GENETICS IN SWEDISH FINLAND 



BY 



Doc. HARRY FEDERLEY 



HELSINGFORS, FINLAND 



GENETICS IN FINLAND IS OF RECENT DATE. IN 1915 THE 

 author of the present paper, then Lecturer on Zoology, was nominated 

 Lecturer on Genetics, and in February 1921 the University made an appli* 

 cation to the Government to have him nominated e. o. Professor of the said disci? 

 pline. The author is the only person in Finland who has made this branch of 

 biological research his speciality. 



There being no Institute of Genetics, the choice of research is limited to 

 such as can be made in the usual zoological laboratories, chiefly work ofacytos 

 logical kind; or such mendelian experiments, as can be made at home. In virtue 

 of the aforesaid the object of research was in most cases Genetics in moths, their 

 larvae being comparatively easy to breed, as they do not need any special cages. 

 Some attempted experiments with birds, amphibiae and mammals had to be given 

 up, owing to the absence of suitable localities for the breeding of the animals. 



A leading thought in most cases of research was to connect the experiments 

 with careful studies of the behaviour of the chromosomes in the germ cells of the 

 forms attained through crossings. 



The first experiments had to do with hybridisation of species (1911). Reci* 

 procal crosses were made between Pygaera curtula and pigra as well as P. curtula 

 and anachoreta with a view of finding an answer to the question, if characters 

 of species follow the mendelian law and segregate, or if constant intermediate 

 hybrids arise. The Fi»individuals were in respect to most of their characters 

 intermediate: only a small number of characteristics showed a greater or smaller 

 degree of dominance. It was to be regretted that the Fuindividuals were sterile 

 in a high degree and consequently only a few Fz^individuals could be obtained 

 and from one crossing only. They were quite like the Fi«individuals. On the 

 other hand the back«crosses with the parent species resulted in a greater number 

 of larvae and moths. These Fi X Psindividuals did not afford any proof of 

 a segregation, expected in a mendelian cross. On the contrary, they rather 

 proved the opposite, showing a great likeness with the Fi«parent, both as to their 

 special characteristics and as to their general habitus. An explanation of the 

 experimental results would be gained by an examination of the behaviour of the 

 chromosomes in the spermatogenesis (1913). 



The haploid number of the chromosomes in the three species are: Pygaera 

 anachoreta 30, curtula 29, pigra 23. In the hybrids the full number is the 

 sum of the two haploid sets that went in from the parents. In the maturation 

 a few or no one of the chromosomes unite in pairs, but most of them or all 

 fail to do so, so that the number of chromosomes after the first maturation^division 

 is slightly less than or like the diploid number of the hybrid. Different types 



