92 



REPORTS ON INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. 



were starved and well fed respectively before being grown in the comparison 

 field. The conclusion is : there is no conspicuous influence of the different 

 treatment of the ancestry upon the number of pods produced per plant. 



EXPERIMENTS ON FEEDING EXTRACTS OF "DUCTLESS GLANDS." 



Because of the importance of the testis in controlling the development of 

 certain characteristics of the male sex, the question of possible control of 

 bodily form or function by other glands which yield internal secretions be- 

 comes of importance. Dr. F. E. Chidester, of Rutgers College, started 

 some investigations of this topic at the station during the summer of 1912. 

 He fed rabbits and guinea-pigs both thyroid and thymus extract (desiccated) 

 in daily doses of 0.4 to 2 grams. Even the smallest amount (0.4 to 0.6) of 

 thyroid fed to pregnant rabbits caused extreme diarrhea and rapid heart 

 action, and led to weak offspring, and soon killed even normal young nursed 

 by the drugged mother. But feeding suprarenalin (0.5 to 2 grams daily) 

 to non-pregnant rabbits was accompanied by steady increase of weight. 

 Fowls similarly dosed with thyroid or thymus extract were not affected by 

 diarrhea, palpitation of the heart, and falling of the hair like the rabbits. 



STATISTICAL SUMMARY. 

 Poultry. — Of chicks 3,530 were hatched and of ducks 163. 

 Finches. — Of canaries about 80 were hatched, of which 50 survived 

 infancy. 



Sheep and Goats. — Twenty-six sheep were born and no goats. 



Plants. — The number and extent of cultures grown in connection with 

 Dr. Shull's investigations during the past year are indicated by the following 

 table : 



Name of species. 



Agrostemma githago 



Bursa bursa-pastoris 



Bursa bursa-pastoris X heegeri F 2 



Bursa bursa-pastoris X heegeri F 4 



Camelina sativa 



Fraxinus pennsylvanica 



Lychnis cceli-rosa 



Lychnis dioica.. 



Lychnis dioica X coronaria Fi.... 



Lychnis haageana 



Lychnis noctiflora 



Meconopsis heterophylla 



Oenothera biennis 



Oenothera cruciata 



Oenothera cruciata X lamarcki- 

 ana F x 



Oenothera gigas 



Oenothera lainarckiana 



Oenothera lamarckiana X cruci- 

 ata F t 



Oenothera lamarckiana X rubri- 

 nervis Fi 



Oenothera lata X lamarckiana F] 



Oenothera nanella 



Oenothera rubricalyx 



Oenothera rubrinervis 



Name of species. 



Oenothera sp. ? 



Papaver commutatum 



Papaver glaucum 



Papaver glaucum X rhceas Fj 



Papaver rhceas 



Papaver rhceas X californicum F! 



Papaver rhceas X commutatum 

 F t 



Papaver rhceas X glaucum Fi... 



Papaver somniferum 



Papaver somniferum X califor- 

 nicum Fi 



Papaver somniferum X commu- 

 tatum Fi 



Papaver somniferum X nudi- 

 caule Fj 



Silene antirrhina 



Silene vulgaris 



Solanum guineense 



Solanum guineense Xvillosum F t 



Solanum nigrum 



Solanum villosum 



Vaccaria vaccaria 



Zea mays 



Total 



