432 The Journal of Heredity 



seen it, but even in winter it is orna- This lovely yellow rose has one small 



mental because of its red-brown stems, drawback. It does not seem to grow 



red thorns and its picturesque growth. easily from cuttings or slips. It seeds 



When not trained against a wall it freely , however, and can be raised in 



grows to a height of about 5 feet and its this way even should a quicker way not 



stems are clothed with numerous slender be discovered. 



spines which arc bright red on the To those who are interested in roses 



straight young shoots. Its leaves are it may be a matter of satisfaction to 



thin and delicate and so far as the know, that the breeding of this rose 



writer's observations go it is not subject with others is now going on here in 



to the rose spot disease which turns briar America, and the appearance of some 



rose bushes, such as Lord and Lady newdescendantof Father Hugo Scallan's 



Penzance, into long unsightly masses rose is proljably merely a matter of 



of naked stems before the summer is over. time. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS 



THE MUTATION FACTOR IN EVOLUTION, with Particular Reference to Oenothera. 

 R. Ruggles Gates, Ph. D., F. L. .S. Pp. xiv+353, 114 figs., map and bibliography. London, 

 Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1915. Price 10^. net. 



There is little left unsaid on the subject of Evening Primrose mutations, after 

 Dr. Gates has finished with the subject. It has attracted an immense amount of 

 attention in the last score of years — Dr. Gates' bibliograph}^ contains more than 

 450 entries — and the author has performed a real service by digesting the literature, 

 to which his own contributions have been notable, and publishing it in this form. 

 A considerable part of the book is, naturally, devoted to proving that there really 

 is such a thing as a mutation. To those who have contended that the supposed 

 mutations were merely the effects of hybridity. Dr. Gates answers that the cyto- 

 logical evidence disproves this; and the finding of a specimen of O^Mo//i£'ra lamarck- 

 iana which was collected by Michaux in America late in the eighteenth century 

 shows that this chief of the mutating species is a real one, and not merely the 

 hybrid product of some European garden. Dr. Gates discusses mutants in other 

 jjlants, and animals, and concludes with a general theory of mutation, and a 

 discussion of the significance of mutation in evolution. 



SOCIETAL EVOLUTION, by Albert Galloway Keller. P]). ix+338, price $1.50. New York, 

 the Macmillan Co., 66 Fifth Avenue, 1915. 



It is still a disputed point among sociologists, whether the mechanism of biological 

 evolution — variation, heredity, selection, adaptation — is also the mechanism of 

 the evolution of society. The distinguished professor of the science of society at 

 Yale believes that it is, and has written this very readable, interesting and sugges- 

 tive book to prove it, basing himself solidly on Darwinian foundations. As the 

 evolution of society depends on changes in popular customs or mores, and the 

 success (;f the eugenics j^rogram equally depends on a change in the mores. Professor 

 Keller's extended and symjjathetic discussion of eugenics must be of great interest 

 tcj every genetist. He ]^oints out that the maintenance mores, those which are 

 Ijrincipally economic in character, are much more ea.sily changed than any others, 

 and holds that the easiest route for eugenic i)ropaganda is along this line. " Nega- 

 tive eugenics" is therefore most likely to be successfully ])ut into practice, Ix'cause 

 it touches closely upon the struggle for a living. As to the immediate ]3racticability 

 of positive eugenics he does not show great enthusiasm, and it is likely that most 

 eugenists will find their dreams a little less rosy, after reading his able review of 

 the case. 



