-like locomotor organs. As 
they swim gently through the sunlit waters their trans- 
parent bodies and tentacles yield beautiful iridescent re- 
flections. Hormiphora, Cestus, and Beroé are well- 
known genera. All the members of this highly specialized 
group are solitary and do not form skeletons. 


F 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 429 


The fauna which inhabits the innumerable small cavi- 
ties in the coral, and which drills countless tunnels 
through the soft rock, is of much interest. This fauna 
comprises chiefly the worm-like animals or sea-worms. 
Important groups are Turbellaria, Nemertinea, and An- 
nelids. Some species creep about in the interstices; 
others construct covered passageways on the surface of 
the coral. Others burrow in the sand and mud on the 
floor of the lagoon. Some tunnel deviously through the 
coral rock itself. Many of the sea-worms are brightly 
colored. Little is known concerning the relationships or 
life-histories of the Hawaiian forms. Nereis, Serpula, 
Terebella, Tubifex, Sipunculus, and Echiurus are charac- 
teristic annelid genera. 

The true corallines (Polyzoa) or sea-mats bear a close 
resemblance to the hydroid zoophytes, and only upon 
microscopic inspection show that their organization is 
much higher than that of the hydroids. The skeleton is 
not exclusivély calcareous; in many forms it is chitinous 
or even gelatinous. These corallines are abundant on 
the Hawaiian reefs. 

The true starfishes, Asterioidea, are comparatively rare 
on the reefs themselves, although fairly common in the 
offshore waters. The brittle-stars, Ophiuridea, are the 
common reef forms, and lurk in every cranny. The Alba- 
tross expedition collected 60 Hawaiian species of true 
starfish during its dredging operations in the island chan- 
nels; they were taken at depths of 60-6,000 ft. These 
rapranta 46 genera and 20 families; 52 species were 
new to science. According to Bryan, _ 

Large specimens of an eight-rayed starfish, Luidia hystrix, are occa- 
sionally captured at Pearl Harbor. They are often a foot and a half 
in diameter. A similar but very small species is to be found abundantly 
in the coarse green sponges in Kalihi Bay and at Pearl Harbor. A 
small, stiff, irregularly developed, pink, leather-like species, Linckia sp. 

. without spines, is occasionally found crowded into small holes in the 
coral reef. 

The common brittle-star, Phiema sp., is blue-black in 
color, with small body and long snaky arms. It is gre- 


430 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


garious in habit, and the collector frequently finds a dozen 
or more congregated beneath a half-buried stone or coral 
mass. A tiny pink species, Ophiothrix sp., with remark- 
ably long arms, inhabits crevices in the coral. It is very 
difficult to capture intact, because it, like most of the 
Ophiuroids, possesses to a remarkable degree the faculty 
of self-mutilation. Many of the Hawaiian brittle-stars, 
when disturbed or removed from the water, sever por- 
tions of their arms piece by piece until finally nothing is 
left but the central dise. This is capable of developing a 
new set of arms; and a detached arm can, under favorable 
conditions, develop a new dise and a completed. series of 
arms. The basket-stars, Cladiophiure, have never been 
collected on the Hawaiian reefs. 

The sea-urchins, Echinoidea, are richly represented, but 
most of the species inhabit the deep offshore waters. 
The inshore species are gregarious and common in all 
rocky situations along the coasts, as well as on the reefs 
themselves. Podophora pedifera, for example, prefers 
the black lava rocks and cliffs exposed to the full force of 
the surf, and is so abundant that the zone of massive 
basalt which it inhabits is literally honeyeombed with its 
burrows. Several species of Echinometra are also very 
abundant; these prefer the shallow waters of the lagoons. 
In the deep holes and caverns along the outer edge of the 
reef is a large purple-black species, Diadema paucispinum, 
with slender, awl-shaped spines. In the same situations 
occurs Echinothrix desori, a large form whose long spine§ 
are beautifully banded with gray and black. The curious 
club-spined urchins, Heterocentrotes spp., occur here and 
there along the reef, and are frequently exhibited in the 
Honolulu Aquarium. The sea-biscuit, Brissus carinatus, 
is a large, heart-shaped urchin, covered with short, brown 
hair-like spines, and is occasionally found along the reef 
rim. A number of the Hawaiian urchins are known to the 
natives as wana, or ““sea-eggs,”” and are habitually used — 
by them for food. They may be purchased in the local 
fish markets. 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 431 


Numerous species of holothurians (known as sea-cu- 
cumbers, sea-squirts, and béche-de-mer) are common in 
the shallow waters. There are over 40 described species, 
representing 4 families and 21 genera. A large, worm- 
like form, Opheodesoma spectabilis, is common at Pearl 
Harbor and Kaneohe Bay, in quiet water. It is about 
2 ft. long and 13 inch diameter, reddish brown mottled 
with brown. A large, dark greenish-brown species, 
Stichopus tropicalis, is plentiful in the large pools of the 
outer reef, near Honolulu. Inhabiting the tidal pools in 
the lava rocks is another large form, Holothuria atra; 
dark brown, and with ambulacral feet scattered all over 
its body. Frequently associated with it is a heliotrope- 
purple species, Holothuria cinerascens. There are about 
600 known species of holothurians, varying in size from 
3 inch to 2 or 3 feet. They are found in all seas, but are 
particularly abundant in the West Indies, and between 
Asia and Australia. They feed chiefly on Foraminifera. 
The movements of all the Hawaiian species are very slug- 
gish; they seem to have few enemies. All are harmless, 
although of unpleasant aspect. They are capable of the 
most extraordinary regeneration of parts, even of the 
most important organs. Many species show the curious 
habit of evisceration—when alarmed they dispel from 
the anal opening the viscera either wholly or in part. 
In the course of a few weeks all of the lost organs are 
replaced by a new set. | | 

The Crinoids or sea-lilies do not exist in the shallow 
waters of the Hawaiian reefs. A dozen forms were col- 
lected by the Albatross at depths of about 600 ft. These 
all proved to be new species, although representing 8 
wide-ranging genera in 4 families of the non-stalked Neo- 
Crinoidea. Crinoidal fossils have not been found in the 
uplifted coral limestone beds of the Hawaiian Archi- 
pelago. These forms made important contributions to 
the Silurian and Devonian rock strata in other parts of 
the world, during which epochs the crinoids were enor- _ 
mously abundant. 


432 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LII 


Molluses abound on all the reefs. There is a tremen- 
dous range of size, structure, habitat and generic repre- 
sentation. The marine molluscan fauna has never re- 
ceived adequate attention, as scientific interest has cen- 
tered upon the unique terrestrial and arboreal forms. 
There are about 20 species of bivalves (Pelecypoda) that 
are fairly common. These include such genera as Mytilus, 
Perna, Arca, Ostrea, Anomia, Pecten, Tellina, Cadokia, 
Cytherea, Venus, Cardium and Chama. Tellina sugosa, 
the Olepe, is, according to Bryan, ‘‘the most important 
shell-bearing mollusc”* in the islands. The famous pearl 
shell, Avicula margaritifera, of the South Pacific, does not 
occur in Hawaiian waters. The Hawaiian pearl oyster, 
pa, Margaritifera fimbriata, has a shell often 3 or 4 inches 
broad, with a brilliant iridescent interior. It is the 
species which gave Pearl Harbor its name. In the early 
days the collecting of pa was a royal monopoly, like the 
collecting of sandalwood. The pearl-shell was used by 
the Hawaiians chiefly for making fish-hooks, and for the 
curious shell-eyes of their wooden gods. A true pearl- 
bearing species also occurs at Pearl Harbor and other 
localities in the group in the deeper offshore waters. The 
_ edible oysters are represented by Ostrea rosea, which is 

not of sufficient abundance to permit commercial exploita- 
tion. 

The chitons and their allies, Amphineura, are uncom- 
mon in the shallows, but a thorough systematic survey 
would undoubtedly bring to light many additional forms. 
The true chitons, Placophora, are confined largely to the 
shallows, and apparently are herbivorous, feeding on 
minute alge and diatoms. The Aplacophora as worm- 
like, shell-less creatures, with the body beset with cal- 
careous spicules. They are wholly absent from the lit- 
toral zone, occurring only at considerable depths—3,000 
ft. and in some instances down to 7,500 ft. They are car- 
nivorous and subsist on such small animals as hydroids 
and coral polyps. 

- The univalves or Gasteropods are by far the most 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 433 


abundant molluscs on the Hawaiian reefs and aggregate 
several hundred species. Space forbids any detailed 
treatment of this huge and highly diversified class. A` 
bare enumeration of important and common families and 
genera, adapted from Bryan, will indicate the richness of 
the marine univalve fauna (the number of species is in 
each instance an approximation) : 


Family Species Typical Genera 
Tiitoge; Thitonide (iio 2415; 12 Triton, Ranella. 
Spiny Rock Shells; Muricide .. 30 Purpura, ees Vexilla, Sistrum. 
Spindle Shells; Fuside ........ 6 Fusus, Latirus, Peristernia. 
olks; Bueeinidm. ici. 6 Pisania, pc US. 
Dog Whelks; Nasside ........ 4 Pb 
Mitre Shells; Mitride ........ 26 Mitra, Imbricaria, Turricula. 
Margin Shells; Marginellide ... 4 Erato, Mar ch inella. 
Olive Shells; Olivide ......... 4 Harpa, 
Dove Shells; Columbellidee .... 15 Columbella, Puen 
Cone Shells; Conide .......... 25 Conus. 
r ‘Shells; Terebride ...... 25 Terebra 
Conch Shells; Strombidæ ...... 9 trombus 
owry Shells; Cypreide ...... 40 Cyprea, Trivia 
Tun Shells; Doliide .......... 3- p 
Cameo Shells; Cassisæ ........ 5 sis 
Moon Shells; Naticide ....... 10 Natica. 
asim ge Calypreide .... 12 Crepidula, Crucibulum, Hipponyz. 
Eulim PATI oe se vas 1 i 


ri lima. 
Prs Shells; aie saa 3 Pyramidella. 
6 Solarium. 


Violet Snails; Aripa Uneen: 3 Ianthina. 

Ladder Aor; Sealariide ..... 10  Scalaria. 

Herald’s-horn Shells; Cerithiide 20 Cerithiwm 

Periminides: : isola VERS 3 Littorina; cepto Risella, 
Sea-Snails; Neritide .......... 10 Nerita, Ner 

Turban Shells; Turbinidæ ..... 18 Turbo, Prasianeila, Astralium. 
ajad penne Trechide. cc. Trochus 


12 
; Fissurellide and Patel- H Jilowa 
PEE A E ule ok Wakes 10 


Sea Ea, Nudibranchiata .... 10 Aplysia. 


The highest and most highly specialized class of mol- 
luses, the Cephalopods, have an abundant and familiar 
representative on our reefs, in the form of the common 
octopus or he’e. This is popularly called ‘‘squid’’ 
although it is a true cuttlefish, with a small round sac-like 
body and eight arms. It is very common in holes and 


434 . THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


pools on the rocky platform of the reef, and in caverns 
along the reef-rim. During the day it hides in cavities; 
at night it creeps about over the rocks of the bottom. 
The natives are very fond of the flesh, which they prepare 
for food in a variety of forms. Dried ‘‘squid’’ is com- 
mon in the fish-markets. Our cuttlefish is rarely more 
than 18-26 inches in length. The true ‘‘devil-fish’’ of 
many a sea-tale is a giant squid, Architeuthis, which in- 
habits the Newfoundland banks and often attains the gi- 
gantic proportions of an over-all length of 50 ft., with a 
body 6 by 9 ft., and enormous arms 40 ft. long. 


N 


A 


“se - paT a — 


ER em AT ER o pa ee e 
Fig. 8. Coral Reefs near Pearl Harbor, Oahu. The inlet to Pearl Harbor 
is shown to the right. To the left is the southwest point (Barber’s Point) of 


the island. The lowland is a plain of coral limestone; the reef is rich in bio- 
logical material. 


Our reefs support a characteristic crustacean fauna. 
In the growing coral at the reef-edge are found a number 
of small Cyclometopous crabs, which are often beauti- 
fully sculptured and colored to harmonize with the coral. 
The Alpheide, which are shrimp-like Macrura with highly 
asymmetrical claws, are commonly found in pools on the 
reef. In the coral rubble formed by the disintegration 
of the reef-rim, in relatively shallow water, numerous 
Leucosiid crabs are found. Many lowly forms of Ento- 
mostraca are abundant, but have never been surveyed 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 435 


taxonomically. The Phyllopods, Ostracods and Cope- 
pods are all plentiful. The Cirripedia include the most 
aberrant of the crustaceans, and are represented by the 
common barnacles, including both the stalked (Lepadid:e) 
or goose barnacles, and the sessile (Balanide) or acorn- 


. 9. Kane-ohe Bay, Oahu. This bay, which is a drowned valley com- 
plex, ee a great variety of coral formations. There are many small coral isles 
and atolls; some are of notable perfection. The exact boundaries of the outer 

reefs are not known. The crater and little isles to the lower right are secondary 
volcanic products. 


shells. The latter are exceedingly abundant along the 
shores and reefs; there are also numerous deep-water bar- 
nacles. 


436 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


The most commonly known, the largest and the most 
highly organized crustaceans, the Malacostraca, are very 
common. Space does not permit even a general sketch 
of the many crabs, prawns, crayfish and other interesting 
forms that teem in the Hawaiian littoral. The so-called 
Hawaiian ‘‘lobster,’’ ula, Panulirus japonicus, is really a 
large marine crayfish, and not closely related to the true 
lobster. It is brilliantly colored and ornamented, with 
spiny carapace and long antenne. The ula is common in 
the fish markets, as are also species of Scyllarides, Ocy- 
poda, and many crabs. Hermit crabs (Onomura) are 
common and in great variety. They make their homes in 
empty sea-shells, and have many interesting habits.° 

The last great division of the reef fauna comprises the 
fishes, a group that could easily occupy the space of an 
extended monograph. There are several hundred reef 
species, occupying a wide range of habitats, and varying 
in size from minute species up to huge food-fish weighing 
a hundred pounds each. Like the fish of many tropical 
waters, the Hawaiian species are famous for their bril- 
liant coloration, fantastic patterns, and strange shapes. 
Many are grotesque; many are exceedingly beautiful; 
many are consummate embodiment of that riot of gor- 
geous color that is so characteristic of the reef and its 
life. The reef fishes, like the other littoral forms of life, 
were an important item in the dietary of the primitive 
Hawaiians, and continue so to the present day. Most of 
the common species are offered for sale in the fish-markets. 
Space is not available for any detailed account of the in- 


6 The following list of common littoral and reef species and genera of 
malacostraceans will indicate the richness of this portion of Hawaii’s re- 
markable r fau B 


eef na: L —Ocypode ceratophthalma, O. levis, 
grapsus, Metopgrapsus messor, Paci p plicatus, Cyclograp- 
sus, Perenon, Carpilius, Pl podia, Lophozozymus, X A odius, 


ci ez, 
Parribacus, Devito Stenopus, Peneus, Hippolysmata, Spirontocaris, 


Nos. 620-621] THE HAWAIIAN CORAL REEFS 437 


shore” fishes, as contrasted with the pelagic and abyssal 
species. 


7 Some of the more important groups and species may be listed as follows: 


Blarke 9s. Os Carcharias melanopterus; C. nesiotes; Sphyrna zy- 
gena; seis glanon: 
Pek ccd ORs pees Stoasodon nari 
'Tarpons-........... Elops saurus 
öhöhos *. si... Albula vulpes 
PERSEA curiae sre > hanos 
ANCHOVIES .:-.. r-r: Anchovia purpu 
tral a Trachinocephalus myops; Synodus varius; Saurida 
racilis, 
Conger Eels ........ Leptocephalus marginatus, 
DOTA VSG bee es Murena, Enchelynas EE Eurymyctera, 
Echidna, Propia die: Scuticaria. 
Trumpetfishes ....... Aulostomus valentini. 
Cornetfishes ........Fistularia petim 
Needlefishes. .......- Athlennes hians. 
TniP-DERRA Ls Hemiramphus depauperatus; Euleptorhamphus longi- 
rostris. 
Flyingfishes ........ Parexocetus brachypterus; Cypsilurus simus; C. ba- 
haiensis. 
Be eal E Atherina insularum. 
Mulets ee a ee Mugil p 
oe ga Tee ge Sphyrena helleri 
Thresanns Glas. aos Polydactylus sexfilis. 
hunen E olotrachys lima; Myripristis Bp, ; Flammeo sam- 
; mara; F. scythrops; Holocentrus spp. 
Big-eyed pg Pe Trachurops PAS Carangus. 
Threadfishes ....... — ci ng 
idad oes oa, Amia. 
POUPOPE Opa ccs Bpinepaue detain 
Cathlafas >.. ipoe Priacan 
Snappers a.s: prani pai Bowersia, Aprion, Etelis. 
DOLOR es Monotaxis grandiculis. 
Rudderfishes ....... Kyph 
Surnmullets .. 0. Mulloides. 
bos a Pseudupeneus ; Upeneus 
Demoiselles ........ Dascyllus; Chromis; Po Caiena, Abudefduf. 
Weert ots PA Lepidaplois; Stethojulis; PENES Gomphosus ; 
Anampses assomaā ; oris; Cheilio; 
Cheitinns's Novaculichthys; Titis, Hemiptero- 
notus; icht 
is one Calotomus ; Cally 
Butterflyfishes ...... Forcipiger ; Chaton: Holocanthus. 
Moorish Idols ...... Zanclus canescens. 
Surgeonfish 


E Hepatus, Zebrasoma, Ctenochetus, Acanthurus, Calli- 
canthus. 


438 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


The gorgeous colors of many of our reef fishes are very 
evanescent, and undergo rapid deterioration when the 
fish is taken from the water. Hence the coloration of 
those offered for sale in the markets often conveys but 
little idea of their living hues. Preserved specimens and 
printed descriptions are of even less value. 

In concluding this condensed sketch of the Hawaiian 
reefs, the writer desires to emphasize his impression of 
the struggle for life which goes on there unceasingly, 
The reef is a region of intense competition. It is com- 
parable in many of its ecologic relations to the montane 
rain-forest. The excessive illumination of the reef is 
perhaps as constraining an influence as is the excessive 
humidity of the rain-forest. The diversity of organisms 
which inhabit the reef is far greater than that of any other 
island habitat. The competition for food is keen and 
unremittent. 

The reef as a food supply for human beings has been 
a dominant factor in the lives of the primitive Poly- 
nesians. Through the experiences of thousands of years 
they have acquired a very intimate knowledge of the reef 
and its life, but this has never been given adequate scien- 
tific investigation. One of the great forward steps in the 
economic history of the world will be the scientific utiliza- 
tion of coral reefs and their products. 


Triggerfishes ....... Balistes, pinar ai 
Pafos ici ows Tetraodon, Can 
Trunkfshes os. e Ostracion, 


fis) nia 
Cirrhitoid fishes kesic irikita, 
Mail-cheeked tia . Caracanthus. 
Scorpenids 


OTPIENTOS ias... Sebastapistes, Sebastopsis, Scorpenopsis. 
Gobies AA ie cee otris sandwicensis, Asterropteryx semipunctatus, 
keut epiphanus iomorphus eugenius, Mapo 

US Gobiichthys, Gnatholepis knighti. 


cus, 
ee Enneapterygius atriceps, Al ticus, Enchelyurus, Sala- 
rias. 


CONTINUOUS AND DISCONTINUOUS VARIA- 
TIONS AND THEIR INHERITANCE IN 
PEROMYSCUS. III 


DR. F. B. SUMNER 


Scripps Institution, La JOLLA, CALIF. 


VII. Mutations 


In a recent paper (1917a) I have described two widely 
aberrant color types which have appeared in my cultures, 
together with certain minor deviations, which likewise 
seem to behave as discontinuous variations. I am pre- 
pared to add considerably to the data thus far published. 


1. “Partial albinos’’ 


The term albino, as applied to these mice, admittedly 
does not conform to current usage, and this has become 
especially evident with the appearance of the mature pel- 
age. I do not think, however, that any of the various 
names given to fancy races of Mus musculus apply to 
these animals. Having at hand no specimens or even 
satisfactory colored plates of fancy mice, I am unable to 
make the comparisons.? As previously stated, this mu- 
tant strain has red eyes, and lacks pigment wholly on the 
ears and tail. The fur, on the colored region of the body, 
is a very pale gray, rather strongly tinged with a shade 
of yellow approaching Ridgway’s ‘‘ochraceous buff,’’ or 
perhaps ‘‘ochraceous orange,’’ on the most highly col- 
ored areas. As a convenient non-committal expression, 
I shall henceforth employ the term ‘‘pallid’’ for these 
mice.” 

A microscopic examination of the hairs of these mice 
reveals some interesting departures from the normal con- 
dition:?S (1) a considerable proportion of the hairs are 
practically devoid of pigment in the zone which is ordi- 
narily yellow, while the rest are normal in this respect; 

27 It may be that the factional modifications of my mice are the same as 
those of Castle’s ‘‘red-eyed yellow’’ rats (see Castle and Wright, 1915). 

28 Cf. Morgan’s account (1911) .of the hair of some ‘‘modified’’ indi- 
viduals of Peromyscus leucopus ammodytes. 


439 


440 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIL 


(2) the surface pigment of the terminal portion of the 
hairs is nearly or quite lacking; (3) in the basal zone, the 
black pigment bodies are represented by small flocculent 
dark masses. Thus, we are not, as in the next ‘‘mutant”’ 
to be described, merely dealing with changed proportions 
of perfectly normal types of hair. These red-eyed mice 
possess types which I have not found in any of the rest 
of my stock. 

At the time of my earlier description of these pale 
sports, no young had been obtained, but their pedigree 
suggested that they were simple Mendelian recessives. 
This conjecture has thus far been sustained. The two 
‘‘mutants,’’ bred to one another, have given six pale 
young, like themselves, and no others. When bred to 
dark mates, of the same stock as themselves (sonoriensis- 
rubidus hybrids), the pallid animals gave only dark 
young, except in a single instance where the dark parent 
was known to be heterozygous. In this case, one pallid 
mouse was the outcome. Of the dark progeny, three 
broods, aggregating eleven individuals, have thus far 
been born. 

This clear-cut and typical example of Mendelian seg- 
regation, in respect to these mutant characters, is in 
striking contrast to the complete lack of segregation— 
so far as is obvious—in respect to the subspecific charac- 
ters which have entered into the germinal constitution of 
these same individuals. 

As I have previously stated, these parent ‘‘mutants’”’ 
were the offspring of F, sonoriensis-rubidus hybrids. In 
a recent article (1917) the Hagedoorns have described a 
number of strongly aberrant types of rats (including 
some waltzers!) which appeared in a mongrel strain re- 
sulting from the crossing of Mus alexandrinus, M. tecto- 
rum and M. rattus. The authors recognize in these aber- 
rant derivations some entirely new products, though they 
do not attribute their origin to real mutation. In the 
opinion of the Hagedoorns, as I understand it, these ap- 
parently ‘‘mutant’’ characters have resulted, in each 
ease, from the chance coming together of two recessive 
factors (or two ‘‘absences,’’ according to the prevailing 


Nos. 620-621] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 441 


theory). No two of these ‘‘absences’’ coexisted in the 
gametes of any one of the parent species, and no single 

‘‘absence”’ by itself is believed to be adequate to produce 
one of the abnormalities. Since the average number of 
each kind of ““mutant”” in their stock of 37 was approxi- 
mately 1 in 16, they assert: 

These numbers make it clear that we are not dealing with a sort of 
period of mutation; it was easy to see that the new types were already 
given in the A of the three species erossed (p. 415). 

And in later passages the de generalize this con- 
jecture, as for example: 

The only cause for inheritable variability in multicellular organisms 
which can be of any account in evolution is mating between individuals 
of unequal genotype, crossing in the widest sense (Amphimixis) (p. 
418). 


That the Hagedoorns’s explanation does not fit the case 
of my pallid Peromyscus is evident from the history of 
the stock. I have obtained, in all, 47 F, offspring from 
the mating of F, sonoriensis-rubidus hybrids, counting 
only those animals which lived long enough to reveal their 
essential color characters. These were the progeny- of 
six different fathers and eleven different mothers. Just 
four of these very pale sports have appeared in my F, 
stock. They are the offspring of a single father by two 
mothers, both his own sisters. These mothers, by the 
same futher: also produced seven dark young. 

It seems plain, therefore, that the mutation in question 
is not due to any recombination of factors (or their ‘‘ab- 
sences’’) regularly occurring in the parent races. If it 
were, we should reasonably have expected similar aberra- 
tions among the offspring of other parents. It is hard to 
determine from their published statement the exact pedi- 
gree of the Hagedoorn’s aberrant rats. But one thing 
seems plain. All were the progeny of a single father by 
two mothers, the latter apparently being sisters. The au- 
thors are certainly not warranted, therefore, in assuming 
that such results would have been obtained by mating any 
animals of the same racial composition. 

I am inclined to think that my pale red-eyed mice are 
true mutants, i. e., that they appeared de novo in my cul- 


442 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LII 


tures. It is more than possible, likewise, that the hybridi- 
zation of such diverse strains was the disturbing element 
that led to the loss or modification of a ‘‘gene.’’? The 
latter possibility is strengthened by a consideration of 
the Hagedoorns’s waltzing rats and abnormalities of coat 
color. But this is a very different view from the hypothe- 
sis that ‘‘the new types were already given in the geno- 
type of the . . . species crossed.”” 


2. Yellow gambeli 

The five normally colored progeny of a single pair of 
normally colored Peromyscus maniculatus gambeli (La 
Jolla race) became the parents of 21 offspring, of which 
14 were normally colored and 7 were of a peculiar yel- 
lowish-brown color. These ‘‘mutants,’? which I have 
called ‘‘yellows,’’ are of a shade not very far removed 
from Ridgway’s ‘‘clay color.” They are considerably 
darker than some, at least, of the yellow races of Mus 
musculus. Microscopic examination of the hair of these 
aberrant gambeli shows that it is closely similar to that 
found upon the more highly colored parts of P. m. sono- 
riensis. In comparison with normal specimens of its sub- 
species the mutant strain is found to have a larger num- 
ber of the yellow-banded hairs, in proportion to those 
which are black throughout their entire length. The 
latter type of hair is, however, by no means wanting. In 
the second place, the yellow zone of each hair, on the col- 
ored parts of the body, occupies, on the average, a con- 
siderably larger proportion of its length. On the mid- 
ventral surface, the basal, plumbeous zone is quite lacking, 
the hairs being entirely white. Besides the differences 
stated, I can not be certain of any hair characters which 
distinguish this type of sports from the normal stock. 
Moreover, the eyes, ears, tail, ete., carry a normal amount 
of black pigment. 

It is to be noted that these ““yellow”” mice, unlike the 
““partial albinos,”” are not distinguished by any types of 
hair which are lacking in normal individuals. We may, 
however, very justly regard the yellow condition as having 
arisen through ‘discontinuous variation.” Though due 


Nos. 620-621] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 443 


merely to a change in the proportion of elements pre- 
viously present, the new type has arisen abruptly and has 
diverged so widely that its range of variation does not 
overlap that of the normal race. Among the many hun- 
dreds of individuals which I have dealt with, I have never 
found any mice which would serve in a true sense to 
bridge the gap between these two types. Nor have any 
other yellows appeared in my cultures, except among the 
descendants of the single pair in question. 

As stated in an earlier paper (1917a), I trapped several 
years ago a mouse which I feel fairly certain was a juve- 
nile yellow gambeli. It is possible that this character, in 
a heterozygous condition, may be of not uncommon occur- 
rence among the mice of this vicinity. Thus, the muta- 
tion through which my stock came into existence may 
have taken place among the wild ancestors, many gen- 
erations earlier. On the other hand, the same genetic 
instability which led to such a factorial loss or modifica- 
tion in one case may be responsible for its occurrence on 
many independent occasions. I have no data by which 
to decide between these two alternatives. 

As regards the genetic behavior of these yellow mice, I 
have fairly satisfactory evidence that they are simple 
Mendelian recessives. As was stated above, 7 yellows 
and 14 normal animals constituted the fraternities in 
which they first appeared. The departure from Men- 
delian expectation may well have been accidental here, 
though a differential mortality may possibly have been 
responsible. The first yellows, bred to their (presumably 
heterozygous) parents, have given 5 dark and 5 yellow 
offspring. Bred to homozygous dark animals, they have 
thus far produced only a single brood, consisting of three 
dark individuals. Yellows bred to yellows have produced 
young of the aberrant type only (thus far 10). These fre- 
quently do not attain the full yellow color until they as- 

29Mr. H. H. Collins has, however, found a number of sports of this 
gene pearance among the offspring of a single pair of normally 
colored individuals which were trapped at La Jolla. Mr. Collins’ mice 
differ somewhat in shade, however, from my ‘‘yellows,’’ and may represent 

et ‘‘mutation.’’ His experiments have not been carried far enough 
to test the genetic behavior of this character. 


444 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


sume the mature pelage, but I no longer have reason to 
doubt that the yellow type ‘‘breeds true.’ 

A yellow female gambeli mated to a ““pallid”” male of 
the strain discussed above, has given birth to a single 
offspring, having abundant dark pigment in the skin, 
eyes and hair. In other words, these two pale, recessive 
mutants seem to be ““complementary”” to one another, as 
were Castle’s two yellow races of rats (Castle and 
Wright, 1915). 


3. Discontinuous Variation in Restricted Pigment Areas. 


I have discussed briefly elsewhere several sorts of color 
markings, along with limited data which seemed to show 
that some of ‘these were inherited in alternative fashion. 
Other characters of the same type have been added to the 
list. For example, in the second cage-born generation of 
gambeli I have found three mice with faces strongly 
““grizzled”” by the presence of white hairs. It is prob- 
ably no mere coincidence that these three grizzled speci- 
mens, while not belonging to a single fraternity, are all 
descended from the same grandparents. Neither the 
parents nor the grandparents were recorded as having 
the peculiarity in question, which would hardly have been 
overlooked if present. Furthermore, the single off- 
spring which I have obtained from a ““grizzled”” pair ex- 
hibits this character plainly, though in a reduced degree. 
One specimen showing the white-faced condition likewise 
appeared in the C, generation of sonoriensis. 

Again, occasional mice of perhaps all of the races are 
characterized by having considerable pigment in the skin 
of the tail. Normally, the skin of this member is nearly 
or quite devoid of pigment, the dorsal tail-stripe being 
due to black hairs. Examination of two successive gen- 
erations of rubidus makes it probable that this caudal skin 
pigmentation is likewise a hereditary character. __ 

I shall here discuss only one of the localized pigment 
variations which were dealt with in my earlier report on 
color ‘‘mutations.’’ This is the occurrence of a white- 
_ tipped snout, due partly to the absence of skin pigment 
and partly to the presence in this region of white hairs. 


Nos. 620-621] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 445 


I am now able to indicate rather more definitely the mode 
of transmission of this character. I wish to lay some 
stress here upon its genetic behavior, since I regard it as 
an interesting case in its bearings upon certain theoretical 
questions. 

The pale-nosed condition has been studied only in the 
darkest of my races, rubidus. It was not noticed in the 
_ Original wild stock, but it may well have been overlooked, 
as it is not a conspicuous character, and I was not search- 
ing for this type of variations when the wild generation 
was examined. In the first cage-born (‘‘C,’’) generation 
twelve mice were recorded as having white-tipped snouts, 
four of the cases being entered as doubtful. At the time 
of examining these animals I had no idea as to the par- 
entage of the individuals, so that there was no bias in my 
selection. Upon looking up their pedigrees, I found that 
ten of the twelve cases (eight certain and two doubtful) 
were the offspring (indeed, the only offspring) of two 
mothers of the wild generation (P $ 40 and 41) by a single 
father (P ¿ 15). The other two cases (both doubtful) 
were of other parentage. In connection with the figures 
just given, it must be stated that the C, generation con- 
sisted altogether of 60 (surviving) individuals, these 
being the progeny of twelve females and nine males. 

Only 38 mice were obtained in the C, generation, 6 of 
which had white-tipped snouts. As before, the count was 
made without my being aware of the parentage of the 
individuals examined. Of the six ‘‘mutants,’’ it turned 
out that four belonged to a fraternity of five, the fifth 
member of which was normal. This fraternity was the 
offspring of C, 2 61 (normal) by C, ¢ 10 (white-nosed). 
The other two mutants were the offspring of this same 
C, 2 61, by one of her brothers (¢ 3), the latter being like- 
wise normally pigmented. These parent animals we may 
believe to have been heterozygous. 

- Unfortunately, none of the matings of the pale-nosed C, 
individuals inter se proved fertile, and indeed the only 
one of these aberrant mice which left descendants was 
the J 10 referred to above. 

The relationships here indicated, and the incidence of 


446 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


the aberrant condition, are quite intelligible on the as- 
sumption that we have to do with a monohybrid recessive 
character. The character can not be dominant, for we 
had a case of white-nosed young from two dark-nosed 
parents. It can not well be due to more than one factor, 
owing to the relatively large number of recessive indi- 
viduals, 

VIII. Discusston 

Any one approaching the data dealt with in the fore- 
going pages, unhampered by theoretical considerations, 
would, I think, conclude that we had to do with two types 
of variation and two types of inheritance, differing from 
one another in rather fundamental ways. In the one 
class we have the continuously graduated differences, oc- 
curring within the limits of one of our ‘‘subspecies,’’ as 
well as the differences in average or modal condition 
which distinguish the various subspecies from one an- 
other. Here we find a sensible continuity, both within 
and between these rather artificial assemblages of indi- 
viduals, and distinct taxonomic units can be recognized 
only if we erect more or less arbitrary boundaries. In 
heredity, likewise, we have no indication of a dominance 
of one step or grade in this series over another, and little 
to suggest that two of these grades, once united or blended 
in the offspring, tend to reassert their independence in 
subsequent generations. 

In the other class we have the ‘‘sports’’ or ‘‘muta- 
tions.” These are distinctly discontinuous, in relation to 
the parent stock, either in the sense that one of the two 
possesses elements which are altogether lacking in the 
other, or at least in the sense that the new form has under- 
gone such a change in the proportions of existing elements 
that its range of variation does not overlap that of the 
normal race. Looked at in another light, it is of interest 
to note that all the mutations which I have discussed, with 
a single exception, are dependent upon the loss of some- 
thing. The red-eyed ‘‘pallid’’ mice have lost most of 
their black and some of their yellow pigment, the ‘‘yel- 
lows” have lost much of their black. The white-tipped 
tails are due to a loss of part of the dorsal tail-stripe, the 


Nos. 620-621] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 447 


““grizzled”” heads likewise to the local loss of hair pig- 
ment, while the white snouts have resulted from a loss of 
pigment both in the skin and hair of the latter region. 
The single exception among the ‘‘mutations’’ which I 
have observed in Peromyscus is the occasional presence 
of skin pigment in the tail. Here something has been 
definitely added to the usual condition.* 

In heredity, too, these mutant characters, whether nega- 
tive or positive, behave in distinctly discontinuous fash- 
ion. They do not blend, but are either present or absent 
in their entirety. 

Taken at face value, I say, the evidence shows that we 
have to do here with two different types of variation and 
two different types of heredity. Now admittedly, the 
naive view of such a situation is not necessarily the cor- 
rect one, else we should be forced to return to the geocen- 
tric theory of the solar system. But even in this last in- 
stance, the burden of proof most assuredly rested on the 
man who first asserted that the sun did not move around 
the earth. And to-day the same burden rests upon those 
who claim—possibly with truth—that heritable variations 
are all discontinuous and that blended inheritance is an 
illusion. 

In the few remaining pages of this paper, it is obviously 
impossible to discuss the various lines of evidence which 
have been advanced in favor of the Mendelian-mutation- 
pure-line scheme of things. I think that few would be 
enthusiastic enough to assert that the case had yet been 
really proved on evidential grounds. The considerations 
which are chiefly effective in determining one’s adherence 
to this system of beliefs are doubtless of a more general 
nature. Thus it is argued that Mendelian inheritance has 
been shown to hold rigidly throughout a vast range of 
material, and that, therefore, the ‘‘unit-factor’’ concep- 
tion is probably of universal application. Or, it is con- 
tended that the scheme of things here considered is more 

30 Even in this case, it is possible that we have to do merely with a 
““reversion,”” or return to an ancestral condition. Some other Muride (e. g., 
Mus musculus) normally have abundant pigment throughout the skin of 
their tails. 


448 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LII 


in harmony with the atomistic principles of physics and 
chemistry. ‘‘Unit-factors’’ have even been identified 
with molecules. 

In respect to the pigmental characters of our geo- 
graphic races, it has been shown to be probable that in- 
sensible gradations occur throughout considerable ranges 
of territory. There results a series in which marked 
contrasts can be found only by comparing individuals 
from widely separated localities. The hypothesis that 
. the variations in this case are of the Mendelian type 
involves the assumption that the subspecific differences 
have arisen by a whole succession of small mutations in 
the same direction, the number of these mutations being 
a function of the distance from some hypothetical center 
of dispersal. In a recent paper (1917) Morgan has con- 
sidered the question whether there are ““any connections 
between the gradations of character in allelomorphic . 
series and the order in which the characters appear,’’ 
i. e., Whether ‘‘the assumed fluctuation of factors is a 
sequential process.” He concludes that, ‘‘as a matter 
of fact, there is no such relation known . . « for the ac- 
tual evidence from multiple allelomorphs shows that 
genes may mutate in all directions and also that extreme 
mutations such as white eyes arise suddenly from red 
and not by graded steps”” (p. 524). These assertions, 
which, it is true, were primarily concerned with the 
effects of selection, lend little support to the view that 
graded geographic variations have arisen through mu- 
tation. 

The attempt to explain away the substantial mass of 
evidence for permanent gametic blending and the indefi- 
nite efficacy of selection by invoking the theory of ‘‘mul- 
tiple factors” is too well known to be reviewed here. 
Castle has been the most able and vigorous opponent of 
this theory. At present I will merely refer to certain 
evidence of my own which, I think, supports such an ex- 
planation no better than Castle's. 

The dorsal tail-stripe is entirely lacking in a certain 
strain of my mutants. This stripeless condition is reces- 
Sive to the striped one. In crosses with normal mice, the 


Nos. 620-621] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 449 


stripe appears in its full size and intensity.* Neverthe- 
less, the stripe itself was shown in the preceding pages 
to vary from race to race and from one individual to 
another. And these variations, both racial and individ- 
ual, were found to be hereditary. 

The case, of course, is parallel to that of Castle’s 
hooded rats. Since “Iroodedness”” is recessive to “self- 
color”” and reappears in one fourth of the F, generation, 
Castle argues that it is dependent upon a single unit fac- 
tor. Nevertheless, this factor itself presents hereditary 
variations in ‘‘potency,’’ since it can be modified indefi- 
nitely by selection. The Mendelian counter-argument is 
that ““hoodedness”” behaves as a unit character in certain 
crosses merely because there is some one factor without 
which it can not manifest itself at all. The variability in 
its degree of manifestation is due to the fact that the 

¿Looded pattern is modified by the action of a number of 
independent cumulative factors. The argument seems a 
bit scholastic, but we must admit that it is logical and 
consistent. 

Take another instance. Here I admit that my evidence 
is to some extent inferential at present. I have given 
good grounds for believing that the pigmentless con- 
dition of the snout in certain strains of rubidus is a 
simple recessive trait, dependent upon a single factor (or 
its absence). By this I mean that the pigmentless con- 
dition is probably allelomorphic to any degree of pig- 
mentation whatever, 

Now we find, in examining a series of mice, all grada- 
tions from those with heavily pigmented snouts to those 
in which no pigment is to be discovered with the aid of a 
hand lens. Indeed, there are a few ‘‘borderland’’ cases, 
which can be only doubtfully distinguished as pigmented 
or unpigmented. Unfortunately, I have no data showing 
wLether or not these various gradations are hereditary. 
Analogy with the case of the tail-stripe would make it 
probable that they are. Moreover, we do know that those 

31 The fact that this condition of the tail stripe is but one manifestation 
of a mutation which has affected the hair pigment of the entire body does 
not affect the argument. It is generally believed that most ‘‘ unit factors’’ 
manifest themselves in diverse ways. 


450 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


differences in the mean condition of the snout which dis- 
tinguish the various local races from one another are 
hereditary. 

Here, too, I am aware that we could argue, with flaw- 
less logic, that the pigmentless condition was due to the . 
dropping out of some single factor, without which the for- 
mation of snout pigment in any quantity was impossible. 
Each member of the graded series of pigmented snouts 
we might suppose to be conditioned by the presence of 
this color factor, together with one to many cumulative 
factors determining the degree of its manifestation. 

Johannsen (1913), Morgan (1915) and others have 
made much of the increased range of variability which 
has frequently been met with in the F, and subsequent 
generations, even when appearances otherwise pointed to 
apermanent blending of types. Recently several writers, 
particularly MacDowell (1916) and Little (1917), haves 
analyzed some of Castle’s data and have reached conclu- 
sions directly opposed to his. All of these authors (Cas- 
tle excepted) hold that increasing range of variability in 
successive hybrid generations is strong evidence for the 
hypothesis of multiple factors, and we must grant that a 
pretty good case can be made out along these lines. The 
theory runs smoothly until we encounter the awkward 
class of facts which Johannsen has called by the name of 
““transgressive splitting,” i. e., the ultimate extension of 
the range of hybrid variability beyond that of both of the 
parent races combined. These facts would seem to prove 
too much, despite the ingenious explanation which has 
been offered by the pan-Mendelians to account for them. 

An analysis of my quite limited data furnishes no evi- 
dence of an increased variability in the F, generation, 
except where it pretty plainly results from an increase 
in the amount of actual abnormality, due to the conditions 
of captivity: In the largest, as well as the most normal 
of the series, the range of variation actually diminishes 
when we pass from the F, to the F, generation. I do not, 
however, offer the present evidence as conclusive, even 
for the single case of subspecific hybridization in Pero- 
myscus. It should be confirmed by data derived from 


Nos. 620-621] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 451 


more extensive series, consisting of animals which are 
free from any pathological modifications. 

e must urge in passing, however, that evidence of 
segregation, even if valid, is not necessarily to be accepted 
as evidence of complete segregation. There is no reason 
why we might not have partial segregation, combined with 
partial gametic blending, as Castle maintains. 

In two recent illuminating articles (1917, 1917a), Jen- 
nings points out how Mendelian-mutationists of the most 
extreme school have been driven by their own researches 
into a position that does not differ, according to any prag- 
matic test, from the one which they so long have vehe- 
mently opposed. More and ever more minute hereditary 
differences in the manifestation of a given character are 
recognized, until the limit of distinguishability is ap- 
proached. This state of affairs has been attributed to two 
causes: (1) hereditary modifications in the constitution 
of single factors, resulting in the formation of series of 
gradations, allelomorphie to one another; and (2) the 
existence of series of independent modifying factors, 
cumulative in their effects. 

As remarked earlier in this paper, the contest has lat- 
terly come to resemble that allegorical one of the two 
knights, fighting upon the opposite sides of the same bi- 
colored shield. And yet there would seem to be a differ- 
ence. The two knights in the legend were both equally 
right. In the present case, if we may judge by every 
pragmatic consideration, the larger measure of right be- 
longs to those who have contended for the frequent per- 
manent blending of hereditary characters in erossing and 
the continuous modifiability of these characters through 
selection. The finely spun theories of their opponents 
may help us to symbolize the machinery underlying these 
phenomena, but. the phenomena themselves, and not the 
theories, are the indubitable realities in the case. 


IX. Summary a 

1. In the preceding pages, the differences, structural 
and pigmental, which distinguish four geographical races 
of deer-mice are discussed in some detail. The pigmental 


452 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


differences relate to a considerable range of more or less 
independently varying characters, affecting both the in- 
tensity and the extensity of the pigment in the hair and 
skin. They are found to be, in a general way, correlated 
with certain elements of the physical environment, while 
the structural differences do not appear to be so corre- 
lated. 

2. All of these differences, structural and pigmental, 
are found to be differences of degree, revealed through a 
comparison of mean or modal conditions rather than of 
individual animals. In comparing the less divergent of 
these races with one another, the frequency polygons for 
any given character overlap broadly. 

3. These subspecific differences, and even the minor 
differences which distinguish one narrowly localized sub- 
race from the parent form, are found to be hereditary, as 
evidenced by their persistence when environmental con- 
ditions are interchanged. 

4. The gradations in certain of these characters by 
which individuals’ of the same race differ from one an- 
other are found to be strongly hereditary. 

5. Hybrids between even the most divergent of these 
four races are predominantly intermediate in character, 
both in the F, and the F, generations. In both of these 
generations a wide range of variability is exhibited, which, 
however, is little if any greater in the F, than in the F.. 

` 6. In contrast to the sensibly continuous variation and 
sensibly blended inheritance shown in respect to these 
subspecific characters, is the behavior of certain ‘‘muta- 
tions.”? Here we meet with typical discontinuous varia- 
tion, and inheritance of the strictly alternative or Men- 
delian type. It is insisted that the burden of proof rests 
upon those who contend that these two types of variation 
and inheritance are reducible to a single category, that of 
discontinuity. Anything like a proof of this contention 
appears to be thus far lacking. ` 


SUPPLEMENTARY Note (Jury 23, 1918). 
It gives me pleasure to call attention to points of close 
pus sel between certain of the views expressed in the 


Nos. 620-621] INHERITANCE IN PEROMYSCUS 453 


foregoing pages and ones which have recently been ad- 
vanced by Gates (1917) and by Goldschmidt (1918) ; like- 
wise to the resemblance between some of the features of 
geographic variation which I have described for Pero- 
myscus and those which have been observed by Swarth 
(1918) for certain birds. . None of these articles had 
been published at the time the present paper was written. 


LITERATURE CITED 
Bateson, W. 
1894, renee for Mae Study of Variation. London: Macmillan and 


v + 598 pp. 
1903. The ti be of Knowledge of Color-Heredity in Mice and 
ats. Proceedings Zoological Society of London, Vol. II, 
98: 


1913. Problems of Genetics. New miia: Yale University Press, 
viii + 258 pp. 
Castle, W. E. 
1916. Genetics and Eugenics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 


pats ii E. and Wright, S 
Two Color Mutations of Rats which Show Partial a 
Science, N. S., Vol. XLII, No. 1075, Aug. 6, pp. 193-1 


F. 
1889. Natural Inheritance. London: Macmillan and Co., ix + 254 pp. 
R. 


1917. The mutation theory and the species T American Nat- 

uralist, Vol. LI, No. 610, Oct., pp. 
Goldman, E. A. 

1910. Revision of the Wood Rats of the Genus Neotoma. Washing- 
ton: Bureau of Biological Survey, ioia American Fauna 
no. 31, 124 pp. 

Goldschmidt, R. 

1918. A preliminary report on some genetic experiments concerning 

evolution. American Naturalist, Vol. LII, No. 613, Jan., pp. 


28-50. 
Hagedoorn, A. C., and A. L 
1917. Rats and Evolution. AMERICAN NATURALIST, Vol. LI, no. 607, 
o pp. 385-418. 


Jennings, H. 
1917. as Changes in Hereditary Characters in Relation to Evo- 
lution. Journal a eta Academy of Sciences, Vol. VII, 
lay 19, pp. 281-300. : 
1917a. M Factors and Multiple Allelomorphs in Relation to 


patio 
the Results of Selection. AMERICAN NATURALIST, Vol. LI, 
No. 605, May, pp. 301-306 
Johannsen, W. 
1913. — der exacten Erblichkeitslehre. (Zweite Auflage.) 
Jena: Gustav Fischer, 723 pp. 


454 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LIT 


To + EE 
1911. The Influence of Heredity and Environment in Determining 
the Coat Colors in Mice. Annals of the New York rar 
of S tences, Vol. XXI, July 5, pp. 87-117, pls. VII- 
1915. The Mee hanism of oe privar Heredity. New York: eal 
olt and Co., ix + 2 
-1917. The Theory of the ae Amas NATURALIST, Vol. LI, 
o. 609, September, PP- 513 
Nelson, E. W. 
1909. The Rabbits of North America. Washington: quo of Bio- 
logical Survey, North American Fauna, No. ‘29, p. 
Osborn, H. F. 
1915. Origin of Single Characters as Observed in Fossil and Living 
Animals and Plants. AMERICAN NaTURALIST, Vol. XLIX, 
No. 580, April, pp. 193-239. ; 
Osgood, W. H. 
1909. Revision of the Mice of the American Genus Peromyscus. 
ashington: Bureau of Biological Survey, North American 
Fauna, No. 28, 285 pp. 


Pearl, R. 
1911. Biometrie Ideals and Methods in Biology. Scientia, Vol. X, 
pp. 9. 
Pearson, K. 
1900. The Grammar of Science. London: Adam and Charles Black, 
548 pp. 
Ridgway, R 


1912. Color Standards and Color pa Washington: pub- 
lished by the author, 43 pp., 
Sumner, F. B, 
1915. ¡Some Studies of Faros Influence, Heredity, Correlation 
PR rowth, in the White Mouse. Journal of Experimental 
oology, Vol. 18, p 3, April, pp. 325-432. 
1915a. fei Studies ‘of Several Geographic Races of California 
Dee mbag ce. pera NATURALIST, Vol. XLIX, No. 587, No 


er, Pp. 
1917. The a of us: in the Formation of a el Localized 
Race of Deer-mice (Perom sii oie a ee CAN NATURALIST, 
Vol. LI, No. 603, March, pp. 
1917a. Several Color ‘‘Mutations’’ in e fe the Genus Peromyscus. 
Genetics, Vol. 2, May, pp. 291-300. 
19176. Modern Conceptions of Heredity and Genetic Studies at the 
Scripps Institution. Bulletin of the Scripps I ios for 
Biological Research, No. 3, October 19, 24 pp. 
Swarth, H. S. 
1918. The Pacifice Coast jays of TOR genus, Aphelocoma. University 
of California Publications in Zoology, Vol. 17, No. 13, Feb. 
e : 23, pp. 405-422, 


JOAN BAPTISTA PORTA 


THEO. HOLM 


BROOKLAND, D. C. 


Like a cemetery with costly monuments for the rich, 
modest wooden crosses for the poor, and for others sites 
unmarked, hidden beneath brambles and weeds, a pic- 
ture of death and oblivion—so history of botany has 
dealt with records of the past, with life and labors 
crowned with success or hopelessly ignored and forgot- 

en. 

For years, nay centuries unchallenged some works 
have braved the everchanging hands of time, guiding 
human thought into a highway with increasing light, con- 
fronting nature, its laws and problems; great steps have 
been taken forwards, new facts have been born, militat- 
ing against former, old conceptions and resulting in com- 
plete revolution. Coupled with intense sincerity great 
skill has conquered, paving the way for future research, 
culminating in success, or suddenly, without a warning, 
crushed with defeat. Many a brilliant thought, but dis- 
guised by a less powerful style, has remained obscure 
and unnoticed, until at some proper time, as if surviving 
itself, it has arisen and gained due homage, even though 
late and in foreign soil. 

Inclement fate has doomed to silence names of great 
men, more fortunate thus than labors of merit that have 
been misunderstood, carelessly weighed, and exposed in 
unfavorable light. Who knows Porta? His work was 
soon forgotten and in history it stands among those ridi- 
culed or silently passed by. He was born in classic Italy, 
in the middle of the sixteenth century, an era of scientific 
research, marked by rapidly increasing interest in bot- 
any, with splendid results laid down in precious volumes, 
copiously and carefully illustrated. They were the days 
of Cesalpino, Dodoneus, Conrad Gesner, Fuchs, Clusius, 

455 


456 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von. LIT 


Lobelius, Caspar Bauhin, all workers in botany, seeking 
the same source for solving the problems of the plant 
world, through demonstrating the relations between the 
plants themselves, and beginning with classification first 
of all. At that time literature was less than scant; there 
was actually nothing to distract the views of investiga- 
tors; it was an era of thought original, with room only 
for the gifted and talented, none for the mediocre. And 
strange to say, Cesalpino, though secluded from the bo- 
tanical centers of Holland, France, and Germany, rose to 
hold the palm as the most brilliant of his contemporaries. 
In modern times he is still revered as the father of sys- 
tematic botany. 'To these men Porta was not known, and 
presumably they were not known to him either. To de- 
scribe the principal episodes in the life of Porta, the 
various phases of his character and labor, history has 
little to say, fame less. 

He was born in Naples, in the year 1545, and he did 
succeed in gaining reputation as a noted naturalist, phi- 
losopher, physician and pharmacologist. His home was 
a favorite gathering place for men of learning; meetings 
were held, dubbed ‘‘ Accademia dei Secreti,’’ and themes 
were discussed delving into all the mysteries of nature, 
principally the chimerical secrets of magic. That Porta 
held an eminent place among his associates seems proven 
by the fact that they regarded him as ‘‘a new prophet,” 
and as such Porta was summoned to the court of Rome to 
defend himself. He must have made a bold stand, tor 
instead of meting out some punishment for his suspected, 
supernatural power, the court exonerated him and elected 
him a member of the Accademia dei Lincei. After that 
time he lived in Rome for several years, and he died in 
February 1615. The only botanical work written by 
Porta is ‘‘Phytognomonica,”’’ published in Naples, 1588. 
Three subsequent editions, 1591, 1608, and 1650, were pub- 
lished in Germany. In the later years of his life Porta 
acquired no small notoriety as an author of dramas and 
tragedies. Considering the profuse material treated in 
‘‘Phytognomonica,’’ and the fact that Porta was only in 


Nos. 620-621] JOAN BAPTISTA PORTA 457 


his forty-fourth year when the work appeared in print, 
he must have begun his botanical career at a very early 
age. 

In this work, ‘‘Phytognomonica,’’ Porta puitecsdriaed a 
new system for plants, but far different from those estab- 
lished by his contemporaries or predecessors. His mind, 
evilly influenced by the extravagancies of the Paracelsistes, 
dwelt mostly upon such singular phases, remote from nat- 
ural history, as similarity between parts of plants and or- 
gans of man and animals, or the resemblance of parts of 
plants with diseases of man and animals, furthermore 
the habit or aspect of plants as being analogous to those 
of man, and finally the relation of plants to the stars, the 
sun, and the moon. Nevertheless Porta was a botanist, 
and a very learned one. His studies of plants reveal 
more than a superficial knowledge of their parts, and he 
must have known many. But from beginning to end 
the system, or better the method, proposed by him was 
too enigmatic to conform with the requirements of nat- 
ural science, founded as it was on principles so contrary 
to nature as they possibly could be; and so the system 
never reached beyond being considered the product of 
““l'imagination brilliante mais déréglée.’” 

It is, indeed, difficult to understand how a man so in- 
tellectually gifted as Porta would ever waste his time 
and labor on such problems as to demonstrate the secret 
virtues of plants by merely observing the forms of their 
parts and the color of their flowers. Thus according to 
Porta certain species of Orchis with the roots palmate, 
and grasses with the spikes in fives (Cynodon Dactylon) 
would be a safe remedy for diseases in foot or hand, for 
gout, ete.; plants with heartshaped roots or fruits (Va- 
leriana, Persea) for heart disease; plants with the flowers 
resembling eyes (Aster, Sedum) for eye diseases. Fur- 
thermore, plants with spotted stems (Aracee) would 
on account of their likeness to snake-skin be useful as 

1 Compare Planchon, J. E., ‘‘Des limites de la concordance entre les 
formes, la structure, les affinités des plantes et leurs propriétés medicinales,’’ 
Thèse, Montpellier, 1851. 


458 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


antidote for snake bites, ete. Forty-two sections of this 
type are described by Porta, and some are fairly well 
illustrated. Much attention is given to citing and ex- 
plaining descriptions and names of species known to and 
mentioned by the old authors, Pliny, Dioscorides, Colu- 
mella, and others, and from this particular viewpoint the 
book is quite interesting and useful. 

But even if the greater part of this book is devoted to 
considerations of the secret virtues of plants, some chap- 
ters and remarks, scattered here and there, reveal the 
indisputable talent of Porta as an observer of plant life. 
To do full justice to this part of his work let us briefly 
consider the status of botany in the sixteenth century. 
It was an era of classification or attempted classification; 
the plants were described and arranged in some way as 
an expression of their mutual relationship. By Bock 
(1560) they were divided into herbs, shrubs, and trees; 
by Clusius (1576) the system became enlarged so as to 
comprise bulbous plants, plants with the flower fragrant 
or inodorous, plants with milky juice, ete. The descrip- 
tions furnished by Clusius have always been regarded 
as most excellent, but he gave much more attention to 
the foliar structure than to the floral; in this point of 
view he was followed by Lobelius and Dodoneus. Cas- 
par Bauhin (1550-1624) established a system covering 
twelve books, and he began with the grasses and grass- 
like plants, including Iris, Acorus, ete.; after these came 
the bulbous plants, then those with large, edible roots, 
ete. ; the genera were not described, only the species with 
a number of synonyms. Bauhin was the earliest author 
to use binary names; but in describing the plants he did 
not consider the structure of the flower, nor the fruit. 
Finally Cesalpino (1583) not only established a system 
principally based upon the organs of fructification, hith- 
erto ignored, but he added a large number of new obser- 
vations of great importance to the study of botany. The 
introduction to his work contains a discussion of theo- 
retical botany in general. With regard to his classifica- 
tion of the plants, into arborescent and herbaceous, the 


Nos. 620-621] JOAN BAPTISTA PORTA 459 


minor groups, characterized by the structure of fruit and 
seed, are not natural, except the sixth, which comprises 
the Umbellifere, the tenth, Boraginex and Labiate, and 
the fifteenth, plants destitute of flowers and fruits, ferns, 
mosses, and fungi. 

Naturally the tendency to classify governed botanical 
research during as early a period as the sixteenth cen- 
tury, and the various systems proposed were all purely 
artificial. Not until the year 1703 were the Phanero- 
gams distinguished as mono- and dicotyledonous by Ray. 
We remember that so late as the middle of the eighteenth 
century Linné established his artificial system, based 
upon the floral structure, and at about the same time 
Antoine Laurent de Jussieu undertook the task to de- 
scribe the families. In other words, Bauhin wrote the 
diagnoses of the species, Tournefort (about 1700) char- 
acterized the genera, Linné arranged the genera in 
groups, which he named only, and finally Jussieu estab- 
lished a natural system with family-diagnoses. But re- 
turning to the sixteenth century, the actual knowledge 
of the plants was embodied in systems, and beyond the 
mere classification no attempts were made to consider 
the plants from a biological viewpoint, as members of a 
living world adapted to environments of highly different 
nature as to climate and soil, at least not in accordance 
with the history of botany. The treatment of this par- 
ticular phase of plant life was reserved to the very close 
of the nineteenth century, when Warming? introduced a 
supposed new branch of botanical science, dealing with 
plant societies, now universally recognized as plant ecol- 
ogy. The appearance of this work has brought about a 
fuller valuation of the factors that govern plant life, a 
purely biologic consideration of the plants on morpho- 
logical and physiological grounds. However, twenty 
years of experience has taught us that this branch of 
botanical science lacks organization and is yet rather to 
be compared with a speculation having run far in ad- 
vance of facts. Nevertheless the supposed new doctrine 


2**Plantesamfund,’’ Kjebenhavn, 1895. 


460 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Von. LIT 


does exist, and has existed for more than three centuries, 
founded by Porta, and amply discussed in several chap- 
ters of his *“Phytognomonica.”? No mention is made by 
Warming of Porta’s book. And, strange to say, no men- 
tion is made of Planchon’s either. By Sachs3 Porta is 
passed by in silence. — 

Planchon (l. c.), Guy de la Brosse* and Adanson® refer 
only to the part dealing with the secret virtues of plants; 
the chapters on plant societies are ignored, or let us say 
not appreciated. 

To Porta the method of classifying plants as instituted 
by his contemporaries must have been absolutely un- 
known; of rendering the knowledge of plants more ac- 
cessible by means of a system he had no thought. His 
principal object was to demonstrate the virtues or prop- 
erties possessed by plants, and, as stated above, Porta 
combined these with the general aspect of plants, the 
shape of their leaves, stems, etc. While making these 
observations in the field, as he did, Porta became aware 
of the distribution of a number of species under condi- 
tions very variable, and especially with regard to the 
soil. He noticed the fact that the general aspect of the 
plants, their shape, color, odor, hairiness or smoothness, 
at least to some extent, depended upon the environment 
in which they grew, and from this point of view, we 
might say ‘‘biologic,’’ did Porta elaborate the introduc- 
tion to his ‘‘Phytognomonica.’’ He divided the plants 
in two groups, aquatic and terrestrial, each with several 
subdivisions. Of the former, examples are given of 
species characteristic of lakes, Swamps, rivers, brackish 
marshes, etc., and he described the habit of several plants, 
in most cases very correctly. With respect to the ter- 
restrial plants Porta distinguished between those that 
occupy a rich, a dry, or a sandy soil, illustrated by Malva, 

Lithospermum, and Feniculum. Furthermore, some am- 
phibious species are described, such as are terrestrial but 

3**Geschichte der Botanik,’’ Miinchen, 1875, 

#**De la nature des plantes, >? 

5 **Familles des plantes,’’ Vol. I, préf., p. ii, 1763. 


Nos. 620-621] JOAN BAPTISTA PORTA 461 


adapted also to live in the water. In several chapters 
descriptions are given of the habits of plants, of species 
characteristic of the mountains, the lowlands, the hill- 
sides, and the shady valleys; to these were added some 
brief remarks upon the vegetation of the northern, the 
temperate, and the torrid zones. Among the cultivated 
plants Porta mentions Zea, which, however, is not the 
plant known now under this name (maize), but a kind of 
wheat (Triticum Spelta) as demonstrated by De Can- 
dolle. In bringing these facts together Porta certainly 
laid the foundation of plant ecology, and the classifica- 
tion, proposed by Warming (1. c.), of the various plant 
societies: ‘‘Hydrophytes, Xerophytes, Halophytes and 
Mesophytes’’ is not much more instructive than the one 
introduced by Porta: ‘‘plante palustres, fluviatiles, mar- 
inæ, salse aque, silvestres,”” ete. 

Naturally these groups have received a more elaborate 
treatment by authors of a recent date, especially with 
reference to the internal structure, which often, but very 
far from always, is in correlation with the respective en- 
vironment. However, the weakness of modern ecology 
rests on the belief that the structures may be explained 
as caused by the natural surroundings. Experience has 
taught that the genera and species do possess some char- 
acter of their own, which they never give up. To a cer- 
tain limit the plants may allow themselves to submit to 
changes, but beyond that they will sooner die. 

So far as Porta considered the biologic question of 
plant life, dealing only with the superficial aspect, more 
or less comparable to the surroundings, he committed no 
errors of consequence. For as a matter of fact the prin- 
cipal features exhibited by members of plant societies 
are mainly external, such as the shape of leaves, their 
relative size, the organs of vegetative reproduction, and 
the general habit; the internal structure cannot be relied 
upon, at least not at the present stage of our knowledge 
of plant life. 

Thus already in the sixteenth century the first essay on 
plant ecology appeared, and Porta was the author. | 


SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 


AN AUTOSOMAL BRISTLE MODIFIER, AFFECTING A 
SEX-LINKED CHARACTER 


A RECESSIVE gene in the third chromosome of Drosophila mela- 
nogaster (ampelophila) affects the bristles on the thorax and 
seutellum of females which are heterozygous for a recessive sex- 
linked character, forked in such a way as to make forked semi- 
dominant. This latter character has been described by Morgan 
and Bridges (Carnegie Publ. 237). The bristles of ‘‘stock’’ 
forked flies are shortened, twisted, and heavier than normal. 
This applies to the bristles of the head, thorax and scutellum. 
Flies heterozygous for forked, that is, females, since the gene is 
in the X chromosome, have normal bristles unless the fly is also 
homozygous for the third chromosome modifier here recorded. 
Females with one forked gene and one normal allelomorph, 
which are homozygous for a modifying gene in the third chromo- 
some, are intermediate in appearance between forked and normal 
flies, and are designated as ‘‘semiforked.’’ The males never 
show the character since they are never heterozygous for sex- 
linked factors. The forked appearance is limited to a few of 
the thoracic and scutellar bristles and the bristles in general are 
less affected than are those of the homozygous forked flies as 
regards thickening of bristles and twisting. Both of the third 
chromosomes must bear the modifying gene in order to affect 
the bristles. In the absence of the forked gene, the semiforked 
genes, even when homozygous, are nearly always without effect, 
but occasionally a few individuals may be detected which have 
shorter and heavier bristles, but this is not pronounced and is 
rarely found. Flies which are known to be pure both for forked 
and for the modifier, semiforked, can not be distinguished from 
the simple forked individuals without the modifier. 


ORIGIN OF SEMIFORKED 


The semiforked character was first observed in February, 
1918, in the heterozygous Bar forked daughters resulting from 
culture 668, a cross of a Bar male from stock to a forked female 
of a non-disjunction strain which had been used to observe non- 

462 


Nos. 620-621] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSIONS 463 


disjunction for about three months previous to this mating. 
The semiforked females were not noticed until the bottle was 
half through hatching, probably being overlooked. The counts 
show that after the new character was found there were 15 such 
females and 42 of the expected normal bristle type. This is 
clearly a 3:1 ratio and both parents must have been heterozy- 
gous for the semiforked gene. Although they were not brother 
and sister, this is not improbable, because the gene seems to have 
existed originally in the Bar stock, which, however, was not pure 
for it. The forked female doubtless obtained the gene from the 
Bar stock also, as her pedigree contains many Bar stock males 
used in the non-disjunction experiments. Since attention was 
paid only to the behavior of the X chromosomes, it is easy to see 
that the autosomes would be interchanged from generation to 
generation and the forked female could have a third chromo- 
some which came originally from the Bar stock. 

The strain was kept going by brother-sister matings. One 
F, culture (712) of a forked male to a heterozygous Bar forked 
female, which was semiforked, produced all the heterozygous 
forked: females with semiforked bristles. Here both parents 
were pure for the modifier. In Culture 722, which was an F, 
from 668, half of the females heterozygous for forked were semi- 
forked. In this case, one parent was pure and the other hetero- 
zygous for the modifier. One case was observed where a forked 
male crossed to a semiforked female produced no semiforked 
daughters. - The explanation is that both the third chromosomes 
of the father carried the normal genes. The reverse case of 
this was shown when a forked male was crossed to a hetero- 

gous Bar forked female with normal bristles. Of the hetero- 
zygous forked females produced, approximately half were semi- 
forked and half normal bristled. Here the father was pure for 
the modifier but the mother was heterozygous for it and the 1:1 
ratio resulted. 

Location OF MODIFIER 

The presence of the modifying gene in the third chromosome 
was demonstrated by the following method, which has been used 
before in work on Drosophila. A semiforked female was out- 
crossed to a star dichete male from stock. Forked star dichete 
males were selected from the offspring and back-crossed to the 
semiforked females from stock cultures. Star and dichete are 
dominants in the second and third chromosomes respectively 


464 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vou. LII 


and are used because they can be easily detected in the hetero- 
zygous condition. Since there is no crossing over in the male in 
melanogaster, any dichete fly in the offspring of the back-cross 
must have obtained one third chromosome from the dichæte 
stock and one from the semiforked stock. Any fly which was 
not dichete traces back both its third chromosomes to the semi- 
forked stock. 

Examination of the offspring from the back-cross in three 
cultures showed that no dichete fly was ever semiforked and, 
conversely, all not-dichete females were semiforked, provided 
they were heterozygous for forked, and this includes all those 
not homozygous forked. About 500 individuals were obtained 
from these three cultures and the above statement is based upon 
them. The result is absolutely clear-cut and shows that the 
modifying factor is recessive and in the third chromosome. The 
` presence of the star chromosome (II) did not affect the appear- 
ance of the semiforked character in any way. The location of 
the gene within the chromosome by its linkage relations to other 
third chromosome genes has not been carried out. 


SUMMARY 


1. A recessive third chromosome modifying gene converts 
heterozygous forked females into intermediate semiforked in- 
dividuals. 

2. Homozygous forked flies are not visibly affected by the 
modifier. 

3. The semiforked modifier rarely produces any visible effect 
when homozygous unless the forked gene is present. 


D. E. LANCEFIELD 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST 


Vou. LII. October-November, 1918 Nos. 622-623 


MIGRATION AS A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION: 
ITS ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS! 


CHARLES C. ADAMS 
PROFESSOR OF Forest Zo0LOGY, THE New YORK STATE COLLEGE OF 
Forestry AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY 


CONTENTS 


. INTRODUCTION, 
. THE PROCESS METHOD OF ANIMAL RESPONSES. 


= 
paj 


d. Interaction of Sys 
111... THE ormon FACTORS IN pan 
1. Introduet: 
Atmospheric Agencies in 1. Transportation. 
n 


2. 
3 
A, Lithospherie Agencies in Transportation. 
5. ee Agencies in Transportation and Migration. 
. Plants in nis open 
>. Animal Migrat: 
IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. 
V. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


I. IxtroDUCTION 


My subject, ‘‘ Migration as a Factor in Evolution,”” is, 
in other words, the function or róle of migration in evo- 
is paper was prepared, by invitation, for the symposium on the Factors 
of O at the Pittsburgh meeting of the rir REE Te of Natural- 
ists and an abstract of this paper, entitled ‘‘ Migration as a Factor in Evo- 
lution,’’ was read January 1,1918. Dr. G. H. Shull, peada of the society, 
kindly consented to its publication in advance of the volume which is 

to contain all the papers of the symposium. 

465 


466 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


lution.? In view of the recent concentration of interest 
on heredity, my subject has the flavor of an old-fashioned 
one, which calls back to the days when Darwin and Wal- 
lace were living, and when Wallace’s ‘‘Island Life’’ was 
frequently read with enthusiasm, and when there was 
possibly a more general belief that natural selection was 
one of the large factors in evolution. But progress has 
not been limited to the studies of heredity, for with the 
rapid rise of certain phases of general physiology, ani- 
mal behavior and animal ecology, a newer orientation is 
now possible with regard to the migration of animals by 
both the active and passive methods. For our knowledge 
of animal responses, as well as the influence of the vege- 
tational and physical environment, have made consider- 
able progress, and we now probably see more clearly than 
ever before the intimate relation existing between the 
animals and the conditions which influence their migra- 
tions. The present occasion has thus furnished an op- 
portunity to make a preliminary reorganization of the 
accumulated materials from a somewhat different stand- 
point than was formerly current in discussing migration. 
And although some of these ideas are widespread and 
even commonplace in certain limited fields, yet they are 
not yet in as general use as is desirable, and they are in 
urgent need of extended application and critical study. 
In the following discussion of migration as an evolu- 
tionary factor, I wish to emphasize two points in particu- 
lar. One is the discussion of the process of analysis and 
the other is to suggest some methods of applying this 
method to the problem of migration. It may seem aside 
from the main thesis to give this emphasis to the process 
method of evolution, but after striving several years for 
the conscious application of this method in an allied field 
(Adams ’13, 715), and seeing its beneficial results there, 
2 By evolution, I mean to use the term in the broadest possible sense—to 
include all changes within the organism and its necessary environmental im- 
plications, and not as limited to the ‘species problem.’’ This term must 
be as thoroughgoing as metabolism in physiology, or as metamorphism as 
ated e rocks by Van Hise, ‘‘any change in the constitution of any kind 


Nos. 622-623] MIGRATION A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION 467 


and furthermore, not having seen this formulated and 
applied to evolution as here presented, I feel that the im- 
portance of the subject merits this treatment. 

Special attention is called to the fact that this discus- 
sion is not intended as a complete, scientific explanation 
of migrational facts, but as the presentation of a point 
of view, or working hypothesis, which it is believed will 
aid in explaining many well-known facts and relations, 
and will aid in the discovery of new ones. An effort has 
been made to frame this hypothesis in such a manner as 
not to prejudice the problems investigated, or to inter- 
fere seriously with the various constructive schools of 
investigation, although I am well aware that this hy- 
pothesis, like all others, is built upon certain assumptions. 

During the preparation of this paper (which amplifies 
certain ideas which I have previously outlined) I was 
much impressed by finding so much confirmatory evi- 
dence of the general validity of the dynamic standpoint, 
in fields relatively remote from migration. The inde- 
pendent growth of such conceptions in diverse fields is 
indicative that many subjects are independently reaching 
a certain common stage of development and that spon- 
taneously such ideas are becoming independent organiz- 
ing centers of activity. By interaction and regulation 
among these ideas, new higher systems of unity and cor- 
relation are developing, which are producing important 
effects in zoology as well as in other sciences. The slow- 
ness seen in the application of dynamic ideas to biology 
is perhaps rather natural as is evident when we recall the 
fact that even in the simpler physical sciences we have 
as yet no complete dynamical theory or system, although 
much progress has been made, not, however, toward a 
complete system, but toward that dynamic equilibrium 
which characterizes a growing subject. 


Il. Tue Process METHOD or Anrmat RESPONSES 
1. Introduction 


The fundamental assumption upon which this discus- 
sion is founded is that the animal should be looked upon 


468 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIH 


as an entity or agent whose system of activity or re- 
sponses to internal and external influences are its most 
fundamental characteristic. The activity of the animal, 
as an agent, is its process of change or its process of 
activity. Broadly speaking, this is a study of influences, 
of response or behavior, a study of what animals do and 
how they do it. Throughout it is the dynamic aspect of 
the animal; the pressure it exerts upon the environment; 
and the pressure exerted by the environment on it, that 
-is of greatest importance. I see no reason why these 
assumptions can not be of universal application, and why 
they can not be accepted in all investigation. This view 
appears to be so well established that no detailed evi- 
dence and discussion of it seems necessary at this time. 
The animal agent itself is not a fixed thing, but one which 
runs through a cycle; it originates, develops and disinte- 
grates and is thus in its maintenance subject to all the ebb 
and flow of other processes, and has similar dynamic rela- 
tions. There is thus valid reason for assuming a 
thoroughgoing process or dynamic program for dealing 
with all animal problems. The same is equally true of 
all plants which form a part of the animal environment, 
and the physical environment lends itself, in fact, easily 
leads, in such a treatment, and fits into this scheme har- 
moniously, and makes it possible to give not only a uni- 
form treatment to all phases of animal relations, but en- 
ables the student of animals to make a perfect contact 
with all the allied sciences, and to draw from each one 
all possible support, with the least possible friction and 
interference. 
2. Dynamic Principles 

(a) Activity of Agent.—In discussing animal problems 
from the process standpoint there are several concep- 
tions which are fundamental. These ideas can be illus- 
trated in simple form by an example from physical sci- 
ence. Running water is a substance combined with 
energy (gravitation) which exerts stress or pressure, 
which it expends upon other substances, and it is there- 
fore an agent. An agent thus exerting stress and expend- 


Nos. 622-623] MIGRATION A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION 469 


ing gravitational energy upon other substances is in the 
process of activity. Thus, running water, by the general 
process of erosion, including the subsidiary processes of 
weathering and transportation, wears down the land and 
results in the formation of many features such as brooks, 
creeks, plains, deltas, and a variety of other physio- 
graphic products. An organism is also an agent which 
expends physical and chemical energy, producing stress 
and exerting pressure and expending energy on other 
substances, exhibits its process of response or its process 
of behavior. An animal, by the process of predation runs 
down another animal and devours it, by its process of di- 
gestion dissolves it, and by the process of assimilation 
makes muscle, bone, feathers or fur out of it, and these 
are all products of its activity. The process of response 
is here strictly comparable to the process of erosion of 
running water, and their products are similarly compar- 
able. The general process is generic and includes many 
species and varieties of subsidiary processes, ad infinitum. 
As Keyes (’98) has well said, ‘‘Processes are merely 
operative. If coupled with products at all... they must ' 
be regarded as formative or constructive. The product’s 
destruction, its loss of identity, is wholly immaterial. 
The action of agencies is merely to produce constant 
change.” It is, therefore, to the process of living, to the 
process of evolution, rather than to its products such as 
species, varieties, etc., which are of fundamental impor- 
tance. For this reason the products must be subor- 
dinated to the agencies and processes, because the laws 
of change are in reality the object sought. 

The physiographer is not content to rest with the idea 
that the agent, as, for example, running water, is the fin- 
ished product of his analysis, for he also applies the same 
methods of investigation to the agent itself, in order to 
know its method of origin, the process by which it origi- 
nates in the stream, whether indirectly from a spring, or 
directly from the clouds. Thus the same methods which 
the physiographer uses in studying the activity of the 
agent, he again uses to explain the origin or derivation 


470 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


of the agent iself. The investigator of animals follows 
the same plan. He likewise uses the same kind of meth- 
ods in the investigation of the processes of functional 
and structural development, not only as applied to the 
actions of the agent, but to its origin as well, and thus 
again we are justified in concluding that the process 
method is of universal application. 

(b) Cycle of Activity.—The activity of agents is always 
accompanied by the expenditure of energy. This expen- 
diture does not take place at a uniform rate, there is a 
pulsation, an ebb and flow, a rising and a falling. Periods 
of activity are followed by periods of repose and a 
rhythm is seen which can often be resolved into cycles. 
The importance of determining such cycles has been well 
expressed by Lockyer? as follows: 

Surely in meteorology, as in astronomy, the thing to hunt down is a 
eyele, and if that is not to be found in the temperate zone, then go to 
the frigid zones, or the torrid zones and look for it, and if found, then 
above all things, and in whatever manner, lay hold of, study it, record 
it, and see what it means. If there is no cycle, then despair for a time 
_ if you will, but yet plant firmly your science on a physical basis... and | 
having gotten such a basis as this, wait for results. 

There are innumerable cycles in the responses of ani- 
mals, and of these the life-history cycle is perhaps the 
most generally recognized; but activity and response, 
hunger and satiety, stimulation and response, are other 
familiar expressions of these conditions. During these 
cycles of change the relative amount of energy set free 
varies greatly, in other words, its dynamic status 
changes. As expressed elsewhere, I have stated (715, 
p. 10): 


lated, its normal activities are interfered with, and a physiological con- 
dition of stress is produced which lasts until, by repeated responses or 
3 ‘í Solar Physics,’ ? 1874, pp. 424-425, 


Nos. 622-623] MIGRATION A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION 471 


“trials,” the animal escapes stimulation or succumbs and a relative 
equilibrium is established. An area becomes overpopulated and conse- 
quently there may be established a condition of stress which results in 
an adjustment by a reduction (through many causes) in | the excess of 


of relative equilibrium. The cycle of change may be considered to begin 
at any point. I have taken as the initial stage of the cycle the condi- 
tion of stress and pressure and have indicated how this condition tends 
to change in response to pressure, bringing about the process of adjust- 
ment to strain, and leading to the condition of adjustment to strain, or 


condition of stress, the process of adjustment to the strain follows, and 
this leads to the Ta establishment of the condition of adjust- 
ment or of relative equilibriu 

These ideas can be si applied to the life eycle, as is 
indicated from the following statement by Sedgwick 
(710, p. 177), who says: 

The life-cycle, of which the embryonic and larval periods are a part, 
consists of the orderly interaction between the organism and its environ- 
ment. The action of environment produces certain morphological 
changes in its organism. These changes enable the organism to come 
into relation with new external forces, to move into what is practically 
a new environment, which in its turn produces further structural 
changes in the organism. These in turn enable, indeed necessitate, the 
organism to move again into a new environment, and so the process con- 
tinues until the structural changes are of such a nature that the organism 
is unable to adapt itself to the environment in which it finds itself. The 
essential ete of success in this process is that the organism should 
always shift into the environment to which the new structure is suited— 
any failure in pe leading to impairment of the organism. In mo 
cases the shifting of the environment is a very gradual process (whether 
consisting in the very slight and gradual alteration in the relation of 
the embryo as a whole to the egg-shell or uterine wall, or in the relations 
of its parts to each other, or in the successive phases of adult life), 
and the morphological changes in connection with each step of it are 
but slight. But in some cases jumps are made such as we find in the 
phenomena known as hatching, birth, and metamorphosis. . . . And with 
this property of reacting to the environment goes the further property 
of undergoing a change which alters the relation of the organism to the 
old environment and places it in a new environment. 

It is seldom indeed that one finds ontogeny so clearly 

expressed in terms of an active agent which is ünder- 


f 


472 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LH 


going a cycle of changes—both in structure and function 
—and is being stimulated, responding, behaving, and 
even migrating into new environments, in response to 
internal and external stimulation. This is indicative of 
the dawn of a new era in the study of ontology (ef. 
Thompson, *17). As Bancroft (’11, p. 178) suggested, 
Sedgwick (*10, p. 177) saw clearly for the moment, as it 
were, but not in practice and concretely, the dynamie 
conception of individual development, although it is very 
evident that he saw the unity or continuity of the on- 
togenetic cycle. However, it has remained for Child (715, 
"15a, *15b) who, apparently adapting largely the dy- 
namic conceptions of the plant and animal ecologists, and 
to a lesser degree those of the physiologists, has now 
given expression, in a clear and concrete manner, to the 
dynamic ideas in individual developmental responses, and 
special attention is called to his important work. 

That the life cycle varies in its degree of susceptibility 
to environmental influence has been pointed out by Ver- 
non (’99, p. 199), DeVries (1900), Bancroft CIE p 179) 
and others (Woods, ’10; Pike and Soott, LOs Puto: 17). 
Vernon’s law is expressed (’03, p. 199) as follows: ‘‘In 
fact, it would seem to be a law of general application that 
the permanent effect of environment on the growth of a 
developing organism diminishes rapidly and regularly 
from the time of impregnation onwards.” Bancroft was 
the first to see that his law included Vernon’s. He said 
CIL p. 175): 

We know that, as we get older, our tendeney to resist change in- 
creases; our habits of body and mind become more fixed.* We should 
therefore be tempted to conclude that the resistance to change increases 
as the organism becomes mature and that a given stimulus would prob- 
ably have the most effect if applied at or before the earliest stages of 
development. 

4 In this connection it is interesting to recall the influence which this law 
may have upon scientifie research. Once Clerk-Maxwell wrote to Herbert 
Spencer about some point in his “First Principles’’ as follows: ‘‘It is 
seldom that any man who tries to form a system can prevent the system 
from forming around him; and closing him in before he is forty. Hence 
me ingredient to prevent erystallization and 
condition.’? (Footnote by C. C., A.) 


Nos. 622-623] MIGRATION A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION 473 


He then quotes Vernon and continues: 

If the pressure on a liquid is made less than the vapor pressure for 
that liquid at that temperature, some of the liquid vaporizes, the tem- 
perature falls, and the liquid may be said to adapt itself to the new con- 
ditions. What would happen if the liquid were not adaptable? The 
easiest way to obtain non-adaptable liquid is to place a Bunsen burner 
under it. The temperature rises until the boiling point is reached. The 
liquid then ceases to be adaptable. It volatilizes, it disappears, it be- 
comes extinct so far as that particular region or flask is concerned. If 
a species can not adapt itself to changed climate or other conditions, it 
does not volatilize; but it disappears, it becomes extinct. It may be a 
new point of view to consider the extinction of the mastodon as anal- 
ogous to the distillation of water; but the two cases are really parallel, 
except in time. 

These facts are of the greatest importance because 
they indicate the critical stage or condition at which, in 
the migration of animals into new localities and condi- 
tions, organisms are most likely to be modified, and thus 
influence their evolution. This furnishes a new reason 
for stressing the importance of the breeding conditions 
and habitat in ecology. 

An exception to Vernon’s law is to be seen in the case 
of the Protozoans (and probably to other kinds of non- 
sexual reproduction), as is indicated by Jennings (712, 
113) and Woodruff’s investigations, which show that in 
a proper environment the inertia of the life cycle tends to 
continue on indefinitely and doesnot rundown. Jennings 
(712, pp. 573-574) shows that conjugation in Protozoa 
and sexual reproduction in the metazoa cause diverse and 
new combinations of characters. In other words, this 
means that the processes of conjugation (favored by ad- 
verse conditions) and sexual reproduction, tends to break 
up the stability and crystallization into which the on- 
togenetic system tends to develop, and tends to restore, 
as it were, flexibility and a colloidal state to the race. 
This changes the system so as to minimize the interfer- 
ence with its processes. In the metazoan the number of 
systems is so large, that in spite of its chemical integra- 
tion and regulation, interference with one or more of 


474 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von. LII 


them, possibly the ‘‘slowest,’’ limits action and causes 
* death. As indicated later, according to the phase rule 
the greater the number of ‘‘phases’’ interacting the 
lesser the number of possibilities of change. This is 
not a condition limited to organisms, but is a general law. 
It is perhaps in some sense as this that we can concede 
““differentiation”” as a cause of death. 

The animal as an agent, or individual, behaves accord- 
ing to its own system, to the extent that it is an independ- 
ent unit, and these activities are cyclical. All systems 
tend to perpetuate themselves. Bancroft’s law for all 
systems is that: “The broadest definition of it is that a 
system tends to change so as to minimize an external dis- 
turbance.’’ In other words this is a perpetuating tend- 
ency, a method of assimilation, of which reproduction 
may be considered but a special phase; it is not solely a 
peculiarity of organisms, as is often stated, but of all 
systems. Sedgwick (*10, p. 177) has said: ‘‘It is a prop- 
erty of living matter to react in a remarkable way to ex- 
ternal forces without undergoing destruction. . . . This 
property of reacting to the environment without under- 
going destruction is, as has been stated, a fundamental 
property of organisms.’’ In these features the animal 
acts only as other systems tend; as a catalyzer, it hastens 
changes and maintains itself. The activity of the animal, 
its centrifugal stress, causes it to collide with its environ- 
ment, while, on the other hand, there is the environmental 
bombardment, both of which, within certain limits, tend 
to interfere or destroy the animal. On the other hand, 
the tendency of the system is to ‘‘minimize disturbance,’’ 
to change within, to minimize, to ‘‘retreat’’ from inter- 
ference (absolutely or relatively), and in this manner to 
a large degree, the system is perpetuated. To be sure, 
many individuals perish, but the system of the species 
continues. The rate of change of the system can be modi- 
fied only as fast as its slowest member can change, and 
on this account many individual systems are destroyed. 

In addition to influences which ‘‘interfere’’ with sys- 


Nos. 622-623] MIGRATION A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION 475 


tems, as expressed by Bancroft, there are those which 
reinforce or accelerate (tend to continue or hasten activ- 
ity) and do not change its character, but only the inten- 
sity of the response (temperature, enzymes, repetition, 
etc.). By this method also systems tend to be perpetu- 
ated, and organisms in ‘‘favorable’’ (non-interfering) 
conditions, tend to continue their normal activities.” 
- This law appears to be a corollary of Bancroft’s law 
which is concerned with interference or retardation. 
Thus when a system is reinforced, rather than disturbed, 
the system continues onward in its normal cycle without 
interference, and may even be accelerated in its activities. 
This is a condition which may maintain a relative equi- 
librium, or increase stress. The intensity of interference, 
or reinforcement, and its repetition, hastens or retards 
the rate of change of a system. We thus have the quali- 
tative and quantitative relations applying to the law of 
reinforcement or acceleration of the equilibrium, and 
Bancroft’s law of interference with its development. 

Even relatively fixed and automatic responses of be- 
havior may be looked upon much as the relatively stable - 
structural characters, so that every sort of behavior, even 
to the process of higher learning, shows this regulatory 
influence which tends to change in such a manner as to 
eliminate all disturbance with its systems, even to the in- 
consistencies of our ideals. 

Thorndike ('11, p. 244) in summarizing the laws of 
““acquired behavior or learning’’ formulates two laws. 
The first is essentially a statement of Bancroft’s law. of 
response to interference (discomfort or satisfaction), 
and the second (exercise or repetition), is that of rein- 
forcement. This means that the kind and intensity of 
stimulation, and its repetition are the laws of establish- 
ing associations, or of changing the system, and that in- 
tensity and repetition act as the catalyzers which influ- 
ence the speed of modification of the system; at bottom it 
therefore appears we have qualitative and a quantitative 

5 Cf. Jennings, ’06, p. 295, ‘‘ positive reactions.’’ 


476 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


expression of them. Limiting factors, because of their 
intensity and repetition, tend to change the animal sys- 
tem so as to minimize the external disturbance, or the 
animal system tends to change in such a manner as to 
minimize external disturbance, at a speed determined by 
the intensity and repetition of the disturbance. The so- 
called ‘‘trial and error,”” or, better, trial method of be- 
havior, is also an independent formulation of Bancroft’s 
law. It seems probable that the modifiability of be- 
havior, and even all methods of animal regulation, are 
expressions of these laws of interaction. 

The ‘‘balance of nature’’ is a culminating phase of the 
eycle of adjustment to strain. As expressed elsewhere, I 
have said (Adams, 715, p. 14): “When a balanced con- 
dition, or relative equilibrium, in nature is referred to, 
we must not assume that all balances are alike, for some 
are disturbed with little effort and others are exceedingly 
difficult to change. This distinction is an important one. 
Once the balance is disturbed, the process of readjust- 
ment begins. This is a phase in the balancing of a com- 
plex of forces. Just what stages this process will pass 
through will depend, to an important degree, upon the 
extent of the disturbance. Slight disturbances are tak- 
ing place all the time and grade imperceptibly into the 
normal process of maintenance, as when a tree dies in the 
forest and its neighbors or suppressed trees expand and 
take possession of the vacancy thus formed. Disturb- 
ances of a greater degree, on the other hand, may only be 
adjusted by a long cumulative process. This change can 
progress no faster than the rate at which its slowest 
member can advance. Thus a forest association of ani- 
mals may be destroyed by a fire so severe that all the lit- 
ter and humus of the forest floor is burned. The animals 
which live in the moist humic layer as a habitat, such as 
many land snails, diplopods, and certain insects, can not 
maintain themselves upon a mineral soil, rock or clay. 
As such a forest area becomes reforested, these animals 
can only find the optimum conditions when the slow proc- 


Nos. 622-623] MIGRATION A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION 417 


ess of humus formation reaches a certain degree of cumu- 
lative development. Under such circumstances this later 
stage must be preceded by antecedent processes, and the 
restoration of the balance is long delayed. Some adjust- 
ments take place so quickly that little can be learned of 
the stages through which they pass. There are, however, 
many slow processes which afford an abundance of time 
for study; in fact some are too slow to study during a life 
time. The processes which are moderately slow are often 
particularly illuminating because all stages are fre- 
quently so well preserved that comparison is a very use- 
ful method of study; the slowness of a process has a cer- 
tain resolving power, as it were, recalling the influence of 
a prism upon a beam of white light, which reveals many 
characteristics obscure to direct vision. A study of the 
processes of adjustment among animals is a study of an 
important phase of the problem of maintenance. The 
continued process of response will, if circumstances per- 
mit, lead to a condition of relative adjustment, or bal- 
ancing among all the factors in operation.”? The de- 
termination of the dynamic status and its application to 
cycles is seen to be a method or criterion which may be 
used for the determination of cycles of activity, and the 
repetition of these determinations will indicate the direc- 
tion of movement of a process, and thus serve as a guide 
in the determination of its rate of change. 

(c) Limiting Factors.—Animals live in a real world, 
they are dependent upon an environment and they can 
not be understood independently of it. They do not live, 
as it were, ina vacuum. As Brooks (’02, p. 485) has said: 
‘‘No physiologist who studies the waste and repair of 
living bodies, no naturalist who knows living beings in 
their homes, no embryologist who studies the influence of 
external conditions upon development, can, for an in- 
stant, admit that living beings are self-sufficient or self- 
sustaining, or that their being is in themselves; for the 
line we draw, for our study, between living beings and 
the external world is not one we find in nature, but one 


478 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


that we make for our own purposes.’’ We have seen that 
the essence of the animal is its activity. Its life is a 
continuous collision with the environment and a bombard- 
ment by the environment, with changes which tend to re- 
lieve the disturbances. This is particularly true of free- 
living animals, and is indirectly so, even of sedentary and 
sessile kinds. This radiating activity of the animal, and 
the direct convergent influence of the environment on the 
animal, is the basis for the friction and interaction which 
exists between the organism and the environment. There 
are, therefore, definite zones of influence and stimulation 
about the normal or attuned environment of the animal, 
and with departure from these conditions locally and 
geographically there are certain definite results (Adams, 
04, p. 211): 

The new vital conditions are a cause of stimulation and with further 
departure (beyond a certain limit) it leads to increased stimulation or 
to unfavorable conditions. This results in retarded growth, development, 
and reproduction of the organism as a whole. Thus the end results of 
extreme departure from the optimum in either direction are similar. 

(Adams, 715, pp. 8-9) : 

Thus departure from the optimum toward an increase or a decrease, 
are departures from the most favorable, conditions toward less favor- 
able conditions and hence toward limiting conditions. ... In nature we 
look upon the optimum as that complex of habitat factors which is most 
favorable, and departure in any direction from this optimum intensity 
is in the direction of a less favorable degree of intensity, or into unfavor- 
able conditions. From this standpoint any unfavorable condition is a 


limiting factor and may retard, hasten, or prevent vital and ecological 
activities. 


(Adams, *13, p. 98) : 

The similar results of extremes of high and low... temperatures, 
aridity, and the lack of oxygen may be cited as examples. Such effeets 
have an important bearing upon the subject of physical and chemical 
limiting factors which influence individuals. [Cf. Shelford, *11, pp- 
598-599. ] 


I would now modify my preceding quotations so as to 

_ definitely discard the old idea of the optimum,* in harmony 

6 This word has a general utility, but its technical value, like that of the 

““normal, > both long considered peculiar to organic response, appears to 
be limited. 


Nos. 622-623] MIGRATION A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION 419 


with the suggestions of Blackman and Smith (711) who 
show that certain physiological processes are better ex- 
plained as the ‘‘result of interacting limiting factors than 
by the conception of the optima.’’ This principle js an 
extension of the law of the minimum and is formulated 
by them as follows (p. 411): 

The identification of the particular limiting factor in any definite 
case is carried out by applying experimentally the following general 
principles. When the magnitude of a function is limited by one of a 
set of possible factors, increase of that factor, and of that one alone, 
will be found to bring about an increase of the magnitude of the func- 
tion... (p. 397). When several factors are possibly controlling a 
function, a small increase or decrease of the factor that is limiting, and 
of that factor only, will bring about an alternation of the magnitude of 
the functional activity. 

Probably this formulation should be broader, and be 
made to include not only a single factor, but all unfavor- 
able or limiting factors, as I have indicated above, and as 
both Livingston (*17, p. 8) and as Hooker (717, p. 201) 
suggest. 

Recent additional physiological evidence of the con- 
centric zonation (gradation) of the limiting factors of 
temperature and humidity have been made by Pierce 
(16). He accepts the older idea of the optimum and thus 
certain of his results on zonation harmonize with my 
statement of 1904. He shows that for the cotton boll 
weevil there is a vertical temperature gradient which in- 
fluences the metabolism, growth and other activities, and 
that for a given temperature there is a corresponding 
horizontal humidity gradient which forms concentric 
zones of less favorable conditions. These extend from 
the optimum, through dormancy, on to death. It seems 
likely, however, that the idea of ‘‘interacting limiting 
factors’? explains his facts better than that of the 
optimum. 

The idea of limiting factors in experimental work is 
now building up a laboratory idea of environmental com- 
plexity, even under controlled conditions, which corre- 
sponds closely with what the field ecologists have called 


480 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


an environmental complex. This is a healthy sign as it 
will greatly assist in the correlation of field and labora- 
tory studies. Recently Livingston (*17, p. 8) has said: 


I wish now simply to emphasize the point that we can no longer 
speak of a single condition as being a cause of an observed effect, The 
next generation of physiologists will have to learn to handle more than 
a single variable and to deal with complexes of conditions.” 


This recalls John Stuart Mill’s statement that: 


It is seldom, if ever, between a consequent and a single antecedent 
that this invariable sequence subsists. It is usually between a conse- 
quent and the sum of several antecedents; the concurrence of all of them 
being requisite to produce, that is, to be certain of being followed by 
the consequent. In such eases it is very common to single out one only 
of the antecedents under the denomination of cause, calling the others 
merely Conditions. .. . The real cause is the whole of these antecedents; 
and we have, philosophically speaking, no right to give the name of 
cause to one of them, exclusively of the others. . . . All the conditions 
are equally indispensable to the production of the consequent; and the 
statement of the cause is incomplete unless in some shape or other we 
introduce them all. 

When Hooker (*17, p. 201) states that, ‘‘It is neces- 
sary to get away from the custom of discussing causes, 
however difficult this may be. The idea of causation in- 
variably indicates incomplete analysis,” he does not ex- 
press the full significance of Livingston’s remark. We 
have not yet outgrown Mill’s statement. 

In addition to its application to the individual animal, 
Bancroft’s law applies with equal force to the dynamic 
tendencies of plant and animal associations. The domi- 
nance of a climax society shows that (Adams, ’08, p. 125) : 

Such dominance, in general, implies extensive range, relative abund- 
ance, and ability to indefinitely succeed or perpetuate itself under given 
conditions. . . . The primary environmental conditions tend to encroach 
upon all pike: The local conditions thus tend to become transformed in 
the direction of the dominant environment and to be appropriated by it. 
The associations . . . are thus given a definite dynamie trend. . . . Minor 
environments tend to become encroached upon by the demiagol regional 
influences and ultimately to become extinct. The succession of socie- 


ge Blackman, 705, p. 293, on the limitations of control experiments. 


Nos. 622-623] MIGRATION A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION 481 


ties of local habitats is a declining one, while that of the geographic or 
climax habitat is an increasing and ascending one. . . . That the domi- 
nant geographic conditions tend to override local influences seems very 
fairly established because diverse local original conditions are trans- 
formed into the climax or dominant type. 

To students of human economies (for except ecolo- 
gists we seem to have almost no students of general eco- 
nomics, including wild animals and plants) Bancroft’s 
law should be a revelation. The interference or friction 
seen in economics (Conant, '08) should be included under 
Bancroft’s law. That these laws apply to human social 
conditions as well can easily be tested by any one who 
will venture to ‘‘interfere’’ with any system of social 
machinery, whether it be of the family, fashion, church, 
state or a political party, for very soon the pressure or 
stress exerted by the ‘‘system’’ will make itself evident, 
by the processes of coercion, persuasion, ridicule, pros- 
elyting, threat, ostracism, or by a final crushing effort ; 
for interference with a dominant system whether it is 
large or small has but one tendency. Years ago Bagehot 
(’73, p. 97) clearly recognized what appears to be essen- 
tially the laws mentioned above, and applied them with 
great skill to the development of political history, under 
the names of ‘‘persecution’’ and ‘‘imitation.’’ Perse- 
cution corresponding to interference and imitation to ac- 
celeration. Hooker (17, p. 208) not recognizing Ban- 
croft’s law, suggests what he calls the ‘‘prineiple of inte- 
gration’’ to cover the interaction of the systems which he 
recognizes. He says: ‘‘These systems are invariably 
overcoming the effects of limiting factors.”’ 

(d) Interaction of Systems.—The next higher category, 
above the animal system, is the interaction of the systems, 
and their principles of complex action. To be sure, the 
animal system can not be divorced from its environment, 
so that several important features of this interrelation 
have already been discussed briefly. In dealing with the 
organism and the environment these two gross systems 
are perhaps the most clearly recognized in biology. The 


482 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von. LIT 


environmental complexity is so great that it is bewilder- 
ing to many, particularly to those who have not followed 
the most recent methods of dealing with the vegetation 
and gross physical environment. For convenience in 
handling, this complex may be broken up advantageously 
into smaller systems: or units which are the agencies 
which influence animals. This plan provides for both 
their qualitative and quantitative relations, because the 
agents provide for the qualitative units, and their dy- 
namic relations include their quantitative intensities. 

In dealing with the interaction of systems relating to 
animals, one of the first points to consider is the classifi- 
cation of these systems, and the recognition of the sizes 
of the units. Many groupings are possible, such as the 
individual animal, its plant and animal associates, and 
the numerous factors of the physical environment. Fur- 
ther analytical systems of the vegetational environment 
can be grouped according to the recognized units current 
among the students of the genetic aspects of vegetational 
development (see Cowles, Clements, etc.). For the phys- 
ical environment the geologists, physiographers and 
geographers have already made much progress in the 
analysis of unit systems, which can be used with com- 
parative ease (see Chamberlin, Salisbury, Van Hise, 
Davis (*09), ete.). In the study of all these systems natu- 
rally more progress has been made in their recognition, 
than in their complex modes of interaction; and the for- 
mulation of their laws of interaction is or the greatest 
importance. There are three models which really come 
to mind in this connection. These are: 

1. The physical model of the interaction of forces, 
which leads to resultant motion. 

2. The application of Bancroft’s law to the interaction 
of all systems. 

3. The application of the physical and chemical model 
of the phase rule of Gibbs to equilibria of all kinds. 

These will now be considered in their respective order: 

1. The physical model will assist in keeping in mind 


Nos. 622-623] MIGRATION A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION 483 


the underlying relations that the stresses, exerted by 
agents, will reinforce, overcome or balance one another, 
and influence the end result of change. This is a quanti- 
tative law. The inertia of the process of adjustment, and 
the inertia of equilibria, should be recalled (cf. Newton’s 
first law) in this connection. The conception of inertia 
appears to have been almost neglected in biology. 

2. Bancroft’s law, that systems tend to change to mini- 
mize external disturbance, is a general law which appears 
to apply to the interaction of all systems. This is a quali- 
tative law, which should be of great practical value. 

3. The phase rule, according to Henderson (’13, pp. 
257-258) is that the 
condition of equilibrium in any material system depends upon the num- 
ber of its components, the number of its phases, temperature, pressure, 
and in general, the concentrations of all the components . . . [as to] the 
term “component” and “phase” it will here suffice to say that in 
general the number of components increases as the number of separate 
chemical individuals increases, and that a phase is any solid, liquid or 
gaseous part of the whole system which possesses homogeneity of com- 
position. For instance, if a system is made up of sand, salt solution, 
ice and aqueous vapor, each of these separate parts in that it is homoge- 
- nous, is a phase. . . . Other things being equal, the greater number of 
phases, the less the tendency to change. 

The quantitative character of this rule makes its appli- 
cation one of great difficulty, but it will serve as a guide 
or model for the organization of problems, and suggests 
the form into which experimental data should be organ- 
ized, and secured for testing its application and validity. 

The following extracts from Findlay (’04, pp. 8-18) 
will assist in gaining some of the general ideas involved 
in this subject: 


A heterogenous system is made up of different portions, each in itself 


vapor, are three phases of the same chemical ca A 
phase, however, whilst it must be physically and chemically homogeneous, 
need not necessarily be chemically simple. . . . The number of phases 
which ean as side by side may vary woii in different systems. In 


484 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIL 


all cases, however, there can be but one gas or vapor phase on account 
of the fact that all gases are miscible with one another in all propor- 
tions. In the ease of liquid and solid phases the number is indefinite, 
since the above property does not apply to them... .. It is important to 
' bear in mind that equilibrium is independent of the amounts of the 
phases present. 


By component (p. 10) is 


meant only those constituents, the concentration of which can undergo 
independent variation in the different phases, and it is only with these 
that we are concerned here. . . . The Phase Rule is concerned merely with 
those constituents which take part in the state of real equilibrium; for 
it is only to the final state, not to the processes by which that state is 
reached, that the Phase Rule applies. (Pp.11-13.) It is, however, only 
in the case of systems of more than one component that any difficulty 
will be found; for only in this case will a choice of components be pos- 
sible. . . . Now, although these constituents take part in the equilibrium, 
they are not all to be regarded as components, for they are not mutually 
independent. . . . In deciding the number of components in any given 
system, not only must the constituents chosen be capable of independent 
variation, but a further restriction is imposed, and we obtain the fol- 
lowing rule: As the components of a system there are to be chosen the 
SMALLEST NUMBER of independently variable constituents by means of 
which the composition of each phase participating in the state “a equi- 
librium can be expressed i in the form of a chemical equation. her 
method may be given by which the number of components jpk ma 
system can be determined. Suppose a system consisting of several 
phases in equilibrium, and the composition of each phase determined by 
analysis. If each phase present, regarded as a whole, has the same 
composition, the system contains only one component, or is of the first 
order. two phases must be mixed in suitable quantities in order that 
the composition of a third’ phase may be obtained, the system is one of 
two components or of the second order; and if three phases are neces- 
sary to give the composition of a fourth coexisting phase, the system 
is one of three components, or of the third order. . . . Again, therefore, 
we see that, although the number of the components of a system is defi- 
nite, a certain amount of liberty is allowed in the choice of the sub- 
stances; and we also see that the choice will be influenced by the condi- 
tions of experiment. 

Summing up, now, we may say: 

1. The components are to be chosen from among the constituents 
which are present when the system is in a state of true equilibrium, 
and which take part in that equilibrium. 

_ 2. As components are to be chosen the smallest number of such con- 
stituents necessary to express the composition of each phase partici- 


Nos. 622-623] MIGRATION A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION 485 


pating in the equilibrium, zero and negative quantities of the components 
being permissible. 

3. In any given system the number of the components is definite, but 
may alter with alteration of the conditions of experiment. A certain 
freedom of choice, however, is allowed in the (qualitative, not quantita- 
tive) selection of the components, the choice being influenced by con- 
siderations of simplicity, suitability or generality of application. 

We see, therefore, that in case of some systems two, in other cases, 
only one of the independent variables (temperature, pressure, concen- 
tration) can be altered without destroying the nature of the system; 
while in other systems, again, these variables have all fixed and definite 
values. We shall therefore define the number of degrees of freedom of 
a system as the number of the variable factors, temperature, pressure, 
and concentration of the components, which must be on te LCT in 
order that the condition of the system may be perfectly defin 

A knowledge of its variability is, therefore, of essential anea in 
studying the condition and behavior of a system, and it is the great 
merit of the Phase Rule that the state of a system is defined entirely by 
the relation existing between the number of components and the phases 

resent, no account being taken of the molecular complexity of the par- 


an ee ye indeed, which attaches equally to the terms “ physical ” 
and “chemical ” process 

The ae Rule of Gibbs, now, which defines the condition of equilibrium 
by the relation between the number of coexisting phases and the com- 
ponents, may be stated as follows: A system consisting of » components 
can exist in n + 2 phases only when the temperature, pressure, and con- 
centration have fixed and definite values; if there are n components in 
n +1 phases, equilibrium can exist while one of the factors varies, and 
if there are only n phases, two of the varying factors may be arbitrarily 
fixed. This rule, the application of which, it is hoped, will become clear 
in the sequel, may be very concisely and conveniently summarized in 
the form of the equation— 

P+F=C+2, o F=C+2—P 

where P denotes the number of the phases, F the degrees of freedom, 
and C the number of components. From the second form of the equa- 
tion it ean be readily seen that the greater the number of the phases, 
the fewer are the degrees of freedom. With increase in the number 
of phases, therefore, the condition of the system becomes more and more 
defined, or less and less variable. . . . 


486 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


Systems which are apparently quite different in character may behave 
in a very similar manner. Thus it was stated that the laws which govern 
the equilibrium between water and its vapor are quite analogous to 
those which are obeyed by the dissociation of calcium carbonate into 
carbon dioxide and calcium oxide; in each case a certain temperature is 
associated with a definite pressure, no matter what the relative or abso- 
lute. amounts of the respective substances are. And other examples 
were given of systems which were apparently similar in character, but 
which nevertheless behaved in a different manner. e relations be- 
tween the various systems, however, became perfectly clear and intel- 
ligible in the light of the Phase Rule. In the case first mentioned, that 
of water in equilibrium with its vapor, we have one component—water 
—present in two phases, i. e., in two physically distinct forms, viz., 
liquid and vapor. According to the Phase Rule, therefore, since C —1, 
and P= 2, the degree of freedom F is equal to 1+ 2—-2—1; the 
system possesses one degree of freedom, as has already been stated. But 
in the case of the second system mentioned above there are two com- 
ponents, viz., calcium oxide and carbon dioxide, and three phases, viz., 
two solid phases, CaO and CaCO,, and the gaseous phase, CO.. 
number of degrees of freedom of the system, therefore, is 2-2 —3—=1; 
this system, therefore, also possesses one degree of freedom. We can 
now understand why these two systems behave in a similar manner; 
both are univariant, or possess only one degree of freedom.. We shall 
therefore expect a similar behavior in the case of all univariant sys- 
ems, no matter how dissimilar the systems may otherwise appear. 
Similarly, all bivariant systems will exhibit analogous behavior; and 
generally, systems possessing the same degree of freedom will show a 
like behavior. In accordance with the Phase Rule, therefore, we may 
classify the different systems which may be found into invariant, uni- 
variant, bivariant, multivariant, according to the relation which obtains 
between the number of the components and the number of the coexist- 
ing phases; and we shall expect that in each case the members of any 
particular group will exhibit a uniform behavior. By this means we are 
enabled to obtain an insight into the general behavior of any system, so 
soon as we have determined the number of the components and the 
number of the coexisting phases. 


In the preceding quotations there are certain points to 
which special attention should be called : 

1. The phase rule is concerned with equilibria, and not 
with the processes by which this state is reached. It thus 
supplements Bancroft’s law in a very important manner, 
| because that law is mainly concerned with the process of 

developing equilibria. To make complete continuity and 


Nos. 622-623] MIGRATION A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION 487 


contact between these two methods and to fuse them into 
one cycle Bancroft’s should also be quantitatively ex- 
pressed (the interacting systems). The importance of 
this is evident. I have not seen attention called to this 
fact, or the intimate relation between these two laws. 

2. The number of components, phases, independent 
variables, concentrations, etc., to which the phase rule 
applies, is also one of the most marked features of bio- 
logical problems in its dealing with the relation of ani- 
mals to diverse environmental conditions and media. 

3. The analysis of biological problems into cycles of 
action, systems, and agencies, is a necessary simplifica- 
tion of the biological problems, and is preliminary to the 
determination of the number of components, phases, and 
concentrations which are involved in the application of 
the phase rule to equilibria, and to Bancroft’s law of 
their development. Even in case of biological problems 
which have not been reduced to quantity this model of 
dynamic relations should be of much assistance in clari- 
fying working plans, especially in associational studies. 

4. Improvements in the dynamic theory will probably 
simplify its application to biology. The detailed non- 
mathematical expression of these correlations will facili- 
tate their wider use in biology, and it is also equally evi- 
dent that with an adequate mathematical equipment the 
biologist’s application of these ideas would be greatly 
facilitated. 

The phase rule has been so valuable chemically that a 
special effort should be made to use it as much as possible 
as a model in biological work. Mellor (’04, pp. 183-184) 
says: ‘‘Gibbs’ phase rule is the best system extant for 
the classification of equilibria—chemical and physical. 
All changes, both physical changes of state and changes 
of chemical composition, are found to depend upon the 
same general laws.’’ Henderson (713, p. 260) remarks: 

“«“Mhere can be no doubt that, when feasible, the ideal 
method—from the physico-chemical point of view—to de- 


488 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


scribe a material system is in terms of the phase rule.?” 

To apply these principles to the interaction of sys- 
tems is the great practical problem. It requires, as pre- 
viously mentioned, the analysis of the problem to such a 
degree as to distinguish its different systems and homo- 
geneous units, their degrees of freedom, their directions 
of change, their cycles, their dynamic status and their 
quantitative relations. Many of these action systems have 
long been clearly recognized by plant and animal physi- 
ologists and ecologists, as cells, tissues, organs and com- 
munities, and.many are recognized also in the physical 
and chemical world, where much attention is given to dy- 
namic relations. 

The processes of integration and dominance tend to 
limit this diversity of systems. It is believed, however, 
that to strive consciously for the application of these con- 
ceptions with some idea of what they imply, will, how- 
ever, greatly hasten progress. Further, by calling atten- 
tion to these general ideas it may enable some investiga- 
tors to become better prepared for handling them, be- 
cause we may well recall Pasteur’s remark that: ‘‘In the 
fields of observation chance favors only the mind which 
is prepared.” It is hoped that by emphasizing these re- 
lations others better qualified than I am will give atten- 
tion to this subject, and supply numerous examples in the 
various specialties; for it is by this method largely that 
others can become interested and extend the applications. 

Up to this point the discussion has been mainly devoted 

+ to the development of a dynamic conception of systems 
and their methods of interaction. The migration of ani- 
mals has long been recognized to include not only those 
caused by the activities of the animal itself, but also by 
the activity or agency of their environment; it is there- 

8 Henderson (713) does not mention Bancroft’s law or attempt to relate 
it to the phase rule. In my ‘‘Guide’’ (*13, p. 85) special attention was 
called to both Baneroft's law and the phase rule by listing these first among 
papers on dynamics. Recently, since this paper was written, I have seen 
Henderson’s (717, p. 138) criticism of Spencer’s ‘‘stability of the homo- 
geneous,’’ to which he applies the phase rule and refers also to Bancroft’s 
law, although not as here advocated. 


Nos. 622-623] MIGRATION A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION 489 


fore now necessary to review briefly some of the main en- 
vironmental agencies and processes operative. The geol- 
ogists and physiographers have made much progress in 
the dynamic interpretation of their problems, so that it 
is a relatively simple matter to adapt their results to our 
purpose. They have shown that the rocks below the 
ocean are heavier than those of the land and that the 
present shores of the oceans change as a dynamic equi- 
librium is established between the heavier sea bottom and 
the lighter land area (Willis, 711). We have in this a 
cause for innumerable changes in the physical features of 
the earth’s surface, and in the environments of animals. 
This beautifully illustrates the fundamental unity and 
method of interaction between the liquid sea and the solid 
land systems. This is one of the huge physical cycles 
which illustrate every dynamic phase, from a condition 
of stress through the slow process of adjustment to strain 
—retarded by the rigidity of the earth’s crust—on to a 
dynamic equilibrium. All the land area which remains 
above sea level is exposed to waves, the disintegrating in- 
fluences of the atmosphere, and the erosion by wind and 
running water, all of which tend to cut down all land to 
sea level, and to deposit the heavy débris on the sea bot- 
tom, thus cumulatively destroying its relative equilib- 
rium, and, supplemented by radio-activity, there are in- 
stituted cycles of stress, in an unending series. 

In the equilibria existing between the land and the sea, 
the isotatic cycle, and the cycle of erosion or base-leveling, 
are found two phases of the most important gross influ- 
engon; in De physical causes of animal migration (cf. 
W , 94; Adams, ’01). To this must be specifi- 
cally included alimak cycles (Huntington, ’14, and oth- 
ers) whose influence upon animal migration is also pro- 
found. Intimately related to the preceding physical fac- 
tors are the cyclic changes in the vegetational covering 
of the earth, particularly those recognized in recent years 
by the plant ecologists (Cowles, ’11; Clements, 716, and 
others). The physical a eneo all organisms, 


490 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


and operate in both short and long cycles, the various 
cycles traveling at diverse rates and mutually influencing 
one another in their adjustments to pressure. In these 
wonderful moving systems of cycles can be visualized the 
essence of modern scientific conceptions. From electrons, 
atoms, molecules, chemical compounds, colloids, cells, tis- 
sues, organs, individuals, and culminating in the com- 
munity and association, is seen in each a dynamic center 
or microcosm, about which revolves other systems, in 
turn revolving as a part of a larger system in ever widen- 
ing expansion, each in turn subordinated to a higher or- 
der of dominance, the culmination of interacting systems. 

I have now completed an outline of the fundamental 
dynamic principles which are necessary as a background 
for my discussion of animal migration. These general 
principles appear to underlie all processes of animal reg- 
ulation internal and external, and are expressions of 
these laws of interacting systems.? 

9 Although - EERE discussion is intended to bear r on migra- 
tion, it shoul t be inferred that I would limit it in this manner. It is 
my belief that dins general principles are of relatively wide pescar 


(To be continued) 


A STUDY OF HYBRIDS IN EGYPTIAN COTTON 


THOMAS H. KEARNEY anb WALTON G. WELLS 


BUREAU or PLANT INDUSTRY, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 
AGRICULTURE 


INTRODUCTION 


THe Egyptian type of cotton comprises numerous va- 
rieties which have presumably originated by mutation 
(Kearney, 1914). This presumption is based upon the 
following facts: 

1. Each variety descended from a single individual 
which differed in several characters from the parent 
form. 

2. The absence or extreme rarity of connecting forms 
and the infrequency of sterility in both the parental and 
the mutant stock make it difficult to account for these 
mutants on the basis of recombination, as ordinarily 
understood. 

3. The new characters of the mutant are uniformly ex- 
pressed in the successive generations of its offspring as 
long as hybridization with other forms is excluded. 

The observed facts make it difficult to escape the con- 
clusion that these mutants are the result of simultaneous 
alteration of several factors in the egg cell after fertiliza- 
tion.: Otherwise, it is necessary to assume that the mu- 
tant has resulted from the union of a male and a female 
gamete, in both of which similar but independent altera- 
tion had taken place with respect to several factors. 
Probability is so greatly against this interpretation as to 
make it almost unthinkable. 

The question suggests itself, what are the conditions 
under which mutation occurs in Egyptian cotton? The 
appearance of mutants has thus far been observed only 


‘in mixed stocks (Kearney, 1918, pp. 60-61). Hence, not- 


1A case of mutation has been thus explained by Hayes and Beinhart 
(1914). 
491 


492 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIT 


withstanding the difficulty of interpreting the mutants as 
direct recombinations, the inference can scarcely be 
avoided that mutation in this group is conditioned by 
heterozygosity. 

In an endeavor to obtain more definite information on 
this point it was decided to make simple and back-crossed 
hybrids between two varieties of Egyptian cotton and 
to study these hybrids in comparison with line-bred 
progenies of the parent varieties. Mutants in this group 
are of comparatively rare occurrence, nothing analogous 
to the ‘‘mass mutation’’ observed by Bartlett (1915) in 
(Enothera and by De Vries (1918) in Zea having been 
observed. Very large numbers of plants of the hybrid 
and parental stocks will therefore need to be examined 
before we may hope to obtain reliable statistics as to the 
production of mutants. In the meantime, it is believed 
that what has been learned in regard to the behavior of 
these hybrids in the first three generations is of sufficient 
interest to warrant preliminary publication. 

Most previous studies of hybrids in the genus Gos- 
sypium have been made upon interspecific crosses, such 
as Sea Island cotton (G. barbadense) x Upland cotton 
(G. hirsutum) and Egyptian cotton? x Upland cotton. 
In these cases there is very great variability in the F, 
and later generations. Cotton breeders have found it 
to be practically impossible to ““fix”” such hybrids, even 
after selection continued during six or seven genera- 
tions. On the other hand, little is known of the be- 
havior of crosses between varieties within the same 
species. Are such hybrids less variable and less diffi- 
cult to fix by selection, and, if so, can not stable and uni- 
. form new varieties be obtained by recombination? It 
is believed that these questions are partly answered by 
the data presented in this paper. 

The investigation was conducted at the Cooperative 
Testing Garden, Sacaton, Arizona, which is conducted- 

* The Egyptian type of cotton, although commonly supposed to be of hy- 
brid origin (Balls, 1912, pp. 3, 4) presents many analogies to a natural spe- 


cies and its differences from American Upland cotton are certainly of spe- 
cific magnitude. 


Nos. 622-623] HYBRIDS IN EGYPTIAN COTTON 493 


by the Bureau of Plant Industry in cooperation with the 
Indian Service. The writers are indebted to Mr. G. N. 
Collins of the Bureau of Plant Industry for many help- 
ful suggestions throughout the course of the investiga- 
tion.® 
PLAN OF THE INVESTIGATION 

The only varieties of Egyptian cotton of which ap- 
proximately pure strains were available when the experi- 
ment was begun were the Yuma, Gila and Pima varieties, 
all of which had been developed in Arizona. These va- 
rieties were described (with illustrations of the leaves, 
bracts, and bolls) and an account of their origin was 
given in an earlier publication (Kearney, 1914). Their 
relationship may be indicated thus: 


Mit e 


q 
Gila Yuma 


The Gila and Pima varieties were chosen because they 
show the greatest amount of difference in the largest 
number of characters. Of the three varieties, Gila is 
most similar to the common ancestor, Mit Afifi, and Pima 
is the most distinct from it. Gila may, in fact, be re- 
garded as representing a small portion of the area of 
- variation of the extremely heterozygous Mit Afifi stock 
from which all these varieties have descended, while the 
characters of Pima are far outside the hitherto observed 
range of variation in Mit Afifi. The hybrids described 
in this paper may therefore be taken to represent, in a 
measure, the result of crossing the mutant Pima with its 
more remote ancestor, Mit Afifi 

Several typical individuals of each variety were se- 
lected in July, 1914. A number of flowers were self- 
pollinated on each plant and intervarietal cross-pollina- 
tions were made among them. The resulting first gen- 

3It is not practicable to publish in full the voluminous data resulting 
from this investigation but the writers are prep pared to supply, to any one 
who may be interested, photographie copies of the original records, at t 
cost of reproduction. 


494 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST (Véi: LIT 


eration parental and hybrid progenies were grown in 
1915. Seeds produced by flowers which were selfed on 
certain individuals in these progenies furnished the sec- 
ond generation, which was grown in 1916. Flowers on 
selected plants in the second generation parental and F, 
hybrid progenies were again selfed to furnish the third 
generation parental and the F, hybrid progenies, which 
were grown in 1917. 

Some of the flowers on F', hybrid plants in 1915 were 
pollinated from plants in the first generation progenies 
of the original parent plants of either variety. From 
the resulting seed 34 Pima and 34 Gila back-crosses were 
grown in 1916. Plants were selected in each of the 3 
back-cross progenies because of their approach to the 
corresponding predominant parent in respect to impor- 
tant characters. The Pima back-cross plants were pol- 
linated from a plant in the second selfed generation of 
the Pima parent and the Gila back-cross plants were pol- 
linated from a similar Gila individual. The resulting 
% Pima and % Gila back-cross progenies were grown 
in 1917. 

Every effort was made to grow the various parental 
and hybrid progenies under as nearly as possible uni- 
form conditions in respect to soil, irrigation and cul- 
tural treatment. All comparisons of hybrids and parents 
have been made on the basis of progenies grown the 
same season, in order to obviate the influence of different 
weather conditions. Measurements on the different 
plants were made, as far as practicable, upon organs 
which occurred at the same nodes of the axis and 
branches and which were in the same stage of develop- 
ment. The number of plants on which most of the char- 
acters were measured in each generation were, in round 
numbers: . 


Fi (1915) | Fe (1916) Fs (1917) 
Pima Eee Ge ra PUM A Gat Se 60 200 180 
GHA LLA ge as aS 40 200 100 
Fima Cala eg Se a 80 400 300 


Nos. 622-623] HYBRIDS IN EGYPTIAN COTTON 495 


CHARACTERS MEASURED AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE VARIETAL 
DIFFERENCES 

The Pima and Gila varieties, as represented by the 
first and second generation progenies of the selected par- 
ent individuals, differed by an amount equal to three or 
more times the probable error of the difference, in re- 
spect to 24 characters. Many of these are physically or 
physiologically correlated, but six of the characters 
showed practically no correlation inter se, in either 
parent. Most of these characters are expressions of 
size (e. g., the length of the internodes, leaves, floral 
parts, bolls and fiber) or are ratios between two size 
characters and expressive of shape. The leaf index 


esis y X 100 and the boll index A y 100 showed 


weeds significant differences between the two varie- 
ties named, the difference in the second generation hav- 
ing been 26 times the probable error in respect to leaf 
index and 46 times the probable error in respect to boll 
index. In length of fiber the difference between the 
parents in the second generation was 22 times its prob- 
able error. The only characters of diagnostic value 
which could not be accurately measured and which were 
therefore determined by grading, were color of the fiber,* 
amount of fuzz on the seeds and roughness of the boll 
surface (depending upon the depth, number and regu- 
larity of distribution of the pits in which the oil glands 
are situated). Even in respect to these characters the 
differences were of degree rather than of kind. 

The Gila variety, as represented by three successive 
selfed generations of the progenies of the parent plants, 
gave larger coefficients of variation for most of the char- 
acters than did the Pima variety. Since no general de- 
crease in the variability of either variety was observed 
after three generations of selfing, it would appear that 
Gila is inherently more variable than Pima. 

The two varieties, as represented by the first and sec- 

4 The two varieties showed no difference in the color of any part of the 
ower, ` 


496 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST (Vou. LIT 


ond generation progenies of the plants selected as par- 
ents of the hybrids, showed overlapping ranges for all 
characters excepting fuzziness of the seed and color of 
the fiber. These two characters were measured on only 
small numbers and overlapping would very likely have 
been observed if larger populations had been compared. 


THE SIMPLE HYBRIDS 
Means 


Comparing the means of the simple hybrids (Pima X 
Gila) with those of the parents, a strong tendency to in- 
termediacy was apparent. The means for a large ma- 
jority of the characters, in both the F, and F,, lay be- 
tween the parental means, and in nearly one half of the 
total number of characters the hybrid means did not 
differ significantly from the midpoint of the parental 
means. The relative number of characters for which 
the departure of the hybrid mean was towards the Pima 
mean was much greater in the F, than in the F,. This 
was probably due to increased vigor in the conjugate 
generation, eight of the thirteen characters which showed 
a significant® departure of the hybrid F, mean from the 
midpoint of the parents being size characters for which 
the Pima parent gave a larger mean than the Gila parent. 

Eleven F, progenies of the simple hybrid were grown 
in 1917 from plants which were selected in the F, in 1916 
because of their approach to one or the other parent or 
because of their intermediacy with respect to various 
characters, especially leaf index and boll index. The F, 
means for these characters in all cases fell between the 
means of the third generation parental progenies, or 
else did not differ significantly from the mean of one or 
the other parent. 


Coefficients of Variation 
-mal three generations the hybrids gave significantly 
larger coefficients of variation, for most of the characters, 


5A difference or other quantity is here referred to as ‘‘significant’’ when 
amounting to three or more times its probable error. 


Nos. 622-623] HYBRIDS IN EGYPTIAN COTTON 497 


than did the corresponding selfed parental progenies of 
the Pima variety, but were not significantly more variable 
than the corresponding Gila progenies. In length of 
fiber the hybrid F, was not significantly more variable 
than either parent. The hybrid F, was significantly 
more variable than the F, in the leaf characters, but not 
in the boll characters. This result was so surprising 
that it was accepted only after repeatedly checking the 
original data. The averages of the coefficients of varia- 
tion, for leaf index and boll index, of the eleven F, 
hybrid progenies did not differ significantly from the co- 
efficients of the F, progeny from which they were de- 
rived. The average variability of the F, did not exceed 
that of the third selfed generation of the more variable 
parent (Gila) and two of the F, progenies were not more 
variable than the corresponding generation of the less 
variable parent (Pima). 

These facts point to the possibility of obtaining a rela- 
tively uniform new variety of cotton by hybridization of 
two varieties belonging to the same general type, al- 
though hybrids between different types, such as Egyp- 
tian and Upland, are notoriously diffieult to fix.® 


Distributions 

The distributions, for the important characters leaf 
index, boll index and fiber length, of the parental and 
simple hybrid progenies, are shown in Figs. 1 to 3. 

The range of the hybrid F, for none of the characters 
appreciably exceeded the combined parental ranges and 
for the majority of characters it was more restricted 
than the latter. The variation was therefore much 
smaller than in the F, of hybrids between less closely re- 
lated types of cotton, in which the range often greatly 
exceeds that of both parents. (For example, the Egyp- 

6 Longfield Smith (1915, p. 30) states that hybrids between the not very 
dissimilar Sea Island and Sakellaridis cottons were ‘‘fairly uniform’’ in 
the F, and F, Different behavior was shown by the cross between Sea Is- 
land and ‘‘St. Croix Native,’’ a type more nearly resembling American Up- 
land cotton. In this case, ‘‘new characters, not present in either of the 
original plants, appear in the first and subsequent generations,”” and the 
F, and F, ‘‘split into a mass of types.’’ 


498 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vor. LII 


tian X Kekchi hybrids described by Cook (1909, p. 12-14) 
and the Egyptian X Hindi hybrids described by Marshall 
(1915).) 

Little or no evidence of dominance was shown by the 
distributions, for the various characters, of the F, of the 


E 


PERCENTACE PPPEQIOLIVCE, 
ee a 


~- 
LEGE INDEX 

Leaf index: first and second generation distributions of the parental 

and simple hybrid progenies. The dotted line curye represents the distribution 

of the Pima parent, the broken line curve that of the Gila parent and the solid 


total — of the population. The figures on the axis of abscissas indicate 
the c 


sie pe numbers of the respective populations were: F;, Pima 60, Gila 40, 
PxG 80; F», Pima 213, Gila 203, PxG 418. 

simple hybrids. The F, distributions were strictly uni- 
modal for all characters excepting the highly variable 
one length of axis, and even in this case the indication of 
bimodality was so slight as to be probably insignificant. 


Nos. 622-623] HYBRIDS IN EGYPTIAN COTTON 499 


No evidence of segregation in definite ratios was ob- 
tained. 

It is well known that complete dominance in the F, 
and 3:1 segregation in the F, are exceptional in size and 
shape characters such as chiefly distinguished the Pima 
and Gila varieties of cotton. On the other hand, the 
question whether the behavior of the Pima X Gila hy- 


A. 


PENCENTACE IHEPUENCI 


Fra. 2. Boll index: first and second generation distributions of the parental 
and simple hybrid progenies. Details as in Fig. 1. The actual numbers of 
the respective populations were: Fi, Pima 60, Gila 40, Px G 80; Fo, Pima 161, 
Gila 207, PxG 419. 


brids with respect to such characters might be inter- 
preted by the multiple factor hypothesis is extremely 
difficult to answer. The differences between the means 
of the parents for most of the characters, while small, 
are highly significant, but the parental ranges, in most 
cases, overlap to such an extent that Mendelian analysis 
would seem to be out of the question. 


500 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LI 


A few of the characters in respect to which these va- 
rieties differ significantly might be termed ‘‘qualitative.’’ 
"These are roughness of the boll surface, color of the 
fiber and fuzziness of the seed, all of which are included 
in the lists of allelomorphic pairs of characters in cotton 


N 


e $--e 
AOAN N y Nh 
X ANNEANNE 
yan 
AIEEE? LENCG7I7 

Fic. 3. Fiber length (mm.); second generation distributions of the parental 
and simple hybrid progenies. Details as in Fig. 1. The actual numbers of th 
respective populations were: Pima 46, Gila a PxG 49. 
given by Balls (1909, p. 18) and by McLendon (1912, pp. 
168, 169).7 Yet in the Pima X Gila hybrids these charac- 
ters behaved like the size and shape characters, showing 
unimodal distribution in the F,. It should be noted, 
however, that in respect to these characters the differ- 
ences between the two Egyptian varieties are much 
smaller than the differences between the parents of the 
wider crosses (Egyptian X Upland and Sea Island X 
Upland) dealt with by Balls and McLendon. Instead of 
the differences between pitted and smooth bolls, buff and 
white fiber and smooth and fuzzy seeds we have, in com- 
paring Pima with Gila, merely the differences between 
more and less numerously and regularly pitted bolls, 
lighter and darker buff-colored fiber and more and less 
fuzz on the seeds. 

T Complete ets is apparently a rather rare phenomenon in cotton, 
even in the ¢ of color characters. It is stated, however, by Leake and 
Prasad (as, p pp. 126-128) that yellow corolla color and the presence of 
the petal spot are completely dominant in certain hybrids of Indian eottons. 


Nos. 622-623] HYBRIDS IN EGYPTIAN COTTON 501 


Correlation of Characters 

It was sought to ascertain whether these hybrids show 
genetic as distinguished from merely physical or physio- 
logical correlations, in other words, whether there is co- - 
herence in the transmission of the parental characters. 
To this end, application was made of the test proposed 
by Collins (1916, p. 439), 1. e., comparison of the coeffi- 
cients of correlation of the F, with those of the F,. It 
is assumed that if the F, coefficient significantly exceeds 
that of the F',, in the direction indicated by the relation 
of the parental means for the two characters, genetic 
correlation or coherence of characters is indicated. For 
example, the Pima parent has a lower leaf index and a 
higher boll index than the Gila parent. If there is co- 
herence of these characters, the hybrid should show a 
negative correlation and the coefficient of correlation 
should be significantly larger in the F, than in the F,. 

The coefficients of correlation of 40 pairs of characters 
were determined for both the F, (grown in 1915) and F, 
(grown in 1916), upon the basis of one measurement of 
each character on each plant. In three of these cases 
the coefficient of correlation of the F, was significantly 
larger than that of the F, (difference from 3.5 to 4.5 
times its probable error), in the direction indicated by 
the parental relation. Since, however, the coefficients of 
correlation of the first generation (1915) and second gen- 
eration (1916) of the parental progenies had also been 
found to differ in magnitude, the possibility was consid- 
ered that the difference in the F, and F, hybrid coeffi- 
cients was at least partly due to variations in the weather 
of the two years. The coefficients of correlation for the 
three character pairs above mentioned were therefore 
calculated for a new F, which was grown in the same 
year as the F,.? When the F, and the new F, coefficients 

8 Two characters of great practical importance and in respect to which the 
parents differ very significantly, length of fiber and fuzziness of seeds, 
showed no i ag correlations, either with each other or with the leaf 


wr boll characters 
he new F, was the meats of gl m daughters of the original 
Se plants, which had been made in 


502 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


were compared, it was found that the former was 
significantly larger than the latter, in the indicated direc- 
tion, for only one pair of characters (width of leaf and 
number of teeth on the involucral bracts) and in this 
case the difference was only 3.2 times its probable error.*” 
It was sought to throw further light upon this problem 
by determining the coefficient of correlation in the hybrid 
upon the basis of progenies rather than of individual 
plans. The means, for leaf index and boll index, of 
eleven F, hybrid progenies were used for this purpose. 
These progenies comprised from 8 to 44 plants each and 
the means were based upon measurement of one leaf and 
one boll on each plant. Since the Pima parent has the 
smaller leaf index and the larger boll index, the correla- 
tion in the hybrid, if determined by the parental relations 
of the two characters, should be negative. The coefficient 
obtained was in fact negative, but was no larger than its 
probable error (r= — .17 + 
e balance of evidence is therefore strongly against 
the occurrence of coherence of characters in these hybrids 
between somewhat closely related, although distinct, va- 
rieties of cotton. - It does not, of course, follow that the 
same result would have been obtained in the case of 
hybrids between less closely related types, especially if 
these differ in allelomorphic characters rather than in 
the variable size and shape characters which chiefly dis- 
tinguished Pima from Gila.*? 
10 The correlation in question, width of leaf with number of teeth on the 


involueral bracts, is doubtless physiological, large bracts being associated 
with large leaves and the number of teeth being greater on the larger 


1 The existence of an intervarietal correlation by no means implies that 
the same correlation will be found to obtain within a y ariety. For example, 
it is a matter of common observation that most varieties of cotton which 
have very long fiber have relatively sparse fiber, and vice versa. But when 
the correlation between fiber length and lint index (weight of fiber per 100 
seeds) was plotted for 80 plants of the Pima variety, the value of r was 
found to be only .07 X .07, showing the complete absence of an intravarietal 
correlation, 


12 baka of coherence of characters in hybrids of Egyptian with Up- 
land cotton have been reported by Cook (1909, pp. 16, 17 and 1913, p. 53). 
On the other hand, Marshall (1915, pp. 57, 61), describing the F, of hybrids 


Nos. 622-623] HYBRIDS IN EGYPTIAN COTTON 503 


THE Bacx-CrossepD HYBRIDS 
The means of the 34 back-crossed hybrids for nearly 
all characters showed departures from the midpoint of 
the parental means which were both significant and to- 
wards the mean of the respective preponderant parent 
(Pima or Gila). In the % back-crosses, the mean vir- 
tually coincided with those of the preponderant parent, 
as the following data show: 
Progeny Means of: Leaf Inde Boll Index 
Pima 78.1 + .14 
Pima { back-eross [(P X G) X P] XP 78.7 + .63 179 + .66 


Gila 3 back-eross [(P X G) XG] XG 94.14.47 153 + .90 
Gila 93.1 + .47 156 + .51 


The distributions, for leaf index and boll index, of the 
Pima 7% back-cross, were embraced by those of Pima and 
the distributions of the Gila 7 back-cross were embraced 
by those of Gila. It is therefore apparent that twice 
back-crossing the simple hybrid with either of its parents 
has sufficed to eliminate the influence of the other parent 
in the expression of these characters. 


ABSENCE OF MUTANTS 

Careful examination, in 1916, of every plant in the F, 
progenies of the simple hybrids and in the 3 back-eross 
progenies, showed only various recombinations of the 
Pima and Gila characters. A large majority of the 
simple hybrid plants were approximately intermediate, 
although occasional individuals showed a near approach 
to one or the other parent. Most of the back-cross 
plants, as compared with the simple hybrid individuals, 
showed clearly the preponderating influence of the 3% 
parent, but few if any plants in the 3 back-cross pro- 
genies could have been classed as wholly Pima or wholly 
Gila, the influence of the one-quarter parent being ob- 
servable in the great majority of cases. No instance of 
between the equally different Egyptian and Hindi cottons, states: **Nor 
was it possible to discover any general correlations or definite associations 
between any of the more important structural differences. ?” 


504 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


the occurrence of new or extra-parental characters was 
detected, although a few plants in the F, of the simple 
hybrid slightly exceeded the range of one or the other 
parent. Examination, in 1917, of the F, progenies of 
the simple hybrids, and of the 7% back-cross progenies 
also failed to reveal the occurrence of any extra-paren- 
tal characters. Nor have any new characters been de- 
tected in the first, second or third generation progenies 
from selfed seed of the parent individuals. It is evident, 
therefore, that nothing in the nature of a mutant has yet 
appeared in any of these line-bred and hybrid stocks. 

It was not, however, expected that mutants would be 
detected in these small progenies, which were grown for 
the purpose of studying, under controlled conditions, the 
behavior of the hybrids in the earlier generations and 
to provide seed for the growing of each stock on a more 
extensive scale. Statistical evidence regarding the pro- 
duction of mutants can scarcely be expected until much 
larger numbers of plants have been examined. The 
stocks resulting from repeated back-crossing should be 
especially interesting to study in regard to the occur- 
rence of mutation.!? 

CONCLUSION 


The investigation here described was undertaken in 
the endeavor to ascertain the conditions under which 
mutants are produced, in Egyptian cotton. Simple and 
back-crossed hybrids were made between two varieties 
(Pima and Gila) which differ significantly in numerous 
characters. Three generations of the hybrid progenies 
and of progenies from selfed seed of the parent indi- 
viduals, were grown. No evidence of the appearance of 
- 18‘* Variations toward Upland or Hindi characters arising in dilute hy- 
brid stocks of Egyptian cotton have been found to yield progenies with 
more stable expression of characters than direct hybrids between Egyptian 
and Upland cotton. Such facts suggest the possibility of developing a new 
method of breeding by dilute hybridization. By the use of a small pro- 
portion of foreign blood as i i j 
otherwise uniform stocks it may be possible to secure desired combinations 


Nos. 622-623] HYBRIDS IN EGYPTIAN COTTON 505 


new characters was detected in any of these progenies, 
but since mutants in Egyptian cotton are comparatively 
rare, it will doubtless be necessary to examine much 
larger populations before definite conclusions can be 
drawn as to the occurrence of mutation in these stocks. 

The principal interest of the data thus far obtained 
attaches to the behavior of hybrids between varieties be- 
longing to the same general type, as compared with that 
of the hybrids between different species of Gossypium, 
which have hitherto been the principal subject of genetic 
investigation in this group of plants. 

The varieties used in this investigation are distin- 
guished chiefly by size and shape characters, although a 
few of the characters in which they differ significantly 
have been found to behave as allelomorphs in hybrids be- 
tween less nearly related forms of Gossypium. The 
Pima Xx Gila hybrids, however, showed no evidence of 
segregation in definite ratios in respect to any of the 
characters measured. There was little or no evidence of 
dominance in the F,, and the F, distributions were prac- 
tically without exception unimodal. The means of the | 
simple hybrid were in most cases intermediate between 
those of the parents. The result of twice back-crossing 
the simple hybrid upon either parent was to obliterate 
the expression of the characters of the other parent. 

It could not be demonstrated that genetic correlation 
or coherence of characters occurs in these hybrids. Ap- 
parently all characters which are not correlated physi- 
cally or physiologically are transmitted independently. 

The second and third generations of the hybrids, as 
compared with the parents after two and three genera- 
tions of selfing, were not more variable than Gila, and 
were only a little more variable than Pima. This fact 
is of practical importance in cotton breeding, since it 
points to the possibility of obtaining relatively stable 
and uniform recombinations of the desirable characters 
of varieties belonging to the same general type, although 
breeders have found this to be well nigh impossible in 


506 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


wider crosses such as those of Egyptian (or Sea Island) 
with Upland cotton. 


LITERATURE CITED 
Balls, W. Lawren ; 
1909. Some “xia aspects of cotton breeding. In Ann. Rep. 
er. Breeders Assoc., Vol. 5, pp. 16-28. 
1912. The cotton plant in Egypt, 202 p. 
Bartlett, H. H. 
1915. Mutation en masse. Amer. NAT., Vol. 49, pp. 129-139. 
ass mutation in (Enothera pratincola. Bot. Gaz., Vol. 60, pp. 
425—456. 
Collins, G. N. 
1916. Correlated characters in maize breeding. Jour. Agric. Res., Vol. 
435—453, pl. 55-63. 
Cook, O. F. 
1909. eT and ring gh characters in cotton hybrids. U. $. 
. Agri 1, Ind., Bul. 147, 27 p 
1913. Heredity and otiia is U. S. Dept. Agric., Bur. Pl. Ind., 
Bul. 256, 96 p., 6 pl. 
De Vries, Hugo. 
1918. Mass mutation in a mays. Science, N. S., Vol. 47, pp. 465-467. 
Hayes, H. K. and E. G. Bein 
1914, ea in enets Science, N. 8., V. 39, pp. 34, 35. 
Kearney, T. 
1914, Mutation in Egyptian cotton. Jour, Agric. Res., Vol. 2, pp. 
287-302, pl. 17-2. 
1918. A plant industry based upon mutation. Jour. Heredity, Vol. 9, 


pp. 51 
, H. Martin and Ram e 
1614. Studies in Indian cottons, Pt, 1. Mem, Dept. Agric. India, Bot. 
Ser., Vol. 6, pp. ene pl. 1-19, 
Marshall, Charles G. 
1915. Perjugate cotton hybrids. Jour. Heredity, Vol. 6 (1915), pp. 
57-64. 


McLendon, C. A. ; 
1912. Mendelian inheritance in cotton hybrids. Ga, Agr. Exp. Sta. 
Bul. 99, pp. 141-228. 
serie Longfield. í : 
1915. Experiments with hybrid cotton. Rep. Agric. Exp. Sta. St. 


Croix, for 1913-14, pp. 29-31. 


GENETIC RELATIONS OF THE WINGED AND 
WINGLESS FORMS TO EACH OTHER AND 
TO THE SEXES IN THE APHID MACRO- 
SIPHUM SOLANIFOLIL 


DR. A. FRANKLIN SHULL 


UNIVERSITY oF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 


INTRODUCTION 


Lire cycles are known, in many aphid species, from 
field observations alone. A number of cycles have been 
determined from breeding experiments upon aphids in 
confinement. Often, however, these experiments appear 
not to have used the pedigree method. In the course of 
some work on the potato aphid, Macrosiphum solani- 
folii, I observed indications of peculiarities in the ge- 
netic relations of the various forms to each other, which 
could be detected only by the pedigree method. Experi- 
ments designed to demonstrate these relations were in- 
stituted, with the results described in this paper. 

Macrosiphum solanifoli, as observed in these experi- 
ments, comprises four kinds of individual: (1) the apter- 
ous viviparous female, which is green; (2) the alate vivip- 
arous female, which is also green; (3) the oviparous or 
sexual female, which is wingless and of a yellowish-green 
color until late in life, when the abdomen becomes filled 
with green eggs which impart a green color to the female 
herself; and (4) the male, which is winged and of a brown 
or brown and green color. Of these types of individual, 
the alate female can be recognized when a little more 
than half grown by her wing pads. The oviparous fe- 
male has thickened brown hind tibie covered with sen- 
soria, which are recognizable with the unaided eye, and 
which develop a few days before maturity. The male 

1 Identified by Dr. Edith M. Pateh. 

i 507 


508 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIT 


is usually, though not always, distinguishable at birth 
because of its pink or gray color, and those that are green 
at birth usually develop the gray or pink color within a 
few days. This color of the immature male has not, I 
believe, been recorded in the published descriptions of 
the species, and it is not impossible that it is a character- 
istic of certain parthenogenetic lines only. 

Miss Patch (1915) has described a pink variety of each 
of the viviparous forms. I have never seen these in my 
experiments, though thousands of individuals have been 
examined, except in diseased animals which died shortly 
after discovery. The immature pink aphids in my ex- 
periments have all been males. The occurrence of pink 
females is probably a characteristic of certain partheno- 
genetic lines. 

In my experiments the potato has been exclusively 
used as the host plant. These plants were reared in pots 
and were covered with lantern globes closed at the top 
with muslin. 

EXPERIMENTS 


Relation of Winged and Wingless Forms to Each Other 


Experiment 293.—Starting with sister individuals, two 
lines were bred for three generations, one line from ap- 
terous parents exclusively, the other from alate parents 
only. As in the other experiments to be described, about 
a dozen adult females were placed together on a single 
plant, to become parents of the following generation. 
When they began to produce young, the latter were re- 
moved daily, or every two days, to young plants. Suc- 
cessive groups of young were placed on one plant until 
they seemed likely to become too crowded (usually not 
over 150 per plant), after which a new plant was used. 
As many as five plants were required in some cases to 
receive the young of one lot of parents. In the tables 
these plants are designated, in the columns headed “Host 
Plant,” as first, second, third, ete. As the young aphids 
became adult they were removed and either used for 
further breeding or destroyed. 


Nos. 622-623] THE SEXES IN THE APHID 509 


As a rule the parents for the following generation were 
taken from the first of the host plants, and were trans- 
ferred to a young healthy plant, on which they produced 
their young. 

This particular experiment was started in June from a 
stock whose stem mother hatched in the greenhouse in 
the preceding January. The line had passed through a 
sexual phase in that time, but had been preserved by a 
small number of viviparous females. In Table I the line 

rom apterous parents is represented in the upper half 
of the table, the line from alate parents in the lower half. 
For the sake of comparison the totals are placed together 
at the bottom of the table. 


TABLE I 


CONTRASTING THE OFFSPRING OF APTEROUS PARENTS AND THOSE OF ALATE 
PARENTS IN THE APHID Macrosiphum solanifolii 


Offspring 
= y Alate vi 
a Parents | Host Plant Dates = ae q ra Ovip- 
arous | arous | (Sexual) | Males 
Females | Females 

J.....| Apterous | First June 27—June 30 49 64 0 0 
Second July 2 35 73 0 0 
Third July 4-July 5 38 48 0 0 
II....| Apterous | First July 7-July 9 22 118 0 0 
Second July 11 44 88 0 0 
Third July 13 21 62 0 0 
Fourth July 14—July 16 2T 28 0 0 
III...| Apterous | First July 18-July 21 47 29 0 0 
Second July 23 vá 7 0 0 
Loa Alate First fJune 28-July 2 110 21 0 0 
Second July 4-July 6 32 2 0 0 
II....| Alate First July 9-July 11 66 29 0 0 
Second July 13-July 14 99 0 0 
i July 16-July 18 62 52 0 0 
Fourth July 21 41 12 0 0 
Fifth July 23 14 4 0 0 
III.. .| Alate First July 21 80 23 0 0 
Second July 23 35 6 0 0 
Third July 24—July 26 5 3 0 0 
Totals from apterous parents.........-...--| 285 517 0 0 
"Potala from alate paronit.. o coses 544 0 0 


There is a striking preponderance of winged offspring 
in the families of wingless parents, and a preponderance 
of wingless offspring from winged parents. 


510 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


Experiment 294.—This was a repetition of the preced- 
ing experiment, in part simultaneous with it but of 
shorter duration. The method of conducting the experi- 
ment was the same as in the preceding experiment. 
Table II gives the results. 


TABLE II 


oe Two RELATED LINES oF Macrosiphum solanifolii, a REARED 
M APTEROUS PARENTS, THE OTHER FROM ALATE PAREN 


Offspring 
Genera- es 
coset) Parents | Host Plant | Dates of Moeting o | Vivipe- | rous 
rous rous (Sexual) | Males 

| Females | Females | Females 
Ein Apterous | First July 7-July 9 22 118 0 0 
Second vehi aE 44 88 0 0 
d July 13 21 62 0 0 
Fourth July 14-July 16 24 28 0 0 
II....| Apterous | First July 18—July 21 47 29 0 0 
Second July 23 y ri 0 0 
PAS Alate First July are 9 98 58 0 0 
Second che 93 67 0 0 
| 62 18 0 0 
Fourth a 1 July 16 66 46 0 0 
Fifth July bi 3 0 0 
II... .| Alate First July 18 65 10 0 0 
| Second July 2 179 29 0 0 
‘July 23 July 24 22 4 0 0 
Totals from reig DAMA a 168 332 0 0 
‘Totals from slate parents... 6c. Io... cans 602 235 0 0 


The conclusion is the same as from Table I. Apterous 
parents give birth more largely to alate offspring, alate 
parents more largely to apterous offspring. 


Relation of Winged and Wingless Forms to the Sexes 


Experiment 303.—Just before the sexual phase of the 
cycle began a line from winged parents was started from 
a line being reared from wingless parents. In so far as 
the two were bred simultaneously their progeny are re- 
corded in Table IIT. 

Of the sexual offspring, the wingless parents produced 
exclusively males, while the wingless parents gave birth 
to a very large majority of sexual females. It may be 


Nos. 622-623] THE SEXES IN THE APHID 511 


TABLE III 
CONTRASTING THE PROGENY OF ALATE PARENTS WITH THE PROGENY OF 
PTEROUS PARENTS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE SEXUAL FORMS, 
IN THE APHID Macrosiphum solanifolii 


Offspring 
Genera-| Parents | Host Plant Dates of Isolating Apterous| Alate Ovipa- 
tion Young Vivipa- | Vivipa- rous 
rous rous | (Sexual) | Males 

Females | Females | Females 
I.....| Apterous| First Sept. 7-Sept. 9 68 2 0 0 
Second | Sept. 11-Sept. 13 33 31 0 0 
Third Sept. 15-Sept. 19 0 14 0 36 
Fourth . Sept. 21 0 0 0 11 
TT....| Apterous | First Sept. 21-Sept. 23 0 62 0 0 
Second Sept. 25-Sept. 27 0 17 0 0 
Third Sept. 29-Oct. 9 0 eto 0 59 
Fourth ? 0 0 0 11 
Tee Alate First Sept. 17-Sept. 19 6 9 0 0 
Second | Sept. 21-Sept. 23 T 0 A ES e 
Thir Sept. 25-Sept. 27 0 0 19 1 
Fourth Sept. 29-Oct. 5 1 0 14 4 
II... .| Alate First Sept. 27-Sept. 29 0 0 27 0 
Second Oct. 1-Oct. 7 0 0 62 0 
ct 0 0 4 0 
Totals from apterous parents. ..............| 101 134 0 117 
Totals from slate parents... > ..:. 66a ee 14 9 134 i7 


also pointed out that the conclusion regarding the rela- 
tion of the winged and wingless viviparous females to 
each other that was drawn from Tables I and II is con- 
firmed in Table III. 


Progressive Change in the Frequency of all the Forms in 
Successive Generations 

Confirmation of the conclusions drawn from the pre- 
ceding experiments is found in several lines which were 
designed to show the normal life cycle over a consider- 
able period when each generation was derived from wing- 
less parents. In addition, these lines show a progressive 
change in frequency of both the winged and wingless 
viviparous forms and of the sexes. Owing to this pro- 
gressive change it was not possible to maintain uniform 
parentage, since in the late generations there were no 
apterous individuals from which to breed. The princi- 
pal lines were obtained in the three following experi- 
ments. 


512 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST (Vou. LII 


Experiment 299.—This was a line reared from a wing- 
less female obtained out of doors about August 10. It 
was reared in the laboratory. Table IV records this line. 


TABLE IV 
A Re aa aren ee LINE or Macrosiphum solanifolii, PRO- 
Y WINGLESS PARENTS 
Note (1) ree asad transition Pei wingless to winged viviparous 


mainly by wingless parents, the sexual females chiefly by winged parents. 
See Experiment 299 


Offspring 
Oma varens | on mant| Dateng tenting | apioa] Atte | ovio 
arous arous | (Sexual) | Males 
Females | Females | Females 

I.....| Apterous | First Aug. 24-Aug. 25 50 0 0 0 
Second Aug. 27—Aug. 28 51 0 0 0 

Third Aug. 30-Sept. 3 29 0 0 0 

II....| Apterous! First Sept. 1 0 0 0 
cond Sept. 3 149 0 0 0 

Third Sept. 5-Sept. 7 49 0 0 0 

Fourth Sept. 5-Sept. 15 0 2 0 37 

Fifth Sept. 9-Sept. 15 58 42 0 7 

Sixth Sept. 17 4 1 0 0 

TIT... Apterous| First Sept. 9-Sept. 11 57 17 10) 0 
Second Sept. 13-Sept. 17 9 13 0 7 

Third ae 0 0 0 9 

IV...) Apterous | First Sept. 17-Sept. 19 13 86 0 0 
Second Sept. 21-Sept. 23 1 30 1 3 

Sept. 25-Sept. 27 0 0 0 15 

Fourth | Sept. 29-Oct. 10 0 0 0 11 

V....| Apterous | First Sept. 27 6 81 0 0 
ond Se 0 34 0 0 

į hird Oct. 1-Oct. 3 0 2 14 44 

Fourth be 0 0 2 39 

Fifth Oct. 9-Oct. 16 0 0 0 25 

VI Apterous | First Oct. 7-Oct. 9 2 17 8 0 
cond Oct. 11-Oct. 16 0 1 LE 21 

Third Oct. 20-Oct. 0 0 0 12 

Alate First Oct. 16-Oct. 25 0 0 24 0 
Second Oct. 30—-Nov. 6 0 0 4 0 

VI ..| Apterous t Oct. 0 5 11 3 
Second Nov. 6 0 0 0 1 

Alate? First Oct. 18-Oct. 20 0 0 134 0 
Second 0 0 101 0 

Third Oct. -2i 0 0 44 0 
Fourth | Oct. 30-Nov. 6 0 0 18 0 

VIII .| Alate? First Nov. 1-Nov. 3 0 0 50 0 
l Second Nov. 6 0 0 10 0 

Third - Nov. 10 0 0 3 0 


2 The alate parents in the seventh and eighth generations were offspring 
of apterous parents. 


Nos. 622-623] THE SEXES IN THE APHID 513 


Experiment 298.—This line was derived from the same 
female as Experiment 299, but was reared in the green- 
house. See Table V. ; 

TABLE V 
A PARTHENOGENETICALLY PRODUCED LINE or Macrosiphum solanifolii, Pro- 
DUCED CHIEFLY BY APTEROUS PARENTS 


The same transitions noted in Table IV are observable here on a smaller 
‘scale. See Experiment 298. 


Offspring 
Genera-| parents | Host Plant Dates of Isolating Apterous| Alate Ovipa- 
tion Young Vivipa- | Vivipa- rous 
rous rous | (Sexual) | Males 
Females | Females | Females 

To Apterous | First Aug. 13 rd 0 0 0 
II....| Apterous | First Aug. 15-Aug. 17 100 5 0 0 
III...| Apterous | First Aug. 24-Aug. 27 15 0 0 0 
Second A S-Au 65 2 0 0 

Sept. 1-Sept. 5 64 4 0 0 

IV...| Apterous | First Sept. 7-Sept. 9 68 9 0 0 
Second | Sept. 11-Sept. 13 33 37 0 0 

hird Sept. 15-Sept. 19 0 14 0 36 

Fourth Sept. 21 0 0 11 

V....| Apterous | First Sept. 21-Sept. 23 0 62 0 0 
l Second Sept. 25-Sept. 27 0 ay 0 0 

Third Sept. 29-Oct. 9 0 2 0 59 

Fourth 0 0 0 11 

Vis. .| Alate First Oct. 13-Oct. 20 0 0 14 0 
Second Oct. 23 0 0 4 0 


Experiment 270.—The stem mother of this line hatched 
from a fertilized egg that was laid in the greenhouse in 
November and hatched in January. In March and April 
the line passed through a sexual phase, but a small num- 
ber of viviparous females were produced during this 
period and by them the parthenogenetic line was con- 
tinued. The families were not fully recorded until the 
latter part of May. Table VI includes only the records 
beginning May 28. Nine generations are there recorded 
as if an uninterrupted line, but an explanation is neces- 
sary. In the midst of the fifth generation the aphids 
began to die in large numbers for an unknown reason. 
In a few days every aphid out of hundreds was dead. 
Fortunately two or three aphids were found on a dis- 
carded plant in the greenhouse. Since only this one line 
had been reared in the greenhouse up to that time I felt 


514 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LII 


TABLE VI 
A PARTHENOGENETIC LINE OF THE APHID tion solanifolii REARED 
CHIEFLY FROM APTEROUS PARENTS 
With certain irregularities the features mentioned in Table IV are recog- 
nizable here also. See Experiment 270. 


Offspring 
EA Hire bed ip pal cael 
: rous rous (Sexual) Males 
Females | Females | Females 

Io Apterous First May 28-June 3 12 31 0 0 

Second June 5-June 8 8 0 0 0 

II....| Apterous First June 12—June 16 31 25 0 0 

cond June 18-June 25 3 5 0 0 

III. ..| Apterous First June 27-June 30 49 0 0 

Second 73 0 0 

hird July 4-July 5 33 48 0 0 

IV...| Apterous| First July 7-July 9 22 118 0 0 

Second July 11 44 88 0 0 

Third July 13 21 62 0 0 

j Fourth July 14-July 16 27 28 0 0 

V....| Apterous First July 18—July 21 47 29 0 0 

Second July 23 Y ra 0 0 

VI...| Apterous | First Aug. 17 7 0 0 0 

VII ..| Apterous | First b: TE 0 0 0 

Second | Sept. 11-Sept. 17 4 0 0 4 

Third Sept. 19-Oct. 5 1 0 0 10 

VIII .| Apterous | First Sept. 21-Sept. 23 0 50 2 0 

Second | Sept. 25-Sept. 27 0 15 5 15 

Third Sept. 29-Oct. 3 0 0 0 34 

'- Fourth Oct. 5-Oct. 16 0 0 0 29 

IX Alate i Oct. 11-Oct. 16 0 0 76 0 
Second Oct. 18-Oct. 25 0 0 4 o 


safe in assuming that these were of the same line. From 
one of them the sixth (?) and succeeding generations of 
Table VI were obtained. 

Attention is directed in Tables IV, V, and VI to the 
following points: 

1. The wingless viviparous females, more abundant 
early in the cycle, are gradually replaced by winged 
females. This is especially clear in Tables IV and V. It 
is obscured in Table VI by the fact that this line is not 
really a continuous one. :A catastrophe in the fifth gen- 
eration made it necessary to resume this line by means 
of a female from the same stock. Up to the fifth genera- 
tion there is an irregular increase in the proportion of 
winged ais which reaches its climax in the fourth 


Nos. 622-623] THE SEXES IN THE APHID 515 


generation. It is impossible to state what the fifth gen- 
eration would have included, since only one fifth of the 
probable progeny were produced or survived. After the 
fifth generation upto the complete disappearance of vivip- 
arous forms, there was again a replacement—this time 
rather sudden than gradual—of the wingless females by 
winged ones. The same gradual disappearance of wing- 
less viviparous in favor of winged females was observed 
in several other experiments of shorter duration which 
are not included in this paper, and has also been found 
in Microsiphum destructor by Miss Gregory (1917). It 
-is therefore to be regarded as of general occurrence. 

2. There is observed in two of the tables (IV and VI) 
a gradual increase in the tendency of wingless females to 
produce sexual females instead of males, as they most 
often do when the sexual phase begins. Thus in Table 
IV, generation IV, 2.5 per cent. of the sexual forms pro- 
duced by apterous parents were sexual females. In gen- 
eration V, 12.9 per cent. of the sexual forms were females. 
In the sixth generation, of the sexual offspring of apter- 
ous parents, 29.7 per cent. were females. In the seventh 
generation, which is the last from apterous parents, 73.3 
per cent. of the sexual offspring were females. Thus, 
while the apterous parents produced mostly males during 
the sexual phase, there is a gradually increasing tendency 
to produce females. In Table VI is a brief indication of 
this same phenomenon. Males alone (of the sexual indi- 
viduals) appear in the seventh generation, but a small 
number of females in the eighth generation. Unfortu- 
nately no apterous parents were available for a further 
generation. If it were possible to obtain wingless 
females in later generations it would be interesting to 
note whether they would not eventually produce only 
females. | 

Whether there is a similar progressive change in the 
sexual offspring of winged females is not so clear, since 
in none of the last three tables of this paper are there 
any male offspring of alate parents. However, in the 


516 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIT 


lower half of Table III there is an example of this kind. 
In the first generation from alate parents there is a 
minority of males; in the second generation no males. It 
is not improbable that, if a long line had been bred from 
alate parents, there would be a progressive decrease in 
the proportion of male offspring in the sexual phase of 
the cycle. 

3. Tables IV, V, and VI also contain confirmation of 
the conclusion drawn from the earlier tables, namely, that 
at any given time winged viviparous parents produce 
more wingless viviparous offspring than do wingless 
parents, and that in the sexual phase males are produced 
chiefly by the wingless parents, sexual females by winged 
parents. 

Discussion 


Although the most striking results of the foregoing ex- 
periments may appear to be the fact that winged vivip- 
arous females produce mostly wingless females in the 
parthenogenetic part of the cycle and sexual females in 
the sexual part, whereas the wingless viviparous females 
produce chiefly winged females in the parthenogenetic 
phase and males in the sexual, nevertheless the clue to 
the explanation of this phenomenon is more nearly dis- 
coverable in the progressive change in the frequency with 
which all forms occur in successive generations. Thus, 
there is a transition from a preponderance of apterous 
females early in the cycle to a predominance of winged 
females later. There is likewise, in the sexual portion of 
the cycle, a transition from males to sexual females. 
This latter transition has been demonstrated in the off- 
spring of wingless mothers, and is indicated as probable 
in the offspring of winged females. 

These transitions imply a gradual change of some sort, 
presumably in the metabolism of the animals. While the 
difference between a male and a sexual female, or be- 
tween an apterous and an alate viviparous female, may be 
a definite morphological difference such as a difference 
in chromosomes, so that an individual is either the one or 


Nos. 622-623] THE SEXES IN THE APHID 517 


the other, not an intermediate, it is hardly possible to 
escape the conclusion that the thing which brings about 
or prevents the morphological alteration is a gradual 
process. ¡What this gradual change may be in the present 
case can not be known from the evidence, for obviously 
changes in the type of metabolism may be of various 
kinds. 

Riddle (1917) conceives of such a change of metabolism 
as a change from individuals having a high rate of metab- 
olism and low energy content to individuals having a 
low rate of metabolism and high energy content. In the 
eggs of pigeons forced to lay eggs continuously, he finds 
just such a change. The early eggs are of the former 
type, the late eggs of the latter type. From the early 
eggs are developed males, from the late ones females; 
and on those facts, supported by other work, Riddle 
bases an elaboration of the Geddes and Thompson theory 
of sex. 

An attempt has been made to fit the facts obtained from 
aphids to Riddle’s conception of sex. The gradual 
transition that occurs both in the parthenogenetic and in 
the sexual phase of the cycle of Macrosiphum indicates 
that one type of metabolism is prevalent early in the 
eycle, and the contrasted type late in the cycle. The fact 
that in this transition males precede sexual females shows 
that, if Riddle’s hypothesis holds for the aphids, the pro- 
gressive change is from a high rate of metabolism and 
low energy content to a low rate of metabolism and high 
energy content. Now it has been shown that wingless 
viviparous females precede winged ones, the change from 
the one form to the other taking place in part simulta- 
neously with the transition from males to sexual females. 
Hence in accordance with Riddle’s scheme wingless 
females should represent a high rate of metabolism and 
low energy content, while the winged ones should possess — 
a low rate of metabolism and high energy content. With 
regard to the rate of metabolism alone, this assumption is 
supported by the fact that winged females require longer 


518 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


to develop, that they produce fewer young per day, and 
that these young are on the average smaller than in the 
case of wingless females. 

There are certain objections, however, to the foregoing 
conclusion. First, if winged viviparous females have a 
low metabolic rate while the wingless ones have a high 
rate, during the parthenogenetic portion of the cycle a 
parent with high rate of metabolism produces chiefly off- 
spring with a low rate of metabolism, and vice versa; 
for wingless females produce chiefly winged ones, and 
winged females produce chiefly wingless ones. On the 
other hand, in the sexual part of the cycle, parent and 
offspring are both of the same metabolic type; for winged 
females (with low rate of metabolism) produce mostly 
sexual females (which in accordance with Riddle’s view 
should possess a low rate of metabolism), whereas wing- 
less females (high rate) produce mostly males (high 
rate). Why parent and offspring should be of a similar 
type of metabolism in the sexual phase, but of unlike type 
in the parthenogenetic phase, is not clear. 

Unless the withholding of food increases the rate of 
metabolism, or unless the rate of metabolism is taken to 
mean not the absolute rate, but the rate relative to the 
food consumed, another objection to the assumption that 
the winged female possesses a lower rate of metabolism 
than the wingless ones is found in the work of Miss 
Gregory (1917). Miss Gregory finds that in M icrosiphum 
destructor starvation of the apterous mothers results in 
the production of more winged offspring. It is only by 
assuming that starvation increases the rate of metab- 
olism, or that ‘‘rate of metabolism’’ means the relative 
“shia tats relative to the amount of food consumed, not 
relative to the rate in another type of individual—that 
Miss Gregory’s discoveries can be interpreted in support 
of Riddle’s hypothesis; providing, of course, that the 
winged females have a lower metabolic rate than the 
wingless females. 

If, to avoid either or both of the difficulties just men: 


Nos. 622-623] THE SEXES IN THE APHID 519 


tioned, and notwithstanding the slower development, 
smaller young and smaller daily output of young of the 
alate females, these winged individuals be assumed to 
have a higher rate of metabolism than the wingless ones, 
other difficulties are encountered. This assumption 
would have the advantage of allowing parent and off- 
spring to be of opposite metabolic type in both the par- 
thenogenetic and sexual portions of the cycle, instead of 
being of opposite type in the parthenogenetic phase and 
of like type in the sexual phase. The transitions, how- 
ever, would be in opposite directions in different parts of 
the cycle. In the parthenogenetic portion there would 
be a transition from a low rate of metabolism to a high 
rate (wingless to winged); while in the sexual part of 
the cycle the transition would be from high rate to low 
rate (male to sexual female). These opposite transitions 
would have to occur in part simultaneously, as in Table 
IV, fourth and fifth generations. 

Unfortunately there has been no opportunity to deter- 
mine experimentally the rate of metabolism in the various 
kinds of individuals in Macrosiphum; that is part of the 
program for the future. In the meantime, whether there 
is a-fallacy in the foregoing argument, or a fallacy in 
Riddle’s conception of the relation of metabolism to sex, 
can not be asserted with any degree of confidence. 

Obviously the mere rate is not the only feature of metab- 
olism that may conceivably be related to sex. Tf there 
are qualitative differences in the reactions that consti- 
tute metabolism, it seems to me more likely that these 
would influence tlie development of sexual organs than 
that the production of ovaries rather than testes could 
be determined by rate of metabolism alone. Qualitative 
differences in the reactions might entail differences in the 
rate of CO, production, and therefore be interpreted as 
quantitative differences. ‘An increase in the output of 
lumber from a sawmill might be taken to indicate that 
the saws were running faster than formerly, whereas in 
reality the saws had been replaced by a new type of saw. 


520 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIT 


So long as rate of metabolism can be determined experi- 
mentally, while the precise reactions can not, there is 
every reason to continue the attempt to relate the rate 
of reaction to the course of development. But when facts 
come to light which do not easily fit preconceived ideas, 
it is highly important that alternate possibilities be kept 
in min 

It is not impossible that the difficulties discussed above 
may be removed by discovering that the metabolic change 
that causes the transition from wingless to winged females 
is different from the change that causes the transition 
from males to sexual females. The two changes may be 
more or less independent of each other. In that case it 
may be possible to separate them experimentally. An 
agent may sometimes be found which will hasten or post- 
pone the sexual reproduction without in any way affect- 
ing the transition from wingless to winged females in the 
parthenogenetic phase. If this agent hastened the sexual 
reproduction, it should act as a male-producing factor, 
since sexual forms would be introduced while wingless 
parthenogenetic females were more abundant. If, on the 
other hand, the agent delayed sexual reproduction, it 
should favor females, since the parthenogenetic mothers 
would then be more largely winged. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Gregory, Louise H. 
1917. The Effect of Starvation on the Wing Development of Micro- 
siphum destructor. Biol. Bull., Vol. 33, No. 4, October, pp. 
296-303. 
Riddle, Oscar. 
1917. The Theory of Sex as Stated in Terms of Results of Studies on 
Pigeons. Science, N. S., Vol. 46, No. 1175, July 6, pp. 19-24. 
Pateh, Edith M. 
1915. Pink and Green Aphid of the Potato. Maine Agric. Exp. Sta- 
tion Bull,"242, October, 1915, pp. 205-223. 


ORGANIC EVOLUTION AND THE SIGNIFICANCE 
OF SOME NEW EVIDENCE BEARING 
ON THE PROBLEM 


PROFESSOR L. B. WALTON 


KENYON COLLEGE 


I 


Tue biological problem recognized as having the great- 
est fundamental importance at the present period is that 
problem of evolution relating to the means by which the 
heritable characters differentiating various organisms 
from one another were first called into existence, or 
granting the validity of the gene hypothesis and speaking 
more concisely, how hereditary character-forming genes 
have originated in the process of evolution. That the 
diverse forms of life found upon the earth are only to 
be explained as the result of organic evolution, is a prop- 
osition which scarcely needs be mentioned at the present 
period in the history of science, at least so far as indi- 
viduals endowed with minds reasonably logical in evalu- 
ating evidence are concerned. It is not evolution as a 
process going on in the world which is being particularly 
questioned nor the general method by which characters 
once having originated are inherited, but the particular 
method by which heritable characters first arose. 

The purpose of the essay here presented is threefold. 
First, that of pointing out the unsatisfactory nature of 
much of the earlier evidence as a basis for sound general- 
izations in connection with a clear understanding of evo- 
lution. Second, that of calling attention to the serious 
shortcomings of modern methodology in throwing light 
on the causative factors of evolution. Third, that of pre- 
senting some new evidence somewhat unique in its na- 
ture, based in part on preliminary experimental work, to 

521 


522 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LE 


the effect that the environment acting through long inter- 
vals of time may impress characters upon an organism 
which become unalterable by reversal processes. 

To these propositions may be added the suggestion of 
the fundamental importance which physico-chemical 
methods must play during the future in solving the.prob- 
lems of evolution. 

II 


The controversies relating to evolution have been 
many. When, however, one considers the interest at- 
tached to the subject, its broad bearing on various phases 
of human welfare—sociology and economics in general, 
animal and plant breeding in particular—together with 
the difficulties of interpretation which apparently have 
increased rather than diminished during the sixty or 
more years seriously devoted to its elucidation, it is not 
at all surprising that many different conclusions have 
been reached, many dogmatic statements presented, and 
many acrimonious discussions engendered. 

In connection with a clearer understanding of the 
points at issue, it will be well to pass certain historical 
details relating to the development of the different 
theories somewhat critically in review. This is done 
even at the risk of a repetition of facts quite familiar to 
those who have taken more than a passing interest in the 
subject. 

For long the theory of natural selection dependent on 
the inheritance of small chance variations received gen- 
eral acceptance. Championed by Weismann in his 
notable controversy with Spencer to the exclusion of the 
Lamarckian idea that characters acquired through en- 
vironmental stimuli were heritable, it seemed at the time 
entirely plausible as an explanation meeting the condi- 
tions. 

With the greater attention given to experimental meth- 
ods, however, doubt arose concerning the fundamental 
value of selection and resulted in the presentation of the 
mutation theory by DeVries. Here evolution was inter- 


Nos. 622-623] ORGANIC EVOLUTION 523 


preted as arising from sudden and comparatively ex- 
treme variations passed on by inheritance in nearly an 
unchanged condition. Once more the results of experi- 
mental work along the lines of the rediscovered principle 
of Mendelian segregation indicated to a large number of 
students of evolution that the facts set forth by DeVries 
were subject to quite another explanation, in itself hav- 
ing no bearing on the origin, but merely on the redistribu- 
tion of the character-forming units already present in 
the stock utilized. Another explanation not taking into 
account the purity or impurity of the parental stock, ac- 
counted for ‘‘mutations’’ through the sudden ineffective- 
ness or loss of a gene. 

The dissatisfaction thus arising resulted in the return 
of many to the fold of “acquired characters.’’ Semon 
(1912) reviving the ““mneme”” principle received the sup- 
port of Wettstein, Przibram, and others. A disinclina- 
tion existed, however, among most naturalists to accept 
the evidence presented as seriously upholding the inheri- 
tance of new characters produced by environmental 
stimuli. Explanations of the results on quite other 
grounds seemed more plausible. For example, the work 
of Tower (1906), (1910), ete., in attempting to control the 
color pattern of the potato beetle by changes in tempera- 
ture and humidity, encountered the impurity of the germ- 
plasm objection as well as the gene loss objection, either 
one of which would be fatal to the validity of the conelu- 
sions, if sustained. Commenced at a period in 1895, prior 
to the rediscovery of the principles dealing with alterna- 
tive inheritance, and finished in 1904 before the facts 
were duly appreciated, it is not at all improbable that 
genetic complications in the way of recessives, modifiers, 
losses, lethals, ete., were involved. The destructive eriti- 
cism presented by Cockerell, Gortner, Bateson, Castle, 
and others, particularly in reference to the later studies 
of Tower (1910), makes it evident that the results must 
be confirmed from independent sources with more con- 
sideration to the possible errors mentioned before the 
conclusions are to be accepted. 


524 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


Similarly, the work of MacDougal (1907), in connec- 
tion with the modification of Raimannia odorata, one of 
the Patagonian primroses, may be explained. Compton, 
as noted by Bateson (1912), using the same species, was 
unable to obtain like results, while Humbert (1911) utiliz- 
ing 7,500 pure line plants of Silene noctiflora, one of the 
““pinks?” also failed to obtain so-called ‘‘mutants’’ simi- 
lar to those found by MacDougal. 

The investigations of Kammerer, Woltereck, Ferro- 
niere, etc., are of decided interest, but to those critically 
inclined they offer no evidence giving pronounced sup- 
port to the proposition that environmental stimuli form 
new genetic factors. 

Thus, in turn, have the theories as to the method by 
which evolutionary progress occurs been undermined 
by doubt. Feeling the insufficiency of small chance varia- 
tions, of environmental variations, and of larger germi- 
nal variations, as a summation process, it is not to be 
wondered that the truth-seeking pilgrim has become 
wearied in his journey and longs for a more secure rest- 
ing place. 

Il 

Let us return to the problem as suggested in the open- 
ing paragraph, namely the actual origin of heritable 
characters, and consider somewhat more carefully as to 
whether theories exist justified by facts, which will 
furnish acceptable evidence. There are two well-de- 
veloped hypotheses, the general one of DeVries and the 
more specific one of Morgan and his associates, founded 
on discontinuous variations, and that of Castle based on 
continuous variations. 

Considering the views of DeVries and his followers in 
the light of experimental investigations made during the 
last ten years, it has become more and more evident that 
by far the greater number, if not all, of the so-called mu- 
tations thus obtained, were explainable on the basis of the 
combinations of preexisting units of the germ cells. This 
rests upon the proposition that there are present in the 


Nos. 622-623] ORGANIC EVOLUTION 525 


gametes certain hypothetical entities to which the name 
gene or factor has been applied and which give rise to 
the heritable characters of an organism. Thus it is at 
once recognized that the problem relates to the origin of 
the gene, rather than to the origin of the apparent char- 
acters with which it is correlated, and that by far the 
greater number of so-called new characters are not new, 
but were performed at remote periods of time. So far 
as the present arguments are concerned, it matters not 
whether the results are assumed to be brought about by 
material units or enzyme reactions. The prepared poten- 
tialities exist in either case. 

As examples of extreme types of characters which may 
arise from the combinations of existing genes and which 
might have been considered ‘‘mutations’’ at an earlier 
period when the facts as to their origin were not fully 
known, one need only mention the ‘‘blue’’ of the Andalu- 
sian Fowl exhibited by the hybrid between the black and 
white parental stock, or the ‘‘pink’’ presented by the 
cross between the red and white ‘‘four-o-clocks’’ of Cor- 
rens. A type of characters more in line with mutations 
which have been described and to which there is every 
reason for believing that many of them may be referred, 
rests upon multiple gene effects combined with sterility, 
in accordance with evidence presented by Davis, and oth- 
ers. Of decided interest in this connection is a recent 
paper by Muller (1917) calling attention to ‘‘An Gno- 
thera-like case in Drosophila’’ where a result quite com- 
parable to certain mutations of (Enothera is explained 
through the action of balanced lethal genes. There are 
other varying degrees of combinations from which **mu- 
tant”? characters may arise and which depend on the be- 
havior of the genetic material in connection with reces- 
sives, modifiers, lethals, crossovers, non-disjunction, ete. 

There is really nothing extraordinary in the appear- 
ance and disappearance of the characters thus formed, 
beyond their interpretation, and this has furnished false 
premises for many erroneous conclusions, chief of which, 


526 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST (Vou. LII 


in the opinion of the writer, is the mutation theory as out- 
lined by DeVries in so far as it may account for progres- 
sive evolution. 
Inasmuch as it seems probable that the results obtained 
by Castle are to be explained upon the same basis as 
those of DeVries, it will be well to consider them in this 
connection. Here it is assumed that a continuously 
variable heritable gene is involved, and that progressive 
results are obtained through the selection of the ‘‘unit 
characters’’ produced by such a gene. Castle, however, 
stands almost alone in vigorous support of such a varia- 
tion, while opposed to him are the Hagedoorns, Morgan, 
Pearl, Punnett, McDowell, Muller and others equally in- 
istent that genes once having originated pass on from 
one generation to another unchanged except in compara- 
tively rare instances where so-called ““mutations”” occur." 
It is maintained by those advocating this view that the 
results in connection with hooded rats on which Castle 
bases his contentions, are due to an uncertain number of 
modifying genes not in themselves variable, and that the 
existence of such genes has been demonstrated in other 
organisms presenting results similar to those obtained 
in rats. The work of Little (1917) with mice where 
three segregating types of spotting were found to pro- 
duce varying degrees of color pattern, indicates that 
multiple genes are involved. Furthermore, the analysis 
by Little of the data obtained by Castle, Phillips and 
Wright, points decidedly to the interpretation of their 
1 Jennings (1917) has recently endeavored to show that the views of 
Castle and his opponents are identical, This, however, is by no means the 
ease. On the one hand there is the idea of a continually variable gene (coat- 
color-producing gene in at), moved gradually along a given scale by selec- 
tion. On the other hand there is the idea of a rarely mutating gene (e. g., 
sais insted eye color producing gene in Drosophila) moving abruptly from 
one part to another of the scale. Its position once obtained remains for a 
time constant. These differences of interpretation are at present 
cilable. de 
Since this note was written, Morgan (1917) has discussed the matter in 
detail, presenting arguments quite similar to those mentioned above, and 
arriving at a similar conclusion. 


Nos. 622-623] ORGANIC EVOLUTION 527 


results on the basis of multiple genes instead of a con- 
tinually varying gene. 

It would thus appear evident that the theory outlined 
by Castle is open to quite the same objections that oc- 
cur in connection with the mutation theory of DeVries, 
and that there is little evidence for believing that it has 
any fundamental value in explaining evolution. 

The mutation theory of Morgan and his associates, 
based primarily on results obtained in studies of the 
small ‘‘fruit-fly’’ Drosophila, apparently presents quite 
another view of the subject. Here it is clearly indicated 
that evolution has taken place through the incorporation 
of mutant changes, and that these changes are due to dis- 
continuous ‘‘mutations’’ of genes as exemplified in mul- 
tiple allelomorphs. 

Assuming the validity of the arguments based on link- 
age relations in respect to the localization of the genes, 
the conclusion follows that the ‘‘mutation’’ results either 
(1) from a change in a specific gene or (2) from the com- 
plete linkage of a series of genes. If the latter proposi- 
tion should be the correct interpretation, and it is by no 
means clear that it is not, the objections urged against 
the theories of DeVries and of Castle hold equally here. 

Morgan and several others have presented evidence for 
believing in the specific change of a gene. Granting that 
this is the actual explanation of the facts presented in 
connection with multiple allelomorphs, etc., there are two 
lines of argument leading to the conclusion that these 
changes are results of combinational sub-units or sub- 
genes existing in the species, and that progressive evolu- 
tionary changes are no more represented here than in the 
previous theories of DeVries and of Castle. 

The first argument (a) rests upon the recurrent ‘‘mu- 
tations’’ which have been noted in a considerable number 
of cases. Thus the sex-linked eye colors of Drosophila 
forming the multiple allelomorph system consisting of 
white, eosin, cherry, blood, tinged, and buff, and their 
dominant allelomorph, red, of the wild fly, have their 


528 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


origin from a single definite area or locus in the “X” 
chromosome, accepting linkage as a criterion. They have 
not arisen in a continuous series but as sudden changes 
from one extreme to another at comparatively long inter- 
vals. The character may remain modified in one direc- 
tion and then suddenly revert to an original condition. 
Thus white changed to eosin and later back to white as 
noted by Morgan (1916). Furthermore, the changes are 
not extremely infrequent. A similar transformation has 
been noted by Emerson (1917) in maize where self color 
apparently changed to variegation and later back to self 
color. A variation which may be of the same type has 
been described by Shull (1911) for Lychnis. Quite re- 
cently Zeleny (1917) in studies on Drosophila melano- 
gaster Meig. (—=ampelophila Low)? has noted a reversed 
mutation where full-eyed flies result from the return of 
the bar gene to the original full-eyed condition. In each 
of the cases mentioned the germinal purity of the stock 
was believed to be without question. 

Such results are not to be attributed to a continuous 
series of mutations, to progressive changes, or to genetic 
losses. They clearly suggest that the gene, if it is the 
individual gene which is involved, is made up of smaller 
combinational units which through their permutations 
give rise to the characters in question. Presumptive evi- 
dence is certainly furnished against the idea that any- 
thing new has developed in the organism to form the par- 
ticular characters. Furthermore, one may well believe 
that any particular mutation under observation suffici- 
ently long, will exhibit recurrent changes. 

The second argument (b), to the effect that the gene is 
comparatively stable and that “*mutations”? are only 
transitory combinational changes, is based on the main- 
tenance of apparently identical genes through long 
periods of time. Thus Metz (1917 ) found that the three 
mutations which had, up to that time, oceurred in Droso- 
phila virilis Sturt. appeared exact duplications of the 

2 Sturtevant, mss. 


Nos. 622-623] ORGANIC EVOLUTION 529 


mutations in Drosophila melanogaster Meig.? In both 
species ‘‘confluent,’’ a modification of the wing venation, 
is similar in form, dominant over ‘‘normal’’ and : 
““lethal,”? when the fly is homozygous for the character. 
The characters ‘‘yellow’’ and ‘‘forked’’ are sex linked 
in both species and otherwise alike so far as the evidence 
exists. Inasmuch as the earliest representative of Droso- 
phila thus far known is a species not decidedly different 
from those now existing as noted by Löw (1850), who de- 
seribed it from the amber of the Baltic Sea, and belongs 
to the Lower Oligocene of the Tertiary Period, with an 
age of from two millions to three millions of years, one 
must infer that the genes common to the two species men- 
tioned have been preformed for a long period of time, 
and that nature has paid little attention to such muta- 
tional changes as occur in connection with multiple allelo- 
morphs. 

There are certain investigations widely separated as 
to their content, but apparently closely correlated as to 
the underlying explanatory principles involved, which 
must not be overlooked in a consideration of the changes 
which may take place in hereditary units. These are 
concerned with the differences involved in metabolism.* 

On the one hand there are studies dealing with the di- 
rect effects of a changed metabolism on the developing 
individual. Here may be mentioned the work of Lillie in 
connection with the ““free-martin”” of cattle; Steinach on 
the transplantation of the gonads in rats and guinea- 
pigs; Goodale on the grafting of ovaries in male fowls; 
Pearl and Surface on the degeneration of the ovary in 
cattle; Riddle with pigeons, etc. On the other hand, there 
are studies dealing with the indirect effects on inheri- 

3 The species are distinctly separated not only in external appearance but 
also by their chromosome number. D. melanogaster has four pairs, while 
D. virilis has five pairs of chromosomes. ds 

4 The theory has had a long historical development. Treat (1873) pub- 
lished a paper on controlling sex in butterflies as a result of food supply. 
Yung (1881) worked with tadpoles. Nussbaum (1897) with rotifers. 
Recent evidence of an elaborate nature has ‘been presented by Goldschmidt, 
- Woltereck, Whitney, Banta, Shull and others. 


530 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIT 


tance. Among thesé may be mentioned that of Gold- 
- Schmidt with moths; Woltereck with daphnids; Plough 
with temperature effects on Drosophila; Hoge with the 
effects of cold on Drosophila; Morgan with the effects of 
moist food supply on Drosophila, ete. 

As an example of the development group, the investi- 
gation of Lillie may be noted. The evidence obtained 
showed that the ‘‘free-martin’’ or sterile female usually 
developing where the twins are of separate sexes in cat- 
tle, ete., resulted from the modifying influences of the sex 
hormones in the male where the two chorions had anas- 
tomosed. 

As an example of the inheritance group, Morgan has 
found that the ‘‘mutant’’ ‘‘abnormal abdomen ”’ in Droso- 
phila occurs in connection with a moist food supply. The 
character is a sex-linked dominant. If an abnormal male 
is bred to a normal female and the food is kept moist, the 
sons are normal and the daughters abnormal. If the food 
is dry both sons and daughters are normal. The recipro- 
cal cross gives sons and daughters both abnormal with 
moist food but normal with dry food. 

It follows then that in Drosophila the gene for the ab- 
normality—or the chemical preparedness for the inhibi- 
tion of normality, if one so wishes to term it—is per- 
formed in the ‘‘X’’ chromosome and merely awaits a 
suitable environment before presenting itself as a char- 
acter. Similarly, in connection with the changes occur- 
ring in the development of the ““free-martin”” of cattle, 
it seems necessary to admit that there are genes present 
in the sex chromosome concerned with the development 
of sexual characters which, however, are in a state of 
equilibrium, and that the inhibition or the excitation® of 
one or the other genes or groups of genes will result in 
the development of the corresponding individual. 

From the facts presented, one seems justified in making 
the deduction that heredity hands down a framework 

5 It has been shown by Chapin (1917) that the gonads of the free-martin 
_ originally destined to be a female, attain a male condition. 


Nos. 622-623] ORGANIC EVOLUTION 531 


which within certain limits allows a plasticity in the de- 
velopment, and that the direction of development is de- 
termined by physico-chemical influences through the 
suppression of potential units. 

Thus the conclusion seems almost unavoidable that by 
far the larger number, if not all, of the heritable charac- 
ters making up an organism, result from combinational 
units which have long been predetermined, and that the 
breeder, whether the semi-scientific agriculturist or the 
ultra-scientific drosophilist, is largely, if not entirely, en- 
gaged in presenting new combinations of existing units. 
If this be true, modern genetics has left the actual prob- 
lem of evolution far to one side and deals only with re- 
sults of a secondary, although none the less interesting, 
nature. 

One is, therefore, led to inquire as to whether there 
may be available evidence which will permit a new insight 
into conditions governing the formation of characters, 
even though the evidence from its nature must be largely 
circumstantial. 


IV 


Accompanying the progressive swimming movement 
of most aquatic microorganisms there is a characteristic 
axial rotation. This has been noted by Nigeli, Engel- 
mann, Strassburger, Mast and more in detail by Jennings 
(1901) who has called attention to the value which such a 
compensatory motion may have for the organism in which 
it exists. No explanation has been suggested other than 
this as to the origin of the rotation, and without further 
thought it is evident that one would be inclined to attrib- 
ute it to natural selection, assuming that those individ- 
uals in which it did not occur were at a disadvantage in 
the struggle for existence by reason of their more con- 
fined movement. 

It is the phase of the question dealing with the par- 
ticular causes bringing about the rotation that appears 
to be of extreme significance when considered in connec- 
tion with the principles underlying evolution and to be | 


532 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von. LII 


susceptible to quite another explanation than the natural 
selection implied by the term ‘‘adaptiveness’’ which, in 
accordance with Jennings (1906), is based on the idea 
that ‘‘it tends to preserve the life of the 
animal.’? Furthermore, when the groups 
of facts associated with the character- 
istic rotation are brought in review, it 
would seem that the explanation sug- 
gested may go far toward interpreting 
the origin of the fundamental activities 
as well as the origin of- the characters in 
general of organisms. 

In connection with the preparation of 
a systematic review of the order Eug- 
lenoidina belonging to the class Flagel- 
lata of the Protozoa (1915), it was noted 
with decided interest that a large number 
of the forms possessed an oblique stria- 
tion ranging from almost indiscernible 

markings to characters of great com- 

ec plexity impressed upon a cellulose-like 
eL etriotacomoction Cuvelope (E g., Euglena spirogyra 
with clockwise toia- Hhrenb., Phacus pyrum (Ehrenb.), Het- 
Dont) and process < FOREGO spirale Klebs, ete.), the striæ 
means of anterio €Xtending forward and to the left. The 
flagellum. character also appeared to be invariably 
correlated with an axial rotation of the organism from 
right over to left (Fig. 1). Such a movement is to be de- 
scribed in physical terms as ‘‘clockwise,”’ the position of 
the observer being in front of the advancing organism. 

The facts took on additional interest when it was noted 
that forms with a reverse striation seemed entirely ab- 
- sent from the northern hemisphere, although such forms 
existed in the southern hemisphere. 

Inasmuch as the euglenoids are in general positively 
phototactic under normal conditions, it would immedi- 
ately occur to one seriously considering the question, that 


Nos. 622-623] ORGANIC EVOLUTION 533 


the underlying principle producing the rotation was the 
turning of the earth on its axis, with the resultant appar- 
ent motion of the sun from east to west. Such a hy- 
pothesis would become the more tenable when it was 
found that negatively phototactic microorganisms of the 
northern hemisphere rotated as a rule in a reverse or 
counter-clockwise direction. 

Some of the evidence thus far obtained may be pre- 
sented more clearly in tabular formë (Table I). Thus 


TABLE I 
A series of aquatic microorganisms showing in general the clockwise rotation 
of positively phototaetic forms and the counter-clockwise rotation of nega- 
tively phototactic forms in the northern hemisphere, with evidence for the 
tendency to reverse condition in the southern hemisphere 


Northern Hemisphere 


peN IES. URI a aAa a Positive. Clockwise, 
Eu prin ieai M ea eres Positive. Clockwise. 
fist a ia DU e tec rt ae ee Positive i 
Huplena epiregyra bres. ee ii ee. Positive Clockwise 
Leptocinelis ovum (Ebr.). +...» ... Positive Clockwise 
o a eats a oe kis os ositive Clockwise 
ryptamonas ovata ERT, ..........«..... Positive Clockwise. 
P 1 (MAR) Ta a Positive Clockwise 
Wind elegans (BNE) IP Positive i 
Volvox glo PEN A E Arms E E Positive. Clockwise. 
Stentor polymorphus Ehr. (= wni.. . Positive. Counterclockwise. 
Phacus longicauda Ehr. ..............-. Positive. Counterclockwise. 
Stentor: curulis ET. oons eiei is ee. Negative. Counterclockwise. 
amre cpeblearía Goe r-ri faite oc Negative. Counterclockwise, 
Arenicola cristata (larva) ......... wipes egative. Counterclockwise, 
Chilomonas paramecium Ehr.1 .......... Negative. Counterclockwise. 


Leptocinclis piriformis Cun. ........ „as Positive? Counterclockwise. 
Phacus bactilifer Cam, .. siei- evs cee ees Positive? Counterclockwise. 
Leptocinclis mammilata Cun, ...........- Positive? Clockwise 


it may be stated that so far as the facts are available, 

positively phototactic forms with the exception of 
6 The rotation direction and light responses noted are those taking place 

under normal conditions. The conelusions presented are not altered by the 

fact that as a result of stimuli under conditions imperfectly known, reverse 

movements may occur, e. g., the Seealive response of catas. to intense 
ight. 


534 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIL 


Stentor polymorphus Ehrenb. (=S. viridis aut.) and 
Phacus longicauda Ehrenb. rotate clockwise in the north- 
ern hemisphere. Inasmuch as the phototactic relation of 
the ciliates in general is negative, where a reaction exists, 
it seems probable that the inclusion of the minute sym- 
biotic forms of alge, Chlorella vulgaris Beyer, which 
gives the species its characteristic green apperance, has 
induced a change from a negatively phototactic to a 
positively phototactic condition, while the organism re- 
tained its original counterclockwise rotation. Small 
forms like Chlorella which contain chloroplasts, are gen- 
erally positively phototactic so far as their responses to 
normal conditions are known. 

Phacus longicauda (Ehrenb.) is an euglenoid about 
100» in length, with comparatively flat wing-like expan- 
sions. The striæ covering the body are longitudinal. In 
swimming, however, many of the forms have the anterior 
part of the right expansion turned slightly down, while 
the left expansion is turned up ina similar manner. This 
gives their progressive movement a counterclockwise 
rotation. 

In the southern hemisphere direct observation of the 
characteristic rotation has not been made, but inasmuch 
as the direction of the striæ indicates the direction of the 
rotation, certain evidence is available. Cunha (1913) in 
his studies of Protozoa from Brazil has figured several 
forms showing distinctly the arrangement of the strie - 
in the excellent plates drawn by himself. While it is not 
impossible that a careless investigator might focus on the 
lower part of the specimen, thus showing the reverse 
position of the striæ, the careful work of Cunha scarcely 
permits one to suggest such a criticism. It may further- 
more be noted that the apparently counterclockwise ro- 
tating forms described by him are species quite different 
from the typical northern forms, while the forms which 
_ evidently rotate clockwise are closely allied to species 
from the northern hemisphere, and may have been intro- 
duced comparatively recently so far as evolutionary time 
is concern 


Nos. 622-623] ORGANIC EVOLUTION 535 


The original development of the unicellular forms in 
the northern hemisphere with their subsequent introduc- 
tion to the southern hemisphere by aquatic birds, ete., is 
well within the range of possibility and suggests that 
even should forms with reverse rotations be entirely ab- 
sent from south of the equator, the hypothesis which has 
been proposed would by no means be invalidated. 

Having presented the general facts as to the behavior 
of free-swimming microorganisms, it becomes advisable 
to consider the explanations which may exist as to the 
origin of the characteristic rotation. It seems impossible 
to attempt to account for such a character on the ground 
of ‘‘natural selection.?”? One would be compelled to be- 
lieve that the reverse rotation—the counterclockwise ro- 
tation of positive northern forms—possessed an elimina- 
tion value, an almost indefensible proposition, particu- 
larly when forms like Stentor polymorphus and Phacus 
longicauda are considered as well as forms in the south- 
ern hemisphere which do not rotate in agreement with 
theory. 

The most obvious explanation to be considered is that 
based on the influence which the sun in its apparent daily 
movement from east to west in the equatorial region may 
be supposed to have exerted on the flagellum (Fig. 2). 
This assumes that the flagellum is the orienting factor 
and that the sun has induced in it an east-west rotary-like 
or whip-like propelling movement. The consequent me- 
chanical effect would be that in the northern hemisphere 
forms with a positive light reaction would rotate clock- 
wise and those with a negative light reaction would rotate 
counterclockwise. Conditions would be reversed for 
those which might be present in the southern hemisphere 
during the evolutionary stage. 

Conversely, negatively phototactic forms would de- 
velop a reversed or counterclockwise rotation by means 
of the influence of the light rays on the stroke of the light 
avoiding flagellum and their modified organs, the cilia. 
It is by no means necessary to believe that the stroke of 


536 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


the flagellum should be one of rotation, although theory 
would imply a partial rotation in the primitive flagellate 
forms. The method of movement by means of the flagel- 
lum furnishes a problem of considerable difficulty which 


o. 2. Il amr the theory as to the origin of axial rotation in aquatic 

microorganisms of the northern and southern hemisphere of the earth by the 

ap) peck tin pr the sun from east to west. N, etc., north, etc.; F, flagel- 
+ i 


e and ri 
(observer in at 4 ve oe ny ot Arar pits send site 
primitive rotation 
has received attention from several investigators, notably 
Delage and Herouard (1896), Goodspeed and Moore 
(1911), Biitschli and others. 
| ere are several inferences of an axiomatic nature 


Nos. 622-623] ORGANIC EVOLUTION 537 


that follow from such an hypothesis. Forms near the 
neutral equatorial region may be assumed to possess a 
slower rotation than forms near the poles and at the 
same time there may be expected to occur a change in the 
relative angle which the stri# make with the longitudinal 
axis of the body, their direction becoming approximately 
parallel with that axis.. The cosmopolitan distribution 
of unicellular organisms with the evident non-selective 
value of the character makes such a hypothesis difficult 
of demonstration. The application of statistical meth- 
ods would be of interest, however. 

A second explanation of the rotation direction, appar- 
ently, however, a negligible one, is on the basis of the 
angular velocity of the earth so far as it may have an 
influence on small bodies at its surface. With free- 
swimming microorganisms oriented in accordance with 
the axis of the earth during definite intervals and rotat- 
ing in the same direction that the earth rotates, condi- 
tions are fulfilled for such a mechanical explanation. 
When, however, the relative dimensions of the earth and 
the organisms as well as the relative density of the earth, 
the water and the organism, are considered, it is difficult 
to believe that the explanation lies in this direction. 
While many of the forms are attached to some definite 
surface in the water during certain periods of their de- 
velopment, there are others which reproduce directly in 
the water and should this have been the primitive condi- 
tion of development, the rotation of the earth would have 
been ineffective. | 

While the possibility of electrical forces may be men- _ 
tioned as an influence, there are no facts known which al- 
low an interpretation in this direction. 

During the. past two years a considerable number of 
experiments have been made in attempts to obtain some 
definite evidence as to the cause of the rotation. Obvi- 
ously it would be of interest to maintain a culture of 
northern forms in the southern hemisphere or a culture 
of southern forms in the northern hemisphere. Efforts 


538 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von. LIT 


to obtain living cultures from desirable localities, the 
Falkland Islands, New South Wales, the southern part of 

outh America, etc., have thus far failed. A method, 
however, was devised by which it seemed theoretically 
possible to subject northern flagellates to an environment 
similar to that of the southern hemisphere. A clinostat 
(Fig. 3) having a clockwise rotation of fifteen minutes 


Fic. 3. A clinostat arranged for the purpose of subjecting northern flagellates, 
etc., to an apparent west-east movement of the sun, the covered portion being 
toward the north. 


was procured, a circular table ten inches in diameter 
fitted to this, and the northern half covered so that the 
revolving table containing slides in excavated recesses 
would pass into darkness on one side and emerge moving 
from east to west. Thus the apparent path of the sun 
so far as the organisms were concerned would be from 
west to east. The larger unstriated Euglena have been 
used almost entirely in the experiments, inasmuch as it 
would apparently be impossible to change the direction 
of rotation in forms like Euglena spirogyra Ehrenb., 
Phacus pyrum (Ehrenb.), ete., where the strim are cari- 
nate in structure with an angle almost if not entirely pre- 
cluding a rotation in the direction opposite to that in 
which they were accustomed to turn. 


4 


A 


Flagellate forms 


rom 


a f t 
(Ohio); B, Euglena spirog 


C 
phere illustrating the development of the left-hand s 
); O, Urceolus costatus Lemm. (Europe); D, Heteronema spirale Klebs (Europe). 


~ 


D 


triæ. A, Euglena hemogranulata 


[€Z9-ZZ9 “SON 


NOILATOAY JINVIYO 


540 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LIT 


While there has been a large amount of data obtained, 
thus far no evidence shows that either a ‘‘reversal’’ or a 
““slowing up”” of the rotation may be produced in any of 
the individuals utilized. 

Even though it may not be possible to change the direc- 
tion or the period of rotation in ‘‘adult’’ forms, may not 
such changes be produced in encysted forms or during a 
period when gametes are developed. Experiments are 
yet to be made with individuals in an encysted condition, 
and with material available it will be possible to utilize 
gamete-producing forms. That Euglena has a sexual 
cycle was pointed out by the writer nearly ten years ago 
(Walton, 1909).7 Certain forms encyst, the cysts subdi- 
viding to approximately a 16-cell stage, small flagellate 
gametes emerge and conjugate. An experiment of this 
nature involves a discussion of the environmental effect 
on germ cells as compared with somatic cells, but does 
not affect the issues with which we are concerned in the 
present paper. 

There are many other questions of interest which arise 
in a study such as outlined. For instance, what has been 
the origin of the striæ which are much specialized in many 
forms, although entirely absent in other forms (Fig. 4) so 
far as visibility with the microscope is concerned. The 
majority of the positive northern forms have ““left- 
handed” striæ, a smaller number have longitudinal 
striæ, while a considerable number appear to have no 
strie. None have been found with “*right-handed” 
strie. At first one may be inclined to attribute such a 
character to natural selection, but when one commences 
to ascertain the value of the character on the basis of pro- 
gression, rotation and axial angle, such a conclusion 
seems less certain. There are a few facts that appear 
evident. First that the development of the striw has 


been at a considerably later period than that of the rota- 


tion direction. Second that the relative position of the 
strie has been largely dependent on the rotation. Third, 
7 Paper presented at annual meeting of Ohio Academy of Science, 1908. 


Nos. 622-623] ORGANIC EVOLUTION 541 


that the development of the striæ has in many forms pro- 
ceeded so far that a reversal rotation seems an impossi- 
bility. 

The presence of a considerable number of other groups 
which have ‘‘left-handed’’ spirals so far as observation 
goes, is of interest. The various genera of Spirochetes, 
as well as Spirulina and Arthrospira among the Cyano- 


Fic, 5. Flagellate forms from the southern hemisphere, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 
(from Cunha), illustrating the development of ‘sad right-hand strie. A, Phacus 
bacilifer Cunha; B, Leptocinclis piriformis Cun 


phycoidea (Cyanophycee) may be mentioned. The 
twining of plants may, in the final analysis, be attrib- 
utable to the same cause. 

Other related problems are the pendulation theory of 
Simroth (1912) relative to bipolar distribution, and the 
tropism theory as outlined by Verworn (1894), in con- 
nection with the excitation contraction of the flagellum. 


542 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von. LII 


y 


Having indicated some of the difficulties existing along 
the lines of established research in the efforts to account 
for the derivation of the fundamental heritable units 
making up an organism and having presented a series of 
observations suggesting that a new perspective may be 
obtained by utilizing methods of attacking the problem 
somewhat different from those hitherto employed, the 
particular purpose of the paper is accomplished. 

It may be asserted by some that such an attempt at a 
summary disposal of the existing evidence as to the actual 
origin of characters represents an unfortunate type of 
destructive criticism. Furthermore, that the acceptance 
of the validity of the arguments as to the long predeter- 
mined nature of the genes or subgenes, leads us once 
more in the direction of the somewhat antiquated theory 
of preformation. It is not impossible that these views 
are in part justified. Nevertheless it is well within the 
bounds of propriety to occasionally inquire as to whether 
the enthusiasm developed for a special discovery has 
not resulted in too broad an application of its principles. 
The mutation theory particularly as developed by Mor- 
gan is of interest. It is circumscribed at least in part 
by the phenomena of mendelian inheritance, and it is 
evident that one should look farther for the facts which 
may assist in explaining the real origin of the diversity 
of living things. 

Tf additional studies support the view suggested by the 
facts here presented, namely, that characters of a physio- 
logical nature may be produced by environmental causes, 
and that these in turn may demand the correlation of 
morphological characters regardless of the origin of the 
latter, an important step will have been made in account- 
ing for the primary differentiation of organisms. The 
later secondary differentiation through the combinations 
‘of units which have thus arisen, and which attains its 
maximum in the complex multicellular animals and 
plants, offers no particular difficulties in its explanation. 


Nos. 622-623] ORGANIC EVOLUTION 543 


Furthermore, such an idea is more in harmony with the 
paleontological evidence as presented by Osborn (1912) 
and others, than one based on the mutational idea, and 
it is to fossil forms that one must look for the all-impor- 
tant historical record. 

Should one propose a hypothesis of an ultimate unit, 
slightly plastic as to its immediate environment, but sub- 
ject to the permutations and combinations of a mendelian 
type, and possessing a definite qualitative condition de- 
termined by prolonged environmental action, the picture 
is not at all so fanciful as some might at first thought 
insist. 

The practical importance of such a viewpoint in its 
application to the problems of animal and plant breed- 
ing lies in the realization that new forms can not be cre- 
ated, but merely new combinations uncovered during the 
comparatively brief epochs of time which human intelli- 
gence has for working out the processes. Thus one re- 
turns to genetics. 

In summarizing the paper, the following conclusions 
are suggested: 

I. The heritable characters in general which make up 
an organism arise from preformed units in the nature of 
genes or subgenes that have been in existence during long 
geological periods of time. There are at present no cri- 
teria available in modern genetics by which an appar- 
ently new gene may be distinguished from one long in 
existence; furthermore, there is doubt as to whether new 
genes. are actually arising in multicellular organisms. 
The change of a gene in a given direction, whether it be 
considered as a morphological unit or a chemical condi- 
tion followed by the return to its original condition, sug- 
gests its composition of combinational sub-units, and is 
an argument against the idea that anything actually new 
has come into being during its series of so-called muta- 
tions. Such a conclusion receives additional support 
from the presence of apparently identical genes which 
exist in distinet species of organisms separated during 


ý 


544 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vov. LII 


long epochs of time, as well as from the evidence of the 
non-contamination of genes during diverse environments. 

II. The mutations demonstrated by DeVries and oth- 
ers, together with the variations obtained by Castle, are 
to be interpreted as a result of the combinations of exist- 
ing genes. The mutations noted by Morgan and his as- 
sociates, as evidenced from recurrence and stability, are 
in the nature of modal fluctuations having no definite 
cumulative value. 

Ill. The direction of axial rotation in aquatic micro- 
organisms is best explainable on the basis of the appar- 
ent east-west motion of the sun having influenced the 
movement of the organs of locomotion. Thus the charac- 
ter becomes one acquired from external stimuli, and the 
persistence of reverse forms in both the northern and 
southern hemispheres indicates the hereditary nature of 
the character. Morphological characters, such as the 
striæ, etc., may arise in a similar manner or through se- 
lection. By correlation with the preceding characters, a 
cumulative and irreversible effect is produced. 

IV. The primary factors in evolution are environ- 
mental and thus dynamic. The secondary factors of a 
combinational nature are gradually approaching a limit- 
ing Maximum value, and are thus becoming static. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 
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eee C. B. 
Non-Disjunetion as a Proof of the Chromosome Theory of 
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1917. e Genetics, vel 2, pp. 445-465, 
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1916. taai and Eugenics. (Cambridge, Harvard University Press.) 
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Cunha, A. M. da : 
1913. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Protozoenfauna Brasiliens. Mem. 
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Nos. 622-623] ORGANIC EVOLUTION 545 


Davis, B. E. 
1917. ‘Some Inter- pl de aten of F, Gnothera Hybrids. Genetics, 
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East, E. 
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1917. The Rearing of Some General E ge Facts on Bud Varia- 
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Emerson, R 
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Engelmann, T. W. 
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1916. Genetic Factors and Enzyme — ae Vol. Ea 
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705-7 18, (See bibliography rd waited ieme ‘of senna 5 
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1911. Univ. Calif. Pb. on Vol. 4, p. 17. 
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1914, Can Selection Improve the pen of a Pure Strain of Plants? 
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1917. ie and Evolution. AM. NAT., pp. 385-418. 


M. 
1915. The ‘Tnfivence of Temperature in the Development of a Men- 
delian Character. Journ. Exp. Zool., Vol. 18. 
Humbert, E. P. 
1911. A Quantitative Study of Variation, Natural and Induced, in 
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Jennings, H. S. 
1901. On the Pa of Spiral Swimming of Organisms. AM. 
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1906. Behavior of =e oe Organisms. (New York, Columbia 
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1917. Modifying Factors and Multiple Allelomorphs in Relation to 
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Kammerer, P. 
1910. Beweise fiir der Vererbung erworbener Eigenschaften durch 
planmassige Zuchtung. Vol. 12, Flugschr. D. Ges. f. Zuchtungs- 
kunde Berlin. (Also note other papers of Kammerer’s in Bib- 
liographies.) 
Lankester, R. 
1917, The Problem of Heredity. Nature, p. 181. 
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1917. Evidence of Multiple Factors in Mice and Rats. Am. NAT., pp. 
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546 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST —  [VoL. LII 


Mast, $. 
oe ‘Bites of Chemicals on Reversion in Orientation to Light in 
Colonial Form Spondylomorum quaternarium. Journ. 
ke Zool., Vol. 26, No. 3, p. 503-520. 
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1914. oe Inheritance in Rabbits. Carnegie Institute, Washington, 
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1916. ee Rats and Multiple Factors. AM. NAT., pp. 719-742. 

Metz, C. W. 

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91-607. 


Moore, A. R. 
1916. ee Menyene of Sane in Gonium. Journ. Exp. Zool., 
, pp. 431— 
Morgan, T. me 
1915. The Rôle of the Environment in the Realization of a Sex-Linked 
Mendelian Character in Drosophila. Am, Nar., Vol. 49, pp. 
385-429. 


1916. A Critique of the Theory of Evolution. (Princeton, Princeton 
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1917. An Examination of the so-called Process of the Contamination 
of the Genes. Anat. Record, pp. pnp 

1917. The Theory of the Gene. AM. NAT., pp. 513-544. 

1918. Evolution by Mutation. Sci. Mo., pp. or VOL, TF No: L 

Morgan, Sturtevant, Muller and Bridges 

1915. The Moca of Heian Heredity. (New York, Henry 

H 


Muller, H. J. 
1917. ja aan -like Case in Drosophila. Proc. N at. Acad. Sci- 
e, Vol. 3, pp. 619-626. 
Osborn, H. nae 
1912. The Continuous Origin of certain Unit Characters as observed 
by a Paleontologist. AM. NAT., pp. 185-206, 249-278. 
Pearl, Raymond. 
1917. The Selection Problem. AM. NAT., pp. 65-91. 
Semon, R. 
1910, Der Stand der Frage nach der Vererbung erworbener Eigen- 
aften. Fortschr. natur. Forsch., Vol. 11. 
1912, Das Problem der Vanha ‘‘erworbener’’ Eigenschaften. Pp. 
1-203. (Leipzig, W. Engelmann.) 


1917. "The — of Temperature upon Facet Number in the bar-eyed 
of Drosophila. Abstr. Am. Zool. Soc., Dec., pp. 14-15. 


E 
1912. Zur Pendulationtheorie. Petermann’s Mitt., pp. 268-269. 
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Nos. 622-623] ORGANIC EVOLUTION 547 


Trolland, L., 

1917. Bake et ne and the hee of Enzyme Action. Am. 

NAT., pp. 321 

Verworn, M. 

18 Allgemeine Physiologie. (Jena, G. Fischer.) 
Wager, H. 

1914, Movements of ego Organisms in Response to External 

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Walton, L. B. 

1914. The Evolutionary 4 oas of Organisms and its Significance. 


Science, pp. 
1915. Variability de Aiks imixis. AM. NAT., pp. 649-687. 
1917. The Axial Rotation of Aquatic Microorganisms and its Signifi- 
cance. Ohio Journal Science, pp. 6-7. 
Woltereck, R. 
1911. Beitrag zur ‘‘erworbener’’ Eigenschaften. Verh. D. Zool. Ges., 
pp. 142-172. (See bibliographies as to various papers of 
Woltereck.) 
Zeleny, C. 
j 1917. Fulleye and Emarginate Eye from Bar- -eye in Drosophila 
ithout Change,in the Bar Gene. Abstr. Am. Zool. Dec. AS 
1917. Selection for High-facet and for Low-facet Number in the Bar- 
eyed Race of Drosophila Abstr. Am. Zool. Dec., pp. 9-10. 


SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 


RHYTHMIC SYNCHRONISM IN THE CHIRPING OF 
CERTAIN CRICKETS AND LOCUSTS 


SYNCHRONISM in the rhythmic chirping of the snowy tree 
cricket, (Ecanthus niveus De G., has been observed and men- 
tioned by a number of able observers, including Burroughs, 
Thoreau, McNeill and Dolbear. The synchronous chirping of 
this particular cricket has been too generally observed to be con- 
sidered merely an illusion of the mind. In a previous paper’ 
I reported that I had observed the occurrence of rhythmic syn- 
chronism in the chirping of colonies of the tiny tree crickets, 
Cyrtoxipha columbiana Caudell in Georgia. During the sum- 
mer of 1917 I was afforded an excellent opportunity to make 
further observations of the synchronous chirping of these inter- 
esting arboreal crickets near Vinson Station, Virginia. A little 
colony had become located in the crown of a small black cherry 
tree in my back yard, where I could readily keep them under 
observation at all times. During the latter part of August, 
when the chirping season was at its height, a remarkable degree 
of synchronic rhythm characterized their chirpings during 
warm, quiet evenings. So constant was this rhythmic syn- 
chronism that only now and then would any irregularity occur. 
It finally oceurred to me that I could subject their consecutive 
chirpings to a fairly accurate statistical analysis in the follow- 

nner. With a tablet of paper and a pencil I made a short 
horita dash for those instances when the chirpings were in 
unison, and a short vertical dash when they were not in unison. 
In this way I was able to record the consecutive chirpings for 
certain periods of time. In order to illustrate this method, I 
will give a graphic expression of the first period, which included 
98 consecutive chirpings, 8 of which were not in unison 


— A + e 


| 
Fourteen dlra eres of consecutive chirpings were re- 


1*“Synchronism and Synchronic Rhythm in the Behavior of Certain 
Creatures,” Ax. Nan, Vol. 51, July, 1917. 
: 548 


Nos. 622-623] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 6549 


corded in this manner, the results of which may be noted in the 
following table: 
TABLE I 
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF 14 DIFFERENT PERIODS OF CONSECUTIVE CHIRP- 
INGS OF A COLONY OF CRICEKTS OF THE SPECIES Cyrtoxipha columbiana 


Period | Consecutive Chirp- Chirpings in Per Cent. of Chirp- 
ings Recorded Unison ings in Unison 

98 90 91.8 

BOCONG Sr. RIE A 79 72 91.1 
JE E OA oa la 85 72 84 

Fourth. 23 21 91.3 

i Sy ee sa oy 78 72 92.3 
84 79 94 

Seventh 66 59 89.3 

AL -n et i el 73 69 94.5 

NEER Gets ent SaN A 45 97.7 

OMEN Sa A T 23 19 82.6 

MOURNE i PE e al 95.7 

TIO. O, 21 21 100.0 

Thirteenth., A eave eek 75 74 98.6 

Fourteenth... 49 48 97.9 

Tie ou A 870 808 92.8 


From these data it would appear that out of a total of 870 
chirpings observed, 92.8 per cent. were in unison. Even grant- 
ing that some errors have been made in these determinations, 
it is quite evident that this observed high percentage indicates 
that a remarkable degree of synchronic rhythm occurs. 

I kept this particular colony of four or five crickets under 
observation for a long #ime, and this rhythmic synchronism was 
always very noticeable. These crickets chirp most actively just 
before sundown. At this time every individual chirps briskly, 
and it is not long until chirping in unison is gradually estab- 
lished. This rhythmic synchronism does not take place at once, 
- but becomes evident after the crickets have been chirping steadily 
for some time. When this rhythmic unison is fairly esta 
lished it appears difficult for the crickets to chirp otherwise, for 
if there is any tendency toward asynchronous chirping, it is 
quickly overcome. A re markable feature of the chirping of 
these crickets is a tendency now and then for the chirping 
become noticeably accelerated briefly. Even though this occurs, 
the entire group keeps pace, so that the same unison is main- 
tained. 

The mole cricket (Gryllotalpa borealis ease is not an uncom- 
mon pees grounds in this bart of the country. Its notes 


550 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Von. LIT 


are low, mellow, intermittent chirpings—gur-r-r-r-r, gur-r-r-r-r, 
gur-r-r-r-r—which may be kept up almost incessantly during the 
active mating season. I have never been able to observe any 
definite rhythmic synchronism in the chirping of these burrow- 
ing crickets. However, late in August, during the season of 
1918, I attempted an analysis of the notes of two of these crickets 
which were stridulating at the same time in their underground 
burrows in a wet spot near Vinson Station, Virginia. These 
two individuals chirped very persistently, and at times I noted 
some degree of synchronism. 
TABLE II 
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF 10 DIFFERENT PERIODS OF CONSECUTIVE CHIRP- 
or Two MOLE CRICKETS, Gryllotalpa Borealis 


Consecutive Per Cent. of 
Chirpings in Chirpings Not 

eras A | oaa | ea T OO 

si a le 16 65.2 
DOOR + bo nck cad ae es 6 18 50 

Wiehe cre es 62 | 36 26 58.0 
Fourth 53 | 28 25 52.8 
PUGH Oe. eee AR ee 28 16 12 57.1 
Sixth 48 21 27 43.7 
Seventh 37 14 23 37.8 
Eighth. 47 | 18 61.7 
A A ote 21 10 11 47.6 
Tenth.. 46 | 26 43.4 
Howa cco aah L o eae 202 52.3 


From these data, which indicate that out of a total of 424 chirp- 
ings only 222, or 52.3 per cent., were in“unison, it would appear 
that there was no particular tendency to maintain a definite 
synchronism in their chirpings. 

The most remarkable instances of rhythmic synchronism I 
have ever heard have been afforded by the cone-headed grass- 
hopper of the species Neoconocephalus exiliscanorus (Davis). 
A careful study of the intermittent notes—zeet-zeet-zeet-zeet— 
of these locusts was made on the sot ofa swamp near Vinson 
Station, Virginia, late in August, 191 

‘The characteristic habit of ¿sed for anida of 

this species is to produce a certain number of consecutive notes, 
followed by a brief pause. Usually, from fifteen to thirty con- 
secutive notes are delivered before the pause takes place, then 
stridulation is again resumed. =. and Hebard? mention this 
habit as follows: 
2 Rehn, James A. G., and Hebard, Moan, **Studies in American Tet- 


Nos. 622-623] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 6551 


The number of consecutive times without pause that this sound was 
produced were on one occasion counted, 26-14-20-20-17 ; usually on a 
warm evening an undisturbed singer would average about as above 
before ceasing a few seconds. The song is rapid, the sounds being 
emitted on warm evenings about 3 to the second. 

When stridulation has become fairly established in a colony 
of these locusts, for the evening, it is likely to be continuous, for 
if some singers cease their notes briefly, others take it up. 
Rehn and Hebard, in the publication mentioned above, have also 
noted this behavior and say: 


When near a colony of this species on favorable evenings after dark 
the air is vibrant with the sound; as several singers cease others take up 
the constantly rising and falling song, but at no very great distance the 
song is inaudible. 

In the colony observed by the writer at Vinson Station, Va., 
three individuals which were somewhat isolated from the rest 
maintained a perfect rhythmic synchronism for many minutes 
at a time, including in this period many hundreds of consecutive 
notes. Now and then all three would be stridulating at the 
same time, then only two would produce their notes, yet the same 
perfect rhythmic synchronism was always evident. Sometimes 

all but one would cease to stridulate, then one or both of the 
others would again take up the rhythm with a precision that was 
marvelous. It did not matter how often one or another indi- 
vidual joined the chorus following a pause, the notes were always 
perfectly synchronous from the start and the rhythmic syne 
nism was maintained. 

A representation of this perfect synchronism which was evi- 
dent as the different ‘‘singers’’ took up the rhythm from time to 
time may be shown graphically with dashes as follows: 


A A 


A A A e a a M ———-— mm — e o 


On several different nights I observed the same marvelous 
rhythmic synchronism in this particular group of individuals. 
Although other groups were ““singing”” elsewhere, it appeared — 
tigoniide : A Synopsis of the Species of the Genus Neoconocephalus found 
in North America, North of Mexico,’’ in Trans. Ent. pes 40, Jan. 6, 
1915, pp. 365-413. 


552 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vor. LIT 


that their notes were delivered independently of the rhythm of 
this particular group. From observations of the stridulations 
of other groups in this same colony, I am of the opinion that it 
is not unusual for these locusts to develop a rhythmic synchro- 
nism in small groups. 

It would be interesting to know why some species of locusts 
and crickets possessing the intermittent habit of stridulation 
tend to develop a more or less perfect rhythmic synchronism 
while others do not. Although this is true of the two crickets, 
Ccanthus niveus and Cyrtoxipha columbiana, 1 have been unable 
to note any synchronism in the chirpings of the common arboreal 
ericket, Orocharis saltator. Although large colonies of these 
erickets may often be heard in stridulation, each individual 
appears to stridulate in its own leisurely manner independently 
of its fellows. 

H. A. ALLARD 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 


ON THE PIGMENTATION OF A CLYPEASTROID, 
MELLITA SESQUIPERFORATUS LESKE' 


THE common clypeastroids, Echinarachnius and Mellita, when 
adult, are characteristically of a brown or (in the former spe- 
cies) reddish-brown color. This seems to be general throughout 
the group. Taxonomic lists contain, however, numerous refer- 
ences to a greenish coloration of the test of these animals 
When preserved in alcohol, or when dried, either after fixation 
in aleohol or after killing with fresh water, these sand dollars 
usually assume, for a time at least, a somewhat greenish color. 
Clark (1899, p. 118) says that specimens of Mellita sesquiper- 
foratus Leske (=sexforis A. Ag.) collected at Jamaica were 
delicate olive green [when alive, I infer, though with doubt]. 
He also gives the coloration of specimens of this species obtained 
in Porto Rican waters as ‘‘usually light olive green (rarely 
brown) when alive.”? At Bermuda living individuals of this 
species are, he says, invariably brown, with no hint of green 
about them, either on the external surface or in the viscera. 

killed in alcohol, however, they become green, and green- 

ish pigment is dissolved by the fluid. This is also true of Echi- 
narachnius parma (Clark, 1904, p. 564; Coe, 1912, p. 111). 

Now, examination shows that there is at the bottom of this 

1 Contributions from the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, No. 90. 


Nos. 622-623] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 5538 


matter—in descriptive lists somewhat confusing—a rather in- 
teresting point, which it is the purpose of this note to elucidate. 

Mellita, adult, is at Bermuda undoubtedly brown; large speci- 
mens (9.0-11.5 em. in transverse diameter, usually 9.5 cm.), 
which I have from time to time collected by dredging upon 
grass-free bottoms of fine sand or mud at Flatt’s Inlet, Spanish 
Point, Two Rock Passage, and other localities, are uniformly 
brown upon both aboral and oral surfaces, although the different 
individuals vary somewhat as to shade. Their general hue 
harmonizes well with that of the substratum. It is improbable 
that light has had a direct effect in producing pigmentation, 
since the oral surface, never turned toward the light, is at least 
as densely pigmented as the aboral one and is frequently (in : 
larger specimens) darker. Young individuals in an active, 
healthy state were gotten in association with adults during the 
autumn months. Up to 5 em. diameter, in one case 8 em., they 
were found, with one exception in about 30, to exhibit no brown- 
ish coloration whatever; they were, on the contrary, pure white, 
and translucent, the yellowish stomach being easily made out 
through the test. These individuals were usually 3.5 to 4.0 cm. 
in transverse diameter. The one exceptional specimen, 2 cm. 
in diameter, was unusual because it was of a light coffee-brown 
shade. 

When placed in alcohol, or in fresh water, these young white 
Mellitas became bright green; in sunlight the green on alcoholic 
specimens quickly disappears. Clark (1901, p. 254) notes that 
some young specimens of M. pentapora examined by him were 
green [in aleohol?]. 

When kept in aquaria for several days the small white “‘sea- 
plates’’ developed, in most cases, local indications of green pig- 
ment, although the animals were still quite active. This was 
also true of the large brown individuals. It was noticed that 
in cases where a large brown Mellita had been damaged by the 
cutting edge of the dredge, a green coloration was present along 
the wound when the haul was brought to the surface. Other 
specimens, apparently uninjured, sometimes developed an olive- 
green color on the oral surface within half an hour after being 
transferred from the dredge to a tub of sea water. 

Thus the green coloration of Mellita is associated with a con- 
‘dition of injury or death. It is possible that the green material 
may have no connection with the substance responsible for the 
general brown integumentary coloration of adults. 


554 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST ` [VoL. LIT 


The green pigment is readily extracted with fresh water. It 
is not chlorophyll. When an animal is allowed to die in fresh 
water, the integument and the ordinarily white internal parts 
of the skeleton of a Mellita become bright green. Putrefactive 
changes decolorize the green extract, and the color can not be 
restored by alkali, or with H,O,. Green extracts are also de- 
composed, irreversibly, by boiling. 

The green color is not seen in faintly acid fresh-water extracts 
and the Mellita remains brown. If such an extract is made 
alkaline, the green color promptly appears in the extract. The 
substance responsible for the green hue in dead or injured parts 
of Mellita is in fact a very good indicator. It is colorless in 
- acid, vivid green in alkaline solutions; this color change may be 
reversed many times. The ‘‘turning-point’’ of the indicator 
is at an acidity of py=7.6-7.8—in a solution more alkaline 
than neutrality,. but well on the acid side of the reaction of sea 
water (pa=8.1=). This greening material seems to be pres- 
ent throughout the body of Mellita, as freshly secured bits of the 
(white) internal skeleton turn bright green in alkali. The few 
available references to the coloration of clypeastroids indicate 
that the alkali-greening substance regularly occurs in Clypeaster 
and in other genera of this group. 

The ovaries of M. sesquiperforatus are heavily sient by 
a substance of the ‘‘antedonin’’-‘‘echinochrome’’ group. The 
mature egg itself is light brownish yellow, heavily yolked, and 
apparently larger than any echinoid egg that has been described. 
It measures about 0.26 mm. in diameter, and is thus about twice 
the size of the egg of M. testudinata (=pentapora), which 
measures 0.11 mm., though not so large as that of the brittle- 
star Ophioderma, 0. 30 mm. in diameter (Grave, 1916, p. 439). 
The ovarian egg of M. sesquiperforatus is surrounded by a 
gelatinous envelope, the whole being 0.35 + mm. in diameter. 
This envelope bears numerous evenly scattered clumps of pre- 
cipitated reddish-purple pigment, the ovarian stroma being 
densely crowded with similar ‘‘chromatophores.’’ In Echi- 
narachnius the ‘‘chromatophores’’ of the egg-envelope are red 
rather than purple. The purple pigment of the Mellita ovaries 
exhibits the acid-alkali color changes and the absorption spec- 
trum of the ‘‘echinochrome’’ pigments found in sea-urchins, 
holothurians, erinoids, and even in star-fishes ; a dilute extract 
of a female Mellita may ewe be prepared which changes 


Nos. 622-623] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 565 


from bright green to reddish purple at a hydrogen-ion concen- 
tration of about 7.5, the ‘‘echinochrome’’ not becoming orange 
until a much greater acidity is reached. This pigment becomes 
blue at an alkalinity of about p= 8.2; in the ovary it is red- 
dish purple, but it is not in solution. 

The interest of these facts lies not so much in their supplying 
some additional instances of the elaboration of similar (or even? 
identical) substances—conspicuously pigments—by animals re- 
lated in descent, but in the evidence which is afforded regard- 
ing the reaction of intracellular fluids. Numerous cases illus- 
trating the former point are available from among echinoderms, 
molluses, tunicates, and so forth, and these cases have a certain 
importance for the general theory of animal coloration. But I 
am here chiefly concerned to point out that, if the alkali-greening 
substance present in M. sesquiperforatus is closely similar to 
that produced in the tissues of other clypeastroids, unequivocal 
statements as to the occurrence of greenish hues in living ‘‘sand 
dollars’’ may contain a suggestion as to a possible mode of origin 
for certain known geographical color differences in echinoderm 
species. I have not been able to find such references, but the 
point is worthy of further study. The evidence afforded by 
intracellular substances capable of behaving as indicators of 
acidity shows plainly-that the tissues of marine animals are 
much more acid (less alkaline) than sea water. In M. sesqui- 
perforatus the green color is produced when the tissue fluids 
become more alkaline than they customarily are; thus the in- 
tegument, when injured or killed, becomes permeable to sea 
water and assumes a green hue. Healthy individuals for ex- 
perimental work may, incidentally, be selected (at Bermuda) 
by the absence of green areas upon the test; the readiness with 
which greening is induced indicates the degree of care which 
must be employed in handling some marine animals. If by 
some means, for example, by higher temperature, the tissues of 
a Mellita population in a warmer sea were constantly main- 
tained at a higher alkalinity than those at Bermuda, they might 
normally appear somewhat greenish in color. The normal varia- 
tions in the coloration of Chromodoris zebra, a nudibranch con- 
taining an indicator favorable for such observations, strongly 
suggest that such differences in the reaction of intracellular 
fluids (not necessarily of the protoplasm) are entirely possible 
(Crozier, 1916). Whether or not comparable changes may be 


556 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [VoL. LII 


induced as a regular thing in different oceanographic regions 
can not as yet be stated. 


REFERENCES 

Coe, W. 

h aie ek: of Connecticut. State Geol. and Nat. Hist. 

, Bull. 19, 152 pp., ills. 

Clark, H, L: 

1899. Further Notes on the Echinoderms of Bermuda. Ann. N. Y. 

Acad. Sci., Vol. 12, pp. 
1901. pe Witinoderns of "Porto Rico. “Bull. U. S. Fish Comm. for 

. 231-263. 
1904. ri eS eee of the Woods Hole Region. Ibid., for 1902, 
p. 545-576. 


Crozier, W. J. 
19164. Some Indicators from Animal Tissues. Jour. Biol. Chem., 
24, 3-445, 
1916b. Cell Penetration by Acids. II. Further Observations on the 
Blue Pigment of Chromodoris zebra. Ibid., Vol. 26, pp. 217- 
223. 
Grave, C. 
1916. Ophiura brevispina. II. An Embryological Contribution and a 
of the Effect of Yolk Substance upon Development and 
Developmental Processes. Jour. Morph., Vol. 27, pp. 413- 
445, 3 pls 


PEMBROKE, 
ERMUDA, 
January, 1918. 
W. J. CROZIER 


A CASE OF ABNORMAL INHERITANCE IN 
DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER 


AMONG great numbers of cultures one is occasionally found 
which gives exceptional results not explainable by the usual 
mode of inheritance. Although such cases do not aid in under- 
standing genetic problems unless the mechanism involved is 
worked out, the present case seems to be sufficiently remarkable 
to merit brief mention. The writer has no explanation to offer. 

In culture 76, which was made up February 9, 1917, a large 
preponderance of males was observed, the ratio being 38 males 
to 3 females, and the males included unexpected classes. The 
parents of the culture were one homozygous eosin ruby forked 
female from stock and a male which was normal wild-type in 
all respects with the exception that the posterior eross veins of 
the wings were missing. His pedigree is unknown and he was 


Nos. 622-623] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 591 


bred to determine whether the missing vein represented a genetic 
characteristic. This peculiarity probably had no relation to the 
exceptional nature of the offspring produced. The bottle was 
kept on the desk in the laboratory and the temperature was 
rather low most of the time, so that the larve developed slowly 
and the bottle became moldy before the flies finished hatching. 
It yielded exceedingly few flies, probably on this account as well 
as owing to the fact that nearly all the females were eliminated. 

A count of the flies, as they hatched, gave 38 males and 3 fe- 
males, a ratio which is inexplicable. The classes obtained were 
also as surprising. Owing to the cold the flies developed very 
slowly, so that the first offspring were removed on March 1 and 
comprised 18 eosin ruby forked sons. Four more hatched on the 
second and third, making a total of 22 eosin ruby forked sons 
which are of the expected class, since the three characteristics 
are sex-linked and the mother was homozygous for them. The 
count, continued until the thirteenth of March, gave a total of 
3 normal females, which were expected in equal numbers with 
the males; 30 eosin ruby forked males; 2 eosin ruby males; 1 
eosin male; 3 forked males; 2 normal or wild-type males. 

The count in this case was kept up for more than the usual 
10 days, but that could not have had any effect on the result in 
this case as no F, females were found until March ninth and 
could not have produced offspring, even had the temperature 
not been so low as to lengthen the incubation period beyond 13 
days. The exceptional males, which are the cross-over classes 
ordinarily obtained in the F, generation from such a cross, could 
not be the result of a back-cross of the original mother to a son, 
as the only sons with which she could have come in contact were 
eosin ruby forked. In cases of primary non-disjunction, where 
sons inherit the sex-linked characters of the father, they inherit 
all his sex-linked characters, so that this can not be a case ex- 
plainable by that means. 

Contamination can hardly account for the results as the early 
males were of the expected class and later males always carried 
characters used in the cross, and the females were normal in ap- 
pearance. Moreover, there is no known source of contamination 
that would give such a sex-ratio as this. 

Results from the offspring were interesting but have not sug- 
gested any possible explanation of what occurred in the first 
generation. The eosin ruby forked sons were crossed out and 


558 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vou. LIL 


behaved quite normally in F, and F, generations. One forked 
son bred and gave offspring which behaved normally. The other 
two forked sons failed to produce any offspring, even though 
transferred to new bottles. The two eosin ruby sons were mated 
to bar females and afterwards rebottled with three females, but — 
no offspring resulted. The eosin male also seemed to be sterile, 
as he was rebottled and remated without producing offspring. 

The three daughters, which should have been heterozygous for 
eosin ruby and forked, and which have produced sons correspond- 
ing to that constitution, were crossed to brothers and gave the fol- 
lowing unexpected results: 

One in culture 88, mated to an eosin ruby forked brother, pro- 
duced a total of 42 normal females, 74 forked females, 73 forked 
males, 37 normal males, and 13 eosin ruby forked males. A 
second in culture 93, mated to one of the wild-type brothers, 
produced 50 normal females and 28 forked females, 51 normal 
males and 73 forked males. The third daughter, mated to an 
eosin ruby forked brother, produced 2 normal, 35 forked, and 10 
eosin ruby forked males; and 26 females all forked. 

It is possible that the females were not virgin in these cases 
but that could not affect the sex-linked characters of the sons 
according to the normal mode of inheritance. 

The two large classes of sons should have been the normal and 
eosin ruby forked classes, while the forked class of sons, which is 
the largest in all cases, should be no larger than the eosin ruby 
class, which does not occur even once. 

Efforts to determine what was causing this abnormal inheri- 
tanee were unsuccessful, because further breeding experiments 
showed the offspring of all classes to behave quite normally in all 
respects. 


D. E. LANCEFIELD 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


INDEX 


NAMES OF CONTRIBUTORS ARE PRINTED IN SMALL CAPITALS. 


ADAMS, CHARLES C., Migration as a 
Factor in Bvolntion: its Ecolog- 
ical Dynamies, 455. 

ALLARD, H. A., Rhythmic Synchro- 

Certain 


þe- 
tween Color and other Characters 
i . LOVE and W. T. Cra 


in, 


BABCOCK, ERNES 
Factor 


T B., The Rôle of 
etei in Evolution, 


Babcock and Claussen on Genetics in 
Relation to Agriculture, E. M. E 


Bacterial Phylogeny as indicated by 
Modern Types, R. E. BUCHANAN, 


Blue Andalusian, The Case of the, 
WILLIAM A, LIPPIN 


BREGGER, T., 
Pestle Modifie 
a Sexinked EREA D; 

46 


as, gi E, Bacterial Phy- 
se as indicated by Modern 
Types, 233 


Cancer?s Place in General Biology, 
W. C. MoCarty, 395 
Coloration of Planes minutus, W. J. 


Coral Reefs, the Hawaiian. A Sur 
me of, VAUGHAN MACCAUGHEY, 


ZIER, W. J., or of Planes 
tus, 262; A Land Planarian 


ypte 
sesquiperforatus Leske, 5: 
Chromosomes, Disproof of a Certain 
Type of Theories of Shwe. “wee 
between, H. S. JEN 
Craic, W. T. and VE, The 
Relation between Color and other 
Characters in Avena Crosses, 369 


DEXTER, JoHN S., Inheritance in 
Orthoptera, 61 

TAT Melanogaster, A T of 
Abnormal Inheri in 
LAN 556 


E. M. E., Babcock and Claussen on 
Geneties in Relation to Agricul- 


, The Rôle of Reproduc- 

in Evolution, 273 

Egg Prodnetian in the Rhode island 

Red Breed of Domestic Fowl, 
era Abe ci e ing, H. 
, 65, 209, 

Evolution, “The Rôle pu Factor Mu- 
tations in, ERNES . BABCOCK, 
116; Evidence from Insular Floras 
as to the Method of, EDMUND W 


Aphid Macrosiphum solanifolii, A 
N SHULL, 507 


Factors for Yellow in Mice and 
Notch in Drosophila, WILLIAM A. 
laige gorr 3 

MARGARET M., The Uses of 
Tnsect Galls, 155 

Fish, The Policy of eee a 
Inland “Waters with, W. M. Sm 
WOOD, 32 


GOLDSCHMIDT, RICHARD, Gen etie Ex- 
periments concerning Evolution. 


, H. L., Internal Factors in- 
in 


he 
f Do- 


© 
au 
7 8 
EN 
= 


mestie Fowl, 65, 209, 301 
Hot, THEO., Joan Baptista Porta, 


Hybrids in Egyptian Cotton, THOMAS 
KEARNEY and WALTON G. WELLS, 
491 


Inheritance of Number of Sagi 
of the Fantail Pigeon, T. H. Mor 


GAN, 5; in Orthoptera, “Jomx S. 


E. | Insect Galls, The Uses of, MARGARET 
M. Fagan, 155 


559 


X 


560 


ie. H. S., Disproof of a Cer- 
tain Type of Theories of Crossing- 
over between Chromosomes, 247 
KEARNEY, THOMAS, and WALTON G. 
WELLS, Hybrids in Egyptian Cot- 
ton, 491 


ELD, D. E., Three n 


462; A Case of Abnormal Taher’. 
tance in Drosophila Melanogaster, 
6 


LAUGHLIN, H. Modifications of 
353 


ue An 
Factors for Yellow 
Notch in Drosophila, 364 
. T. Crate, The 
een Color and other 
Characters in Avena Crosses, 
McCarty, W. C., Cancer’s Place in 
General Biol 395 


Love, H. H. and 
Relation betw 


n, H, TERAO, 5. 
Moopiz, Roy L., Opisthotonos and 
MORGAN, T. H., Inheritance of Num- 
sae Feathers of the Fantail 
Mutations in Previously Known 
Loci, D. E. LANCEFIELD, 264 


pe tico and yem Phenomena, 

Ei <a Evolution “and cha Signifi- 

Some Lo 

orate on the. Problem E e 
WALTON, 521 


ical Problems in the Life 


THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 


[VoL. LIT 


Pigmentation of a Clypteastroid, 
oe ee sesquiperforatus Leske, W. 
J 


Planarian, A Land, found at Ber- 
muda, W. CROZIER , 272 
Porta, Joan Baptista, ridad HoLm, 
455 


Ratio, Modifications of the 9:3:3:1, 
H. H. LAUGHLIN, 353 


SHELFORD, VICTOR E., Physiological 

Problems in the Life Histories of 

ith Particular Refer- 

Te] to their Seasonal Occurrence, 
12 


SHUL: , Genetic Rela- 
tions of va Winged and Wingless 
rms other an 
Sexes in a gone Macrosiphum 
solanifolii, 50 
SINNOTT, rbd W., Evidence from 
Insular Floras as to the Me thod 
of Evolution, 
Sm 00D, W. M., The Policy of 
making the Inland Waters 
with 
SUMNER LA B., Continuous and Dis- 
contin ariations and their 
Tokasiikkso in Peromyscus, 177, 


290, 439 

Synchronism, Rhythmic, in the 
Chirping of Certain Crickets and 
Locusts, H. A, ALLARD, 548 

TERao, H., Maternal Inheritance in 
the Soy 1 Bean, 51 

Variations, Continuous and Discon- 

thei 


Watton, L. B., Organie Evolution 
and the Significance of Some New 
Evidence bearing on the Problem, 


WELLS, WALTON G. 


KEARNEY, Hybrids ‘in Egyptian 
Cotton, w