No. 4, February, 1922] GENETICS 261 



castration with the exception that the milk glands were abnormally developed for males. 

 Similar experiments with the toad produced no positive results, yet some variation from nor- 

 mal secondary characters and sexual instincts were noted. — Dogs were used to study the 

 results of gonad transplantation on senility. In each case placing ovaries of young dogs in 

 bodies of old dogs caused death, although the operation itself appeared successful. One 

 showed fresh corpus lutea, another an embryo in the uterus. The testes of a young dog were 

 transplanted into a 17-year-old dog showing all the characters of senility. After the operation 

 the dog lost the senile appearance, taking on the typical characteristics of a young dog. A 

 correlated influence of the hormones of the testes with those of other secretions resulting in 

 rejuvenation is suggested. — J . L. Collins. 



1713. Hauptmann, Alfred. Grundlagen, Stellung und Symptomatologie der "myotonen 

 Dystrophie." [Basis, location, and symptomatology of myotonic dystrophy.] Deutsch. Zeitschr. 

 Nervenheilk. 63: 206-249. 1919. — Myotonic dystrophy is certainly an hereditary disease. 

 In the great majority of cases s^Tnptoms are found in the parents of the patient. Cataract 

 is practically always present for generations before the myotonic dystrophy appears. Prob- 

 ably the "Anlagen" of the other symptoms are also present, each inherited independently. 

 Cataract is then dominant, the other sjonptoms recessive; sooner or later all of them appear. 

 If, as sometimes happens, no symptoms are found in the parents, they may be considered 

 latent. Very often brothers and sisters of one afflicted with myotonic dystrophy are weak- 

 minded, and there are many signs of degeneration in the family history. — B. Whiteside. 



1714. Hayes, Herbert Kendall, and Ralph John Garbeu. Breeding crop plants. 

 15.5 X 2S.5 cm., 328 p., 66 fig. McGraw-Hill Book Co.: New York, 1921.— This book presents 

 the fundamental principles of crop breeding, summarizes the known facts regarding the in- 

 heritance of many important characters of the commoner crop plants, and suggests methods 

 of breeding for each of the more important field crops. The 1st 2 chapters review the work 

 of the pioneer plant breeders and summarize the principles of plant genetics as a basis for 

 crop improvement. The next 3 chapters deal with the mode of reproduction in various crop 

 plants in relation to the technique employed in breeding them, emphasizing field-plot tech- 

 nique and factors influencing the reliability of results of field-plot trials, and including the 

 technique of controlled pollination in certain plants. The next 14 chapters are devoted to 

 a consideration of classification, inheritance of various characters, methods of breeding, and 

 results of selection and crossing of wheat, oats, rye, barley, buckwheat, rice, cowpeas, soy 

 beans, velvet beans, flax, tobacco, cotton, sorghum, maize, several grasses, clovers, alfalfa, 

 potatoes, and various fruits and vegetables. A glossary of plant breeding and genetic terms 

 and a bibliography of the more important plant breeding and plant genetics contributions 

 are appended. — C. B. Hutchison. 



1715. Henry, J. K. Ribes divaricatimi X Ribes Lobbii. Canadian Field Nat. 33: 94. 

 1919. — George H. Knight, nurserjonan of British Columbia, found on Vancouver Island a 

 peculiar gooseberry growing among wild plants of Rihes divaricatum Dougl. and R. Lobbii 

 Gray. The new type resembles R. Lobbii in many respects, in others it is quite similar to 

 R, divaricatum. Descriptions are given of each species and of the supposed hybrid. That 

 this is a hybrid can not now be decided as it has not fruited. Ribes hybrids are not easily 

 produced, and natural hybrids are unknown in North America. — A. C. Eraser. 



1716. HochJ;, L^on, et Ren6 Morlot. Evolution parthenogenetique de I'ovule dans 

 I'atrophie de foUicule a I'etat de maturite. [Parthenogenetic development of the egg in a case 

 of atrophy of the follicle.] Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol. 83 : 1152-1154. 1920. — The authors observed 

 in the ovary of a girl 12 years old an egg the periphery of which was divided into small cells, 

 the remainder composed of transparent granular yolk. The latter contained numerous chro- 

 matic elements in balls varying in volume and position. No evidence of a spindle was present. 

 One of the small cells was seen in anaphase. Flemming, Henneguay, and others have reported 

 similar cases in which segmentation of the egg seems to occur not by regular cell division but 

 by gemmation. The authors interpret these cases as the beginnings of parthenogenetic 

 development, but only as another phenomenon of degeneration. — C. L. Pannenter . 



