No. 1, November, 1921] GENETICS 13 



pollen. When very old pollen was used no female plants were produced. However, the plants 

 were so few, — due to the large number of imdeveloped seeds, — that the results are not entirely 

 significant. The author concludes that in nature the factors tending to influence the sex 

 ratio in one direction are, as a rule, equal to those acting in the opposite direction so that the 

 net result is approximately a 1 :1 ratio. This ratio may in some cases be modified by artificial 

 means. — P. C. Mangelsdorf. 



83. CzAJA, A. Th. [German Rev. of: Chamberlain, Charles J. Grouping and muta- 

 tion in Botrychium. Bot. Gaz. 70: 387-398. 11 fig. 1920 (see Bot. Absts. 7, Entry 1735).] 

 Zeitschr. Bot. 13: 472-473. 1921. 



84. Dorset, M. J. Some characteristics of open-pollinated seedlings of the Malinda 

 apple. Proc. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 16: 36-42. 1919 [1920]. — A large number of seedlings from 

 open-pollinated fruit of the Malinda apple were planted and studied for the following charac- 

 ters: Resistance to cold, age of bearing, and characters of the fruit. Standing in close prox- 

 imity to the Malinda apple were such varieties as Oldenburg, Wealthy, Scott Winter, Hibernal, 

 Pattens Greening, Northwestern Greening, and a number of other varieties. The Malinda 

 seed was selected especially for the hardiness of the tree and the long-keeping quality of its 

 fruit. — During selection a large number of seedlings were discarded as inferior or unworthy. 

 Of the 3879 original seedlings 49.1 per cent were removed because of their wild-type or stunted 

 growth, 20.8 per cent were discarded because of inferior fruit, and 30.1 per cent were selected 

 for further study. Two-thirds of these selected trees were retained because of their superior 

 fruit and the remaining \ because they had not come into bearing; girdling processes failed 

 to hasten the period of fruit-bearing. The author points out that while all of the seedlings 

 originated from the same known tree a great variation in the age at which they come into bear- 

 ing is found among them. The question is raised as to whether the early-bearing habit of 

 seedlings will be transmitted to orchard trees when propagated from them by vegetative 

 means. — Among the pronounced variations found in the seedlings were extreme cases in sweet- 

 ness and acidity of fruit, keeping quality, and resistance to cold. — From the material studied 

 the author concludes that the named varieties of apples are only rare or extreme variations 

 within the species, and that unless certain varieties vary in the proportion of inferior types in 

 the progeny, these open-pollinated seedlings give a fair index as to the expectations in the 

 Fi of inter-varietal combinations. — L. R. Detjen. 



85. Dykes, W. R. Irises of the future. Gard. Chron. 69: 258. 1921.— Notes are given 

 on a considerable number of Iris species, with comments on their behavior when crossed, or 

 suggestions as to the probable results of crossing. "7ns pseudacorus seems to reproduce it- 

 self with whatever pollen the flowers are fertilized, and nothing seems able to fertilize 

 I. foetidissima except its own pollen." — J. Marion Shull. 



86. Eyster, W. H. The linkage relations between the factors for tunicate ear and starchy 

 sugary endosperm in maize. Genetics 6: 209-240. 1921. — A study of the linkage relations of 

 the tunicate or podded-ear character with 30 other mutant factors of maize is reported. The 

 only linkage found was with the sugary endosperm of the seeds, confirming the obser- 

 vations of Jones and Gallastegui; but where these authors found 8 per cent of crossing over 

 between the tunicate and sugary factors the author finds 27 per cent in the megasporocytes 

 and 35 per cent in the microsporocytes. In the test with the ramose character of the inflores- 

 cence the results confirm the observations of Collins and the author concludes with him that 

 homozygous tunicate plants are sterile. — J . H. Kempton. 



87. Frateur, J. L. La nature hereditaire du pelage sauvage du lapin. [The heredity of 

 the wild coat pattern of the rabbit.] 11 p. Imprimerie G. Bothy: IxellesBruxelles, 1920.— The 

 author gives a minute description of the coat color of the wild rabbit and its minor variations. 

 He believes that this pattern is complex genetically as well as somatically. He finds certain 

 elements of it apparently dissociated from others, in the black-and-tan pattern. His crosses 

 indicate that black-and-tan differs from black by a dominant unit factor and he assumes that 



