164 Varietäten, Descendenz, Hybriden. 



Bateson , W. An address on Mendelian hereditv and its 

 application to man. (Brain CXIV p. 157—179. 1906.)" 



A Short general account of the most recent developments of 

 "Mendelism" including reference to certain cases of definite inheri- 

 tance of particular characters (mostly pathological) in human beings. 

 A case is described (from Farabee, Papers Peabody Mus. Amer. 

 Archaeol. 1905.) in which an abnormality of the fingers and toes 

 consisting in the presence of only two phalanges was dominant to 

 the normal type, and comparable phenomena were found in cases 

 of congenital cataract. Colour blindness and haemophilia also exhibit 

 cases of definite inheritance, with limitations as to sex. 



R. H. Lock. 



Biffen, R. H. Mendel's laws of inheritance and wheat 

 breeding. (Journ. of Agric. Science I. 4. p. 475 — 477. 1906.) 



A reply to a note by Butler in the preceding number of the 

 same Journal. The author points out that Eriksson has already sug- 

 gested the possibility of "mycoplasm" being transferred from one 

 generation to the next by way of the pollen. He also raises the 

 quaestion whether the so called rust-resistant hybrids obtained in 

 New South Wales, |which proved susceptible in India, were even 

 truly immune to the attacks of Piiccinia gluniariim. There have been 

 cases where a variety apparentl}^ quite immune for one season, was 

 badly attacked the next. R. H. Lock. 



Darbishire, A. D. On the difference between physiological 

 and Statistical laws of heredity. (Mem. and Proc. Manchester 

 lit. and phil. Soc. L. 3. 44 pp. 1906.) 



The author states that he proposes to make the attempt to thresh 

 out the meanings of the terms continually on the lips of those who 

 take part in the discussion of the subject of Heredity. He uses the 

 term "law" 166 times in his paper, "signifying as occasion demands 

 either a theory, or a resume, or a hypothesis, or a formula, or a 

 generalisation" — among other senses. He next deals with "Pear- 

 son's law," and "Galton 's law," and states that "The difference 

 between the two lies in this: Pearson's law measures the degree of 

 correlation between a character or characters in a given generation, 

 and some similar (or dissimilar) character or characters in the pre- 

 ceding generation. Galton's law states the amount which a given 

 generation contributes to the generation which it produces." 



The author next proceeds to enunciate a law of "Diminishing 

 individual contribution." According to it: the germ of an individual 

 contains contributions from all its progenitors; the amount of the 

 contribution being large in proportion as the progenitor is near. 

 He adds "It is a very good t3^pe of biological law: it has the advan- 

 tage of simplicity: it is also, except in a few cases, untrue." But 

 he points out that many people believe in it. 



"Mendel's law" is then discussed, and the difference between it 

 and "The law of contribution." Statistical laws are said to be "de- 

 scriptive"; Physiological laws, "explanatory." It appears that the dis- 

 cussion of the relation of physiological to Statistical laws of heredity 

 resolves itself into a discussion of the relation of "Mendel's law" to 

 "Pearson's law of Ancestral Inheritance." 



