214 FRESH FACTS [September 



Facts of Inheritance. William Bateson and Miss I). F. M. Pertz. 

 " Notes on the inheritance of variation in the corolla of Veronica buxbaumii," 

 Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc. x. 1899, pp. 78-92, 1 pi. Abnormal flowers are of 

 common occurrence in this species, and certain symmetrical forms of variation 

 are especially frequent. Flowers taken at random on heavy clay arable land 

 near Cambridge showed about 6 per cent with 3 petals, and about 1 per cent 

 with two petals, and so on. The experiments described in this paper were 

 undertaken to test whether there is any difference between offspring raised from 

 abnormal flowers, and the offspring of normal flowers borne by the same plant. 

 The evidence, though scanty, goes on the whole to show that there is, at all 

 events in the case investigated, no well-marked difference between the offspring 

 of normal and abnormal flowers. 



A Pathological Pigeon. Michael F. Guyer. " Ovarian structure in an 

 abnormal pigeon," Science, ix. 1899, pp. 876-877. In a bird which was a 

 hybrid between a Vienna white (Columba alba) and a common ring-dove (Turtur 

 risorius), the ovary showed a large number of double eggs, that is, two or more 

 eggs within a common follicle. Most of the larger eggs showed vacuoles 

 appearing in connection with the substance of the sphere or yolk-nucleus ; the 

 nuclei in many cases seemed degenerating ; mitotic division of the nucleus was 

 never observed ; many of the eggs, especially the larger ones, were undergoing 

 absorption by means of phagocytes which were the transformed follicle cells. 

 The doubling of the eggs seemed to be due in most of the smaller ones to 

 division of the primordial egg cell and in the larger ones to fusion of contiguous 

 cells. It is not determined that such abnormalities are connected with 

 hybridisation. 



Sex in Beetles. Gilbert J. Arrow. " On sexual dimorphism in beetles 

 of the family Butelidae," Trans. Entomol. Soc. London, 1899, pp. 255-269. The 

 recorded examples of sexual dimorphism among beetles, other than those which 

 consist in differences of development of various parts, such as the legs, antennae, 

 or mandibles, are at present very few ; but this is partly due to the mistake of 

 referring males and females to separate species. In the heterogeneous assem- 

 blage slumped in the genus Anomala there is colour dimorphism in species 

 from all parts of the world. The distinction consists not in any fundamental 

 difference, but in the degree of development of the colouring matter, the male 

 (except in two exceptional Mexican species) exhibiting a greater exuberance than 

 the female, or the superposition of a darker hue. In Anomala imperialis, 

 discussed in this paper, there is another apparent exception, the colours of the 

 two sexes appearing to be unrelated. But experiment shows that the metallic 

 purple colour characteristic of the male of this species is transformed by exposure 

 to sunlight into a green like that of the female, so that here also the male form 

 is obtained by an addition to that characteristic of the female. 



The Age of the Manx Slates. H. Bolton. " The Palaeontology of the 

 Manx Slates of the Isle of Man," Manchester Memoirs, xliii. May 4, 1899, 

 No. 1, pp. 15, 1 pi. In this paper (also issued as " Notes from the Manchester 

 Museum, No. 5 ") are described specimens of Dictyonema sociale and Dendro- 

 graptus Jfexuosus, found by the writer in small splintery masses of these slates. 

 These indicate that " the stratigraphical position of the slates will be found 

 ultimately to be either amongst the uppermost beds of the Cambrian system, 

 or in the Arenig Series." This conclusion does not conflict with the evidence 

 of the worm castings referred to Palaeochorda and Chondritis, or the doubtful 

 Asaphus also discovered by Mr. Bolton, or the yet more doubtful Lingulella, 

 figured by E. W. Binney in 1877. The author is to be congratulated on the 

 light, little though it be, that he has been able to throw on this particularly 

 obscure problem. 



