318 OSCAR RIDDLE. 



at the basis of the color characters of organisms. It must rest 

 with biologists generally, however, to decide whether the facts 

 here presented have, or have not, to do with the Mendelian inter- 

 pretation and description of the processes involved in heredity 

 and development. 



The basis, then, of my objections to much of the Mendelian 

 interpretation rests upon chemical and physiological facts regard- 

 ing the origin and development of melanin pigments. It is neces- 

 sary to anticipate the query as to how, or by what right, has 

 melanin color formation anything to do with the essential points 

 of Mendelism ? I realize fully that the line of contact between 

 these two provinces of activity is apparently not a line of contact 

 at all, and so new and untrammeled is the territory that one 

 would almost hesitate, to enter, had not a pair of such good Men- 

 delians as Cuenot and Bateson already knocked importuningly 

 at the gateway which leads into it. 



It should be recognized at the outset that, in thus presenting 

 a body of facts from one field, as having important bearing on 

 facts and theoretical deductions in another field, there is every 

 risk that a short presentation will be incomplete, inaccurate, 

 and at the same time may fail to properly or sufficiently orient 

 the reader with respect to the writer's point of view. It is here 

 impossible entirely to avoid incompleteness, inaccuracy, and but 

 partial explanation of an opposed interpretation of the facts of 

 color development and inheritance ; it is hoped, however, that a 

 presentation, and rather general though cursory discussion, of a 

 limited number of facts facts with which most biologists are 

 not familiar, and which have never before been treated in this 

 connection - - will make it possible to recognize that some points 

 of present biological theory are involved. 



And, though many of my statements concerning such points 

 of theory may seem dogmatic, I should like to make it clear that 

 I am not deceived or blind to the fact that my' present function 

 is merely to introduce subject matter for a chapter, not to con- 

 clude a volume ; to propose, not to decide. These discussions 

 of theory would have been omitted entirely from this paper if it 

 had been thought that the facts here brought for the first time 

 into the field of heredity and developmental physiology would 



