6 ABSTRACT. 



Line C was founded by the most able member of the fraternity and 

 his able, aggressive wife, who came from stock showing these traits in 

 good measure. Subsequent marriages into good stock has brought 

 about complete elimination of the defects of the founders and cor- 

 responding economic worth. 



Line D, founded by a son who resembled closely the founder of Line 

 A, has, through marriage into sex-offending, alcoholic, criminalistic 

 stock, broken up into very degenerate branches. Aggressiveness and 

 perseverance remain low, and in many instances the original number 

 and proportion defects reappear. All living representatives of this 

 line, with one exception, are at large and a hindrance to the moral and 

 economic growth of their communities. 



Line E, founded by the youngest son, furnishes an instance of the 

 persistence of defect through disadvantageous mating for five genera- 

 tions. All members of this line have been markedly defective, most 

 of them to the point of imbecility; living representatives, with. but one 

 exception, are receiving custodial care. 



The second network, comprising the lines F and G, was founded by 

 two sisters who were noted for their strength and stature, good nature, 

 and mental slowness. Through marriage into widely differing stocks, 

 Line F appears to be breaking up into incipient strains, some of which 

 are marked by imbecility, others by eccentricity, and still others by 

 increasing social efficiency. In Line G a condition of marked mental 

 retardation, where average mentality was not reached until early mid- 

 dle life, is being replaced in some branches by a normal rate of mental 

 growth. Where this acceleration occurs there has been mating with 

 stocks which show normal rate of mental development. Thus the 

 effect of marriage selection is made clear in serving to dissipate defect 

 in some lines and thus increase their social efficiency and to concen- 

 trate degeneracy and defect in others. 



The behavior in inheritance of calculating ability, perseverance, and 

 aggressiveness would indicate that the occurrence of various grades 

 is due to a segregation of determiners for these traits. A study of 

 comparative fecundity and survival shows a decided decrease in 

 fecundity in all lines, which, however, is no more marked in the socially 

 efficient than in the inefficient fines. The survival ratios, on the other 

 hand, increase for the successive generations of the efficient lines, while 

 they decrease for the inefficient lines, thus illustrating Nature's method 

 of eliminating the unfit. 



With reference to migration, the tendency of the normal to push 

 out into new sections of the country and under adverse conditions de- 

 velop its resources, leaving the slower and more dependent to be sup- 

 ported at public expense, is amply illustrated. The lines A, B, and C, 

 taken collectively, have only 3 living representatives at the original place 

 of settlement; 42 are still within a radius of 50 miles, while the remain- 



