° 1915 J Recent Literature. 249 



begins the Ciconiidae. Only one new form appears, Melierax canorus 

 neumanni (p. 1165) Arbub, Mereau. — W. S. 



Phillips on Experimental Studies of Hybridization among Ducks 

 and Pheasants. 1 — The experiments here described were carried on during 

 the past five years. The species involved were the Mallard, Pintail, 

 Australian and East Indian Ducks; and the Ring-neck, Prince of Wales, 

 Lady Amherst and Golden Pheasants, and the investigations deal mainly 

 with the inheritance of male secondary sex characters. 



In domestic birds a number of clearly Mendelizing characters have been 

 demonstrated and sex-linked characters have also been described in 

 canaries, pigeons and domestic fowls. In his experiments with wild 

 species, however, Dr. Phillips found "a very different state of things." 

 " Characters often apparently clear-cut and antagonistic do not segregate 

 clearly." " There is some evidence that in closely related geographical 

 races there is a nearer approach to orthodox Mendelism, but this is never 

 reached, even in back crosses, except occasionally in isolated characters 

 or in the more undifferentiated plumages of the female sex." 



Dr. Phillips comes to the conclusion that it is almost certain that the 

 ordinary subspecies of the ornithologist is very far from being a unit varia- 

 tion and that sex-linked inheritance is probably a feature of domestic races 

 in birds. Indeed in species hybrids in almost every feather region the 

 most minute detail of feather pattern and color show the influence of 

 both parental races. 



Dr. Phillips' paper is of great importance, showing what many students 

 of systematic zoology have long felt, that it is not safe to assume that laws 

 and principles of heredity demonstrated in domesticated strains of animals 

 necessarily prevail in the case of wild species. 



Too few of those engaged in experimental breeding have a proper training 

 in systematic zoology to appreciate the nature of wild species, and we, 

 therefore, especially welcome publications from an investigator so well 

 informed on both sides of the problem as is Dr. Phillips. — W. S. 



Allen on Pattern Development in Mammals and Birds. 2 — Dr. 



Allen has made a valuable contribution to the subject of coloration, a 

 field by the way which opens up many possibilities for the ornithologist 

 who may care to enter it. In the particular phase of the subject which he 

 has been investigating — pattern development — he shows that pigmenta- 

 tion develops from certain centers, each one covering a very definite area. 

 Loss of strength in a center of pigmentation and consequent failure to cover 



the entire area, results in a white or unpigmented fine or space between this 



x 



1 Experimental Studies of Hybridization among Ducks and Pheasants. By 

 John C. Phillips. Jour, of Experimental Zool., Vol. 18, no. 1, January, 1915, pp. 

 69-112, ppl. 1-8. 



2 Pattern Development in Mammals and Birds. By Glover M. Allen. Amer- 

 ican Naturalist, 1914, pp. 385-412, 467-484, 550-566. 



