668 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



of organic colloidal material than to a true enzym. The extreme resistance to 

 high temperatures shown by these extracts excludes the presence of an enzym 

 as generally understood. Variations in coat color are due probably to a quan- 

 titative rather than to a qualitative dilTerence in the pigment present, for the 

 pigments isolated from black, chocolate, and yellow rabbits show very little 

 difference either in the depth of their color or in their chemical behavior. Blue 

 and the other dilute coat colors are not caused by a lack of pigment in the 

 medulla, but by the absence of granules in the cortex, which, being present 

 in the intense colors, absorb the light which in the dilute colors is reflected from 

 the vacuoles." 



Note on a case of Hunter's freemartin, where there was reversion to the 

 wild park cattle ty-pe, D. B, Hart (Edinb. Med. Jour., n. set:. Iff (1915), No. 3, 

 pp. 194-198, pi. 1; ahs. in Jour. Roy. Micros. Soc, No. 3 (1915), p. 23S).—A free- 

 martin is described " which resembled the wild park cattle in having a white 

 hide, black muzzle, black hoofs, blackish spots on the legs, and gjeat timidity. 

 The mother was a normal Shorthorn; the cotwin a normal bull. A. typical 

 Hunter's freemartin is a sterile, genitally malformed bull, with small un- 

 descended testes and rudimentary epididymes, vasa deferentia, and Miillerian 

 elements. Vesiculse seminales are present. The external genitals consist of 

 labia majora, clitoris, and the urinogenital sinus element (one in. in length) 

 of the vagina. 



" The potent biill calf and the freemartin are produced from one fertilized 

 ovum, but the freemartin has allotted to it the hydatid testis and prostatic 

 utricle normally given to the single bull. This produces an exaggerated simula- 

 crum of the female genital tract. 



" The thyroid, thymus, and suprarenals were found to be normal. The in- 

 ternal genitalia showed fatty degeneration, and were represented only by the 

 urinogenital sinus and the epididymes. The skull was normal. The chief 

 point of interest was the (ectodermic) reversion to the wild park cattle type. 

 A theoretical interpretation is given of the way in which this reversion might 

 come about — by retention of certain ancestral chromosomes normally lost in 

 polar body formation." 



German breeds of live stock (Arb. Deut. Landw. Gesell., No. 235 (1912), 

 English ed., pp. 93, pis. 53, figs. 12). — Descriptions of the principal breeds of 

 horses, cattle, sheep, and swine of Germany are given. The book is profusely 

 illustrated with photographs of the prize-winning animals of each breed. 



The value of German breeding cattle in German Southwest Africa, J. Neu- 

 mann (Alhandl. Bamhnrg. KoJon. Inst. 26 (1914), Ser. E, pp. 35, pis. 16).— An 

 account of the distribution of the various breeds of cattle in German South- 

 west Africa, together with measurements of representative animals of each 

 breed. 



Lincolnshire Red Shorthorns, G. E. Collins (Jour. Roy. Agr. Soc. England, 

 75 (1914), pp. 33-40, pi. 1). — An account of the early history, development, and 

 utility value of the Lincoln Red breed of cattle. 



Profits in southern cattle feeding, R, S. Cubtis (Breeders' Gaz., 67 (1915), 

 No. 10, p. 510). — In order to obtain data on the beef cattle feeding industry 

 members of the North Carolina Beef Breeders' and Feeders' Association pur- 

 chased cooperatively, in 1914, 730 feeding cattle weighing from 900 to 1,100 lbs. 

 from the western or mountainous portion of the State. These cattle were 

 shipped to various farms throughout the State, where they were fed under 

 ordinary farm conditions, the feeder placing his own valuation on the feed, 

 bedding, manure, and other incidentals. 



