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The Journal 



in the wheat parent, much less on rye. 

 It has often been noticed that certain 

 segregates in wide crosses of different 

 species of wheat are much more pre- 

 disposed to stem rust and yellow rust 

 than the parents. 



One plant in the F2 of Rosen X 

 Hybrid 128 was also found to be in- 

 fected but since the Hybrid 128 parent 

 is very susceptible to bunt, infected 

 plants might be expected in this cross. 



Whether any new strain of commer- 

 cial value can be developed from very 



of Heredity 



wide crosses is a debatable question. 

 To the writers such crosses seem 

 freighted with possibilities. If, however, 

 matroclinous hybrids are the rule the 

 variation in form might be limited, but 

 in the final recombinations of compati- 

 ble chromatin new forms unlike any- 

 thing ever seen before are possible. 

 In the creation of the new, might not a 

 form appear more desirable for the 

 purposes of man than anything now in 

 existence? 



A NEW SPECIES OF MAN FROM AFRICA 



While the anti-evolution propa- 

 ganda grows in the southern states 

 ardently championed by an ex-Secre- 

 tary of State, the fossil bones of a new 

 member of the human species have 

 been uncovered in Rhodesia. This 

 new find has been the occasion of some 

 discussion as to its antiquity and the 

 salient features are ably presented in 

 the Atlantic Monthly by Dr. G. Elliot 

 Smith. 1 The bones are heavily en- 

 crusted with salts of zinc and lead but 

 are not mineralized or strictly fossilized. 

 They were found at the Broken Hill 

 Mine in northern Rhodesia, about 

 300 miles north of Zambezi, and consti- 

 tute the first important discovery of 

 prehistoric man in the African conti- 

 nent. This new member of the human 

 family has been designated Homo 

 rhodesiensis and takes its place with 

 H. neanderthalensis and H. heidelber- 

 gensis in the evolutionary ladder of 

 H. sapiens, occupying a position in 

 development intermediate between H. 

 neanderthalensis, the lowest member of 

 the genus Homo hitherto recognized, 

 and Eoanthropus dawsoni and Pithe- 

 canthropus erectus the two most primi- 

 tive forms of the human family, so 

 primitive in fact that many palaeon- 

 tologists still regard Pithecanthropus as 

 an ape and the jaw of Eoanthropus as 



that of a chimpanzee. The form of the 

 brain-case and the peculiarly distinc- 

 tive features of the brain that it once 

 contained leads Dr. Smith to believe 

 that this Rhodesian species is the most 

 primitive member of the genus Homo 

 at present known, but not the most 

 primitive of the human family. 



He calls attention to the fact that 

 even the lowly Pithecanthropus pos- 

 sessed the power of articulate speech 

 which had reached an even higher stage 

 of development in Eoanthropus while 

 H. rhodesiensis lies between Eoanthropus 

 and H. neanderthalensis in this respect. 



There is still a question as to whether 

 the Rhodesian man walked upright 

 instead of with the bent-kneed locomo- 

 tion of the Neanderthal man and, if so, 

 how he can be considered more primi- 

 tive than the latter, but Dr. Smith 

 directs attention to the fact that Pithe- 

 canthropics walked erect though ad- 

 mittedly the most ancient and primitive 

 member of the human family. 



He is careful to state that while the 

 evidence may favor the hypothesis 

 that H. rhodesiensis walked erect it 

 cannot be concluded from this that 

 Rhodesian man was post-Neanderthal 

 since even H. sapiens possesses some 

 features more primitive than those of 

 Neanderthal man. — ^J. H. K. 



' Smith, G. Elliot. The Fossil Man of Rhodesia. Atlantic Monthly, pp. 454-465, April 1922. 



