ANIMAL PRODUCTION. ^ 377 



[The biological factor in heredity], W. Bevan-Lewis {Jour. Mental Sci., 

 ■',.') (l!)0!i). \(>. ^.U. i>i>. ■y.il'-CiO, flgK. 5). — A resume of studies on Meudelian 

 inheritiUiee is j;iveu, in which apparent exceptions are shown to depend upon 

 fallacies of interiiretations. The desirability of studying the congenital defects 

 and tendencies to disease in the light of Mendel's law is pointed out. Data 

 already reported show that cerebral hernia in Polish fowl, the waltzing habit 

 of mice, albinism in several species of animals, and probably alkaptonuria in 

 human beings are recessive characters. 



Cellular osmosis and heredity, A. B. Macallum (Proc. and Trans. Roy. Soc. 

 Canada. ,3. scr., 2 (t!)0,^). Sec. IV, pp. I.li5-163). — The theories of osmosis and 

 its bearing on heredity are discussed. 



According to the view of the author, there is a membrane al»out the nucleus 

 of the cell, which is so constituted as to exclude organic salts, fats, free carbo- 

 hydrates, and probably free jirotein. The chromatin of the histologists is an 

 iron-holding nucleoprotein, which can permeate the nuclear membrane because 

 of its solubility in the substance of the membrane. The nuclear membrane 

 therefore makes the transmission of ancestral characters from generation to 

 generation possible. 



"A germ plasma, in the sense implied by Weismann, may exist but on the 

 view here advanced its continuity is one of type rather than of identical mole- 

 cules, for the nuclear membranes of the germ cells sort out or select from all 

 the iron-holding nucleoproteins from the various portions of the body that reach 

 such germ cells those of a certain definite fixed composition and any other 

 nucleoproteins that may be present are excluded from the nuclei of the ova 

 and sjiermatid cells. Such selected or sorted out iron-holding nucleoproteins 

 may in a manner represent the gemmules of Darwin's theory. Such compounds 

 transmit the inherited parental characters and, to continue the transmission in 

 the offspring of such characters, provide for the maintenance of the same type 

 of nuclear memlirane in the germ cells of the offspring." Thus, without a 

 nucleus there could be no fixity of type or characters. 



This discussion shows the importance of having a clear view of what osmosis 

 fundamentally means from the physiological side. 



The problems of inheritance from the standpoint of the mechanics of de- 

 velopment, E. (ioDLKWsKi, ,7r. (Vortrdge ii. Aiif.mfzc Entwickl. Meeh. Onjan. 

 J'lmi, Xo. !), pp. 301, flgs. 67; ahs. in Nature [London], 83 (1910), No. 211!,, 

 pp. 213, 21. 'i). — In part 1, Mendel's law of inheritance of acquired characters, 

 nonsexual reproduction, and allied problems of inheritance are discussed. In 

 I)art 2, the mechanism by which characters of one generation are carried over 

 to the next are treated in detail. The author thinks that the relations between 

 the nucleus and the cytoplasm, and not the nucleus itself, form the basis of 

 heredity. 



A bibliogra]»hy of over 400 references on the subject is appended. 



The interpretation of the term " pure bred " by breeders' associations in 

 Germany and other countries, A. Lydtin and A. Hermes {Arh. Dent. Landie. 

 (Icxell.. IDO!), No. I')l. jtp. IHl). — A discussion and exposition of what is meant 

 by the term "pure bred" by breeders' associations in all countries v.'hich pub- 

 lish pedigree registers. Considerable historical data are included concerning 

 the formation of these associations and the manner in which pedigrees have 

 been record<Kl. 



[Stock breeding at the government farm in Trinidad], P. Carmody {Ann. 

 Rpt. Dipt. Arjr. Trinidad and Tobago, I'.iOH-i), pp. H-ll). — An account of the 

 [irogress made in stock breeding. 



