470 



The Journal of Heredity 



above facts, make only the statement 

 that among the wheat-r>'e hybrids 

 segregation was noticed with respect 

 to the effect of the fnngiis. This fact 

 is in itself siitticientK- \ahiable in the 

 general problem of creating forms of 

 plants resistant to winter injury-. 



I shall now describe another gronj) of 

 experiments: In the autumn of 1<>2() 

 we were first able to sow in a field 287 

 families of hybrids of the third and 

 fourth generations 1 to 10 rows of 

 each, and 25 plants to a row. 



The autumn of 1920 was ver>- (Inl- 

 and the sowing had to be done late. 

 Winter then came on early with the 

 result that on\y the r\'e t>pe tillered 

 normally; plants of the wheat type 

 tillered hardly at all. The winter was 

 almost without snow. The small quan- 

 tity of snow that did fall on the fields 

 thawed under the first rays of the 

 spring sun. The parent forms sowed 

 in frec|uent rejx-tition ga\e the follow- 

 ing results: the wheat perished entirely; 

 on the r\e plots up to 23 per cent of 

 the plants perished. Now what hap- 

 pened to the hybrids? 



Secalc hybrids: in one family con- 

 sisting of 166 plants only six plants 

 survived, these being evenh- distributed 

 over the whole area of the plot. The 

 others perished during the winter. 

 This was not noticed on a single rye 

 plot. The destruction of tiie plants of 

 this family cannot be explained by the 

 micro-relief of the surface. The plants 

 of this family were characterised by a 

 low spreading growth resembling wheat 

 rather than r>e in form of growth. 

 Of the remaining hybrids of the rye 

 type, four sIfKxl the winter well like r>e. 

 In one family increased frost resistance 



was noticed, while the remaining 29 

 families of r>'e type there was from 36 

 to 76 per cent destruction. 



Naturally then, we arrive at the con- 

 clusion that the winter resistance of 

 certain hybrids of the rye t\pe has 

 decreased as the cost of obtaining 

 certain wheat properties. 



Triticum hybrids: of the 289 families 

 of the unsatisfactorily developed hy- 

 brids, as we said above, but four sur- 

 vived the winter. Subsequently the 

 great majority of the surviving plants 

 perished, as during the days there was 

 great heat, and in the night frosty 

 weather, followed by \er\' dxy weather 

 with a drop in the humidity of the air 

 tf) 20 per cent or lower. Nevertheless, 

 in spite of the extraordinarily unfavor- 

 able conditions, we still have at the 

 present time over 300 plants well 

 developed and that have stood all these 

 re\erses. At any rate, in this we are 

 able to observe increased winter re- 

 sistance. 



I do not draw any conclusions from 

 the above mentioned facts. Subse- 

 cjuent investigation will undoubtedly 

 make it possible to reach a conclusion 

 on the question that interests us, but I 

 find it necessar\' to remark that 

 material very limited in its variation 

 was sown in the fields, having a begin- 

 ning only from 30 Fo plants, in tlieir 

 turn descended from 30 Fi plants of 

 such complex constitution as hybrids 

 of wheat and rye, in which are mixed 

 an endless number of different features. 

 It is understood that such a number 

 of plants cannot be in any way con- 

 sidered as sufficient to solve the ques- 

 tion on hand. 



Life of the Honey Bee 



A Book About thk Bi:i:, by Herbert 

 Mace. Pp. 138, with 24 illustrations. 

 New York, K. P. Dutton, n.d. 



This impretentious little book, 

 printed in Great Britain, gives a simple 

 and non-technical account of the life of 

 tJie hive. While the author outlines 



some of the notable problems per- 

 taining to heredity and evolution 

 among bees, he makes little attempt 

 to suggest solutions for them. As a 

 primer, li()we\er, the book should be 

 useful. The photographic illustrations 

 are excellent. — P. P. 



