ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 471 



Abnormal bone growth in the absence of functioning testicles, A. C. Gedde.s 

 (Proc. Roy. Soc. Eilinb., 31 (1910-11), No. 1, pp. 100-150, pis. 3).— This article 

 reports anatomical, histological, and physiological studies of fowls, dogs, guinea 

 pigs, cattle, and man, in which the subjects were castrated or had nonfunctional 

 testicles. 



In the absence of fimctioning testicles the process of endochondral ossifica- 

 tion is stimulated and prolonged, but all cartilages are not affected equally. 

 The bones most marliedly affected are the bones of the leg, next those of the 

 forearm, next the thigh and arm, limb girdles, and vertebral column. 



Observations at the slaughterhouses showed that a bull's epiphyses joined 

 the bone shafts by the time he was 2 years old, whereas in the bullock endochon- 

 dral ossification is not complete until he is 3 or 4 years of age. The effect of 

 castration is to cause an excess of nutritive material to be absorbed by the car- 

 tilage cells, which proliferate rapidly and are liable to die by surfeit, accom- 

 panied by an increased rate of growth in the epiphysial cartilages. 



A bibliography is appended. 



The effects of semispaying and of semicastration on the sex ratio of the 

 albino rat (Mus norvegicus albinus), Helen D. King (Jottr. Expt. Zool.. 10 

 (1911), Xo. If, pp. 381-392) .—To test the right and left ovary hyix)thesis the 

 ovaries and testicles were removed from one side of albino rats, with the follow- 

 ing results : " Each ovary produces eggs that are capable of developing into males 

 and also eggs that can develop into females. Each testicle contains spermatozoa 

 that are able to fertilize the eggs from either ovary, and eggs thus fertilized 

 develop either into males or into females. The sex ratio is not altered in any 

 way by semispaying or by semicastrating the breeding animals. It follows, 

 therefore, that (a) if sex is determined in the ovary, female-producing and 

 male-producing eggs are developed in approximately equal numbers in each 

 cvary of the normal female; (b) if the male is responsible for sex, female- 

 producing and male-producing spermatozoa are developed in approximately 

 equal numbers in each testicle of the normal male." 



Studies in the experimental analysis of sex. — VII, Sexual changes in the 

 blood and liver of Carcinus maenas, G. Smith (Quart. Jour. Micros. Sci. 

 [London], n. sen, .57 (1011), No. 226, pp. 251-265).— In earlier work (E. S. B- 

 25, p. 772), it was pointed out that the adult female organism at the time of the 

 ripening of the ovary is engaged in elaborating reserve material, especially of a 

 fatty nature, and that this substance is conveyed in the body fluids to the 

 ovary and may have some connection in the development of many female 

 secondary sexual characters. 



A further study of the changes in the bood and liver of Carcinus mwnas 

 indicates that the blood of the female at the time of the ripening of the ovary 

 contains more than twice as much fatty material as the blood of the male, even 

 when the latter is mobilizing its fat to the greatest extent, and that Sacculina 

 exerts a marked influence upon the fat metabolism of the host. This is en- 

 tirely consistent with the view that it influences the host to assume the female 

 characters by acting the same part in the fat metabolism as the ripening ovary 

 does in the normal female. 



The effect of Sacculina upon the fat metabolism of its host, G. C. Robson 

 (Quart. Jour. Micros. Sci. [London], n. ser., .51 (1911), No. 226, pp. 267-278, figs. 

 2). — This is work along lines which support the results reported in the abstract 

 noted above. 



Is early maturity in domesticated animals a sign of degeneracy similar 

 to cretinism, or a normal condition due to high breeding? W. Bormann (1st 

 die FrilJvcife der Haustiere eine Degenerationserscheinung (cretinistischer, cre- 

 32355°— Xo. 5—12 6 



