No. 2, September, 1921] GENETICS 115 



735. Baumann, E. Zur Frage der Individual- und der Immunitatsziichtung bei der 

 Kartoffel. [The question of individual selection and breeding for immunity in potatoes.) Fiihl- 

 ings Landw. Zeitg. 67:240. 191S. — An analysis of the difference in yield shown by 2 potato 

 varieties, "Auf der Hohe" and "Industrie" is presented. Industrie was more consistent in 

 yield, showing an average range in yield per plant in grams of 380 as compared with 580 for 

 Auf der Hohe. This difference was ascribed to a lessened influence of environment on the 

 former variety. — Differences in degree of resistance to diseases were also quite marked. Auf 

 der Hohe w-as affected with chlorosis and Phytophthora, while Industrie showed curly-dwarf 

 and mosaic; both varieties were affected with leaf roll. Diseased plants of Auf der Hohe, 

 however, showed only about ^ as much reduction in yield as diseased plants of Industrie when 

 compared with healthy plants of the respective variety. — The author emphasizes the need of 

 thorough study of the morphological and physiological characters of the numerous varieties 

 on the market to determine the most resistant and highest-yielding ones. — C. M. Woodworth. 



736. Baur, E. [German rev. of: Fruwirth, C. Handbuch der landwirtschaftlichen 

 Pflanzenziichtung. AUgemeine Ziichtungslehre der landwirtschaftlichen Kulturpflanzen. 

 (Handbook of agricultural plant breeding. General genetics of agricultural plants.) xviii 

 + 442 p., 8 pi., 89 fig. Parey: Berlin, 1920.] Zeitschr. Bot. 13: 313-314. 1921. 



737. Becker, Werner H. Was wird aus den Kindern alter Erstgebarender? Ein Beitrag 

 zur Vererbungslehre. [What becomes of the children of mothers who bear their first child 

 late in life? A contribution to genetics.] Arch. Rass.- u. Gesellschaftsbiol. 13: 277-297. 

 1921. — Do the offspring of parents of advanced age possess a neuropathic constitution? Data 

 were collected by mail from women (mothers) who had visited the clinic at Giessen University. 

 Eighty-five were primipara, 35 years old or over; and of these 62 were married. Among 

 the 85 there were 17 still births, — a rate about 6 times higher than that of all first births in 

 Berlin (1898) ( — Winkel). The sex ratio was 47 males to 39 females. The birth weight was 

 on the average slightly less than that of early first born. According to the answers to the 

 questionnaire, 24 children were normal, 3 imbecile, 3 epileptic, and 7 psychopathic. The 

 author gives 16 additional cases of histories collected from physicians. He considers briefly 

 the biological meaning of his results, but draws no general conclusions. His data are pre- 

 sented in detail. — C. C. Little. 



738. Blackburn, Kathleen B., and J. W. Heslop Harrison. The status of the British 

 rose forms as determined by their cytological behavior. Ann. Botany 35: 159-188. PI. 9-10, 

 5 fig. 1921. — In the rose the fundamental chromosome number is 7. Rosa arvensis and R. 

 rugosa are diploid types; R. pimpinellifolia and all of the Villosae are tetraploid; the Eucani- 

 nae, Afzelianae, Rubiginosae, and Tomentosae are pentaploid; and a hybrid of R. pimpinelli- 

 folia X R. tomentosa var. sylvestris is found to be hexaploid. All of the diploid types exam- 

 ined are found to be of normal behavior during meiosis. Most of the tetraploid forms and all 

 of the pentaploid and hexaploid ones show a partial reduction involving 14 or 28 chromosomes. 

 In these groups the heterotypic division is equatorial as far as the bulk of its chromosomes is 

 concerned but reductional with a fixed proportion, generally 14 and sometimes 28. The 

 anaphase of the heterotypic division occurs in 2 steps, one involving the reduction and the 

 other the splitting of the univalent chromosomes. In many cases the split univalent chromo- 

 somes fail to reach the poles, and form micronuclei. Multinucleate pollen grains are common 

 in the anomalous forms of the genus. Known hybrids in many genera exhibit the same type 

 of abnormal behavior as is shown by these forms of roses. The close similarity between the 

 two leads the authors to the statement that every rose studied, showing partial reduction, 

 is of hybrid origin. All of the abnormal roses are facultatively apomictical, and this is attrib- 

 uted to latent hybridity. Natural hybrids are instrumental in building new microgenes 

 (Jordanian species) of the rose. [See also Bot. Absts. 9, Entry 745.] — A. C. Fraser. 



739. Boring, Edw^in G. Predilection and sampling of human heights. Science 52: 464- 

 466. 1 fig. 1920. — The author presents a distribution of the heights of 221,819 men (insurance 

 data) and shows that the curve has a remarkable inversion near the peak, there being fewer 



