808 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 766 



DIS0VS8I0N AND CORRESPONDENCE 



ON THE INHERITANCE OP ANILINE DYE 



In one of the German magazines I have 

 found a short account of Dr. Riddle's work, 

 " On the Inheritance of Aniline Dye," pub- 

 lished in Science. Dr. Eiddle showed that 

 the yolks and embryos of the eggs laid by hens 

 which were fed with the dye Sudan HI. were 

 colored. As in the account the remark is made 

 that since the year 1896, when an Italian, 

 Daddi, discovered that Sudan III., given as 

 nourishment, possesses a staining power, no 

 one has undertaken any further experiments 

 upon animals with this dye, I should like to 

 state that my experiments carried out in Pro- 

 fessor Dr. Hoyer's laboratory, and entitled, 

 " Contribution a la biologie des teignes," were 

 already published in the year 1905 in the 

 "Bulletin intern, de I'Academie des Sciences 

 de Cracovie, 1905." 



Giving wool together with the dye Sudan 

 m. as food to the caterpillars of a certain 

 moth {Tineola hiselliolla Hummel), I caused 

 their bodies to be colored red. Their adipose 

 tissue was the most intensely stained. The 

 larvse thus colored undergo normal metamor- 

 phosis, the pupse and also the butterflies pro- 

 duced from them continue to preserve the 

 typical red color of Sudan. The tinge of the 

 head, thorax, abdomen and limbs of a butter- 

 fly may be easily seen with the naked eye be- 

 neath the scales covering the body. In general 

 this coloring makes its appearance where adi- 

 pose tissue is present. There is also an ac- 

 cumulation of dye in the female's ovary. In 

 the cells surrounding an egg there are seen 

 small drops of fat stained with Sudan. The 

 eggs laid afterwards look reddish and the drops 

 of fat contained in them have the very char- 

 acteristic color of Sudan. Thus, by feeding 

 the larvffi of one generation with Sudan, I ob- 

 tained all the stages of development of the 

 moth colored with the same dye, and this dye 

 was later transferred into the reproductive 

 cells of the same generation. From all this 

 we may conclude that the reserve material 

 accumulated by a larva in the form of fat 

 serves not only for one stage of development, 

 but is also transferred almost without change 



and is of use in the further development of 

 the insect. Besides, the dye, introduced into 

 the organism of an individual as a material 

 admixture, is transmitted by means of the 

 reproductive cells to the offspring and in this 

 manner it may be inherited. 



In later researches, the results of which are 

 not yet published, I have proved that larvse, 

 hatched from eggs colored with Sudan, possess 

 its special tinge of red. I have also succeeded 

 in obtaining similar results, when using a 

 series of dyes of different colors, e. g., blue, 

 and in experimenting with different kinds of' 

 butterflies and other insects. 



LUDWIK SiTOWSKI 



non-fruiting of japan persimmons due to 



LACK of pollen 



Since its introduction in the seventies, the 

 Japan persimmon has received a considerable 

 amount of attention from growers and in- 

 vestigators. Its culture has gradually in- 

 creased until it is now cultivated to a greater 

 or less extent over a fairly wide area, a section 

 corresponding roughly with that in which 

 cotton can be produced. 



Complaint has many times been made that 

 the Japan persimmon does not hold its fruit, 

 that it blooms profusely, but the young fruits 

 drop off shortly after the flowering period is 

 past; in fact, at this time, each season, the 

 ground under large trees is often literally 

 covered with the calyces and ovaries of the 

 plant. At harvest time, either not a single 

 fruit remains or only a few scattered speci- 

 mens on trees which should have borne bushels 

 of luscious fruit. 



Various reasons have been given for this 

 phenomenon, such as lack of necessary food 

 supply, lack of moisture or uncongenial soils,_ 

 and the remedies suggested and most fre- 

 quently put into effect have been more fre- 

 quent cultivation, no cultivation at all and 

 heavy applications of fertilizers, particularly 

 potash; but in spite of all these, the Japan 

 persimmon has continued to behave in much 

 the same way, some varieties holding a fair 

 crop, others none, bearing one year and not 

 another. There has always been something; 



