168 



EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



the blastomeres, leads to the supposition of a quantitative or qualitative 

 chromosomal inefficiency as the cause of nonfecundibility of these hybrid eggs 



The intra-uterine growth cycles of the gTiinea pig, J. M. Read (Arch 

 Entwickl. Mech. Organ., 35 (1913), pt. I pp. 708-723).-It was found possible 

 to obtain a curve showing the uterine growth of the young in the guinea pig 

 by weighing the mother at regular intervals during pregnancy, as the ratio of 

 the weight of the litter to the mother is very high. One growth cycle bpgan 

 at fertilization of the ovum and continued for 60 days. A second cycle began 

 a little before the end of the first, and continued on after birth. 



" In both the guinea pig and man birth occurs during the course of a cycle 

 and not at or near the juncture of 2 cycles. The human young are boru 

 before the completion of the first cycle, while the guinea pig completes 1 cycle 

 and begins a second in utero. It is quite likely that this fact accounts for 

 the advanced state of development of the latter animal at birth." 



Effects of castration on the hypophysis and other glandular organs, A. 

 Maebassini and L. Luciani (Arch. Ital. Biol., 56 (1911), No. 3, pp. 395-432, 

 pis. 2; aJ)S. in ZentU. Expt. Med., 2 (1912), No. 5, pp. 208, 209).— A rgsum§ of 

 investigations on the methods of castrating, and the effects of castration on the 

 internal organs of cattle, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs, and poultry. 



The histogenesis of the pineal body of the sheep, H. E. Jordan ( Amer 

 Jour. Anat., 12 (1911), No. 3, pp. 21,9-216, pis. 3). -A search for evidence indi- 

 cating a physiological function for the pineal organ in the cat, dog, guinea pig, 

 rabbit, rat, opossum, calf, sheep, and man by the author and others seemed 

 to negative its functional importance because the organ was so smaU. A 

 more thorough study was made of the pineal body in the sheep because it was 

 of unusual size, but there was no clear histological evidence which indicated 

 a glandular function, and it is thought that if it is of any importance whatso- 

 ever it is probably active only during the first 8 months of post-natal life. 



Hypertrophy of the testicles and comb after the removal of the pineal 

 gland in fowls, C. FoA (Arch. Ital. Biol., 57 (1912), No. 2, pp. 233-252, figs. 

 4).— A review is given of studies on the histology and physiology of the pineal 

 gland in many species of animals, the author's work being chiefly with fowls. 



As a result of removing the pineal gland from male fowls at the age of from 

 20 to 30 days the size of the comb and the testicles was very much increased. 

 In the case of puUets growth was somewhat retarded for a time, but there 

 were no differences observed at maturity between the normal and experimental 

 animals. 



The physiological action of extracts of the pineal body, H. B. Jordan and 

 J. A. E. Eyster (Amer. Jour. Physiol. 29 (1911), No. 2, pp. 115-123, figs. 5).— 

 The experiments with the pineal gland of sheep indicated that it contains some 

 substance which causes a fall of blood pressure, associated with a vasodilata- 

 tion in the intestines, when subcutaneous injections were made into dogs, cats 

 and sheep. It also produced a slight degree of improvement in the beat of 'the 

 isolated cat's heart, and caused a transitory diuresis associated with glycosuria 

 in about 80 per cent of the cases. 



On errors of random sampling in certain cases not suitable for the appli- 

 cation of a " normal -' curve of frequency, M. Greenwood, Jr. (Biometrika, 9 

 (1913), No. 1-2, pp. 69-90).— The present memoir is an attempt to show to 

 investigators in biology and medicine the limitations of the " normal " curve of 

 errors with the binomial standard deviation mpq, which is so commonly used 

 to determine the reliability of a series of observations and experiments. 



This formula rests upon certain assumptions, and if either p or ^ be very 

 smaU unless m is very large, and for all values of p and q when m is very small, 



