14 Experimentelle Morphologie, Mißbildungen, Pathologie. 



Durch Spätbeeinflussung der Gravidität beim Meerschweinchen entstand bei 

 einem Wurf Microcornea, bei einem zweiten Wurf Microblepharie und totale Ver- 

 wachsung der Hornhaut mit der Bindehaut. 



Die Versuche widerlegen die herrschende Anschauung, daß alle Augenmiß- 

 bildungen auf einer Keimesanomalie beruhen und erblich sein sollen. 



Die Methode führte bei Kaninchen mit lebenden Jungen in 50 y,, der Würfe^ 

 beim Meerschwein in 33% der Würfe zu Mißbildungen. C. Adam (Berlin). 



27) Bonhote, J. L., A pair of Desert Mice {JSIeriones crassus), with 

 abnormal colouring. In: Proc. Zool. Soc. 1911. Pt. IV, S. 986. 



The mice were kept in a moist atmosphere at 80° F (27° C) for nearly two 

 months, and became conspicuously darker in colour. Control specimens kept in 

 a temperature which rose in the day to 90° F (32° C) and feil at night to 60° F 

 (15° C) showed no change. It is possible that desert animals owe their pale co- 

 lour to dryness of the air rather than assimilation to the surroundings. 



Doncaster (Cambridge). 



28) Rischbieth, H., Dwarfism. In: Treasury of Human Inheritance. I. Bd. 

 7., 8. Heft, p. 355—573, 1912. 8 plates of pedigrees, 25 plates. 



Dwarfism is classified into (l) Racial, (2) Environmental, (3) Congenital; 

 these three categories are not entirely separable. (l) includes races of Pygmies, 

 e. g. Akkas, (2) results of disease and injury, e. g. Rickets, Thyroid disease etc.; 

 the greater part o the memoir deals with (3). The anatomical characters of dif- 

 ferent kinds of dwarfism are compared, and the congenital varieties are grouped 

 under (a) Achondroplasia, (b) Ateleiosis. Individuais showing achondroplasia have 

 the trunk of fairly normal proportions, normal intelligence and sexual development, 

 but have short thick limbs and abnormal skull and pelvis. A detailed account is 

 given of the anatomical characters. The condition is essentially due to the very 

 early fusion of the epiphyses with the long bones. It is commoner in females 

 and the majority die at birth. Affected women are unable to undergo normal par- 

 turition, but a number of successful births have been obtained by Caesarean section. 

 The condition is clearly hereditary in many cases, though not infrequently spora- 

 dic. The pedigrees show that when present in more than one generation the 

 transmission is nearly always direct from parent to child; in the few cases where 

 'skipping' of a generation is represented, the description generally implies doubt 

 whether the condition was true achondroplasia. Many examples, llo^^■ever, are given 

 of several affected members of a family in which there were no knoAm cases in 

 the previous ancestry. 



Ateleiosis consists in arrest of growth, which many begin before birth, in 

 infancy, or in later childhood. In most respects affected individuals retain in- 

 fantile or juvenile characters, according to the age at which the condition begins 

 to show itself. In some features, however, they approach more nearly to adults 

 at the same age. The genital organs usually remain infantile, and are rarely 

 functional; for this reason direct transmission is rare. Several cases, however, 

 are recorded of direct transmission from parent to child; in others the children 

 of one or even of two dwarf parents are normal, and in other families the dwarf 

 condition may appear among the children of normal parents in collateral bran- 

 ches of the same family. 



The memoir is fully illustrated by pedigrees, and by Photographie plates of 

 living dwarfs, of skeletons, and of pictures and statues. The extensive bibliography 

 is by Miss A. Barrington. Doncaster (Cambridge). 



