280 



The Journal of Heredity 



and coarser fruits which arc widely 

 cultivated in the tropics, and eaten 

 only after cooking. The cultivated 

 varieties are innumerable, and in con- 

 fusion, partly due to their great vari- 

 ability and tendency to bud variation. 

 Dr. George V. Perez, for example, has 

 called attention to a very recent muta- 

 tion of the Canary Island banana 

 (Musa cavendishii) which reaches double 

 or treble the height of its dwarf parent. 

 The inflorescence is identical, the fruit 

 somewhat larger and better, in his opin- 

 ion, than that of the parent. It is called 

 by the natives a "male banana." Another 

 sport of a different nature is described 

 from Grenada, in the West Indies, by 

 W. Malins-Smith (Agr. News, Vol. VI) : 

 "A few days ago I picked a bunch of 

 'claret' bananas which contained two 

 hands of green colored fingers and one 

 hand of claret and green fingers There 

 ""'Baker, J. G., in Ann. of Bot. VII, 204. 



was one finger whicli was one-half green 

 and one-half claret. The green fingers 

 ripened yellow. The bunch when ripe 

 presented a very curious apijearancc." 

 There is no doubt but that a study of 

 the plantations in the tropics would 

 reveal an immense number of similar 

 cases. Baker'" mentions that Musa fehi, 

 which grows widely in Tahiti, is seedless 

 at the lower levels of the forests, but 

 bears seeds when found at higher alti- 

 tudes, say 3,000 or 3,600 feet. The 

 sexual irregularity of the flowers also 

 deserves attention. Altogether there 

 is reason to believe that this genus, 

 which has received the attention of 

 plant breeders ever since man appeared 

 on the earth, can yet furnish a great 

 deal of valuable data throwing light 

 on many of the most im]3ortant prob- 

 lems of hereditv. 



Fertility of Mixed Marriages 



Interesting, even though inadequate, data with regard to the fcrtilit\' of mixed 

 marriages, are given by Thomas Guevara in his work on Psicolojia del pueblo 

 Araucano (Santiago de Chile, 1908). Dr. Rivet, reviewing it in L 'Anthropologic 

 (XXI, 590, Paris 1910), gives the following table showing the results of 58 mar- 

 riages between Araucans (remnants of the ancient stock of Chile) and Spaniards, 

 with similar data from 248 marriages between Araucans, by way of comparison. 

 It appears, if these figures represent the true state of affairs, that mixed marriages 

 are less fertile than those in which both parties are of the same stock : 



Marriages without children 

 Marriages with 1 child . . . . 

 Marriages with 2 children , 

 Marriages with 3 children . 

 Marriages with 4 children . 

 Marriages with 5 children . 

 Marriages with 6 children . 

 Marriages with 7 children. 

 Marriages with 8 cliildren . 

 Marriages with 9 children . 

 Marriages witli 10 childR'n 



