Modijication of Germinal Constitution oj Organisms 259 



meets with little favor today, because there is too much 

 good evidence to show that even under adverse conditions 

 the development of pigment takes place, where the organism 

 expends in developing the pigment, material, and energy 

 which it needs to carry on activities vital to its existence. 

 The pigment substances which develop in connection with 

 pathological growths and the development of pigment even 

 in the face of starvation are all indicative of the deep-seated 

 nature of pigment formation in organisms. 



The capacity to produce a given pigment is as firmly 

 a part of the germinal constitution as are structural char- 

 acters, which, by some at least, are regarded as the only 

 attributes worth considering. It is well known that in all 

 organisms there is in nearly all cells at least the possibility 

 of producing from the ordinary breaking down of the sub- 

 stance of the cell, materials which can serve as the chromogen 

 base for the elaboration of various kinds of pigment, but 

 this aspect of the subject has been considered in an earlier 

 part of this paper. 



The question in the production of germinal modifications 

 of the pigment-forming capacity in organisms is, what is 

 it in the germ cell that is modified? There is little to 

 warrant an assumption that these phenomena are based upon 

 representative particles or upon indi\ddualized entities of 

 any sort, and I doubt if many investigators really attribute 

 to pangenes and biophores the capacity and importance 

 which some writers who are antagonists to the method of 

 expression seem called upon to believe. 



Perhaps the best evidence in this direction is that 

 derived from the studies in inheritance by the Mendelians. 

 Their treatment of the subject of color inheritance has 

 shown clearly that there is something in alternative char- 



