528 



The Journal of Heredity 



Correction 



In the October nimiber of this jour- 

 nal, under the caption " The Too-perfect 

 Milkweed," was iniblishcd a photoj^iaph 

 of the adaptation for cross-fcrtili/aiion 

 of the common milkweed. The story 

 and legend under this photograph are 

 entirely misleading. Ihey were writ- 

 ten by an amateur, and found their way 

 into the journal owing to the fact that 

 the editor has been drafted into military 

 service. It is a familiar fact to students 

 of botany that the flower base of the 

 milkweed has no sticky substance on it 

 but is furnished with rcmarkal)le i)er- 

 jK-ndicular slits or openings larger below 

 than they are above. As the infect 

 alights on the flower, one or more of its 

 feet slip into these hlits and as it at- 

 tempts to fly away, its claws ^lip upward 

 in these >-lits and the hairs on its legs are 

 caught and held tightly by a peculiar 

 tough connecting contrivance like a 

 clothes-pin, which holds the ])ollen 

 masses or "pollinidia" together. Ihese 

 masses, proeluced in pockets one on 

 either side of each slit, are norm.ally 



inillcd out b\' the insect as it flies away, 

 and in drying they fold together like a 

 book and are dragged by the inject into 

 another flower, through one of the slits 

 in its flower base. An directly under- 

 neath each slit the receptive stigmatic 

 surface is located, the folded pollen 

 masses are dragged over it and left 

 sticking to it, where the pollen grains 

 which compose the masses germinate 

 and fertilize the flower. The trap occa- 

 sionally fails to work and obliges the 

 insect to depart without its legs, as is 

 shown in the photograph. Weak in- 

 sects are scmetim.es caught and die on 

 the flowers. 



Another error, on page 436, should 

 be corrected. Captain liben Putnam 

 writes that his letter with regard to the 

 draft of Old Americans in the New 

 I''ngland states was written before the 

 draft and merely declared that if certain 

 conditions prevailed every citizen would 

 be needed in some districts to fill quotas 

 based upon enrollment. 



David Fairchild 



Annual Meeting of the Eugenics Research Association 



Dr. Henry E. Cram]>ton, of Barnard 

 College and the American Museum of 

 Natural History, New York City, was 

 elected president of the Eugenics Re- 

 search Association at its annual meet- 

 ing last month. H. H. Laughlia was 

 elected secretary-treasurer, and Mrs. 

 Winifred Hathaway and A. H. Esta- 

 brook were chosen as members of the 

 council, the latter to succeed himself. 

 Four scientific committees were pro- 

 vided for, as follows: 



1. Committee on Personality Study: 

 Dr. Adolf Mever, Dr. Augoist Hoch. 

 Dr. G. S. Amsden, Dr. D. W^ LaRue. 



2. Committee on Inheritance of Men- 

 tal Traits: Dr. Robert M. ^'erkes. Dr. 

 John B. Watson, Dr. C. B. Davenport. 



3. Committee on Practical Applica- 

 tion of Eugenics with Special Reference 

 to the Mores: Dr. Irving Fisher, Dr. 

 H. F. Osborn. Dr. Katherine B. Davis. 



4. Committee on Eugenics and W^ar: 

 not yet appointed. 



Mental Survey of a Workhouse Population 



The entire population of a workhouse 

 (132 men) in an (Jhio city of 200,000 

 population was tested by Rudolf Pint- 

 ner and Herbert A. Toops of Ohio State 

 University. "For the purpose of a 

 rough mental survey," they report, 

 "this picture of the mentality of the 

 group is no doubt characteristic. The 

 poynilation of this workhouse is made up 

 of a few men of perfectly normal men- 

 tality, and of Ihree other groups of about 



eciual numbers, one of which may be 

 characterized as slow, another as very 

 retarded mentally but not sufficiently 

 so as to be considered mentally incapa- 

 ble, and the third as definitely feeble- 

 minded or mentally incompetent. It is 

 surely significant that no case tested 

 above normal." The investigation is 

 reported in the Journal of Delinquency. 

 September, 1917. 



