342 
tions and interpretations of adaptation of 
various extinct races. Most of them will be 
welcomed and accepted; some may need 
further consideration; a few seem open to 
serious criticism. The discussion of the car- 
nassial teeth of carnivora ignores their most 
essential feature, the shearing adaptation. 
The hypothesis that the inner digit of the fore 
foot in amphibia is primarily absent, and its 
presence in reptilia and mammalia is a “ neu- 
erwerbung,” will not commend itself to many; 
nor will the interpretation of the Stegocephalia 
and Cotylosauria as fossorial adaptations be 
readily reconciled with the strikingly paddle- 
like construction of the feet in these animals, 
especially the former. But these and a few 
other points are occasional lapses from the 
normally high standard of thorough and up- 
to-date information and good judgment. The 
book will rank as one of the most important 
and readable contributions to paleontologic 
literature, and be indispensable to every one 
who wishes to understand and teach the real 
meaning of extinct animals and their relations 
to the world in which they lived. 
W. D. MatrHEew 
Inheritance in Maize. By E. M. East and H. 
K. Haves. 
This is an interesting and important con- 
tribution from the Bussey Institution of Har- 
vard University, which has appeared as Bul- 
letin 167 of the Connecticut Agricultural 
Experiment Station. It presents a very thor- 
ough study from the Mendelian standpoint of 
a number of characters of the Indian corn 
plant and their method of transmission. The 
interest in this study, however, is by no means 
confined to its connection with the improve- 
ment of this, our greatest agricultural crop, 
for many of the principles involved have a 
significant bearing upon several of the more 
general problems of heredity. 
The bulletin, embracing as it does so many 
different considerations, scarcely admits of a 
summary that would be short and at the same 
time intelligible. It is the present purpose, 
therefore, merely to indicate the general plan 
and scope of the work by mentioning briefly a 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Von. XXXV. No. 896 
few of the many interesting points touched 
upon. 
After a short introduction in which the 
authors point out the advantages and disad- 
vantages offered by the maize plant as ma- 
terial for study of genetics, the subject is con- 
veniently divided into five parts. 
In Part I. is presented the material and the 
problem, and the corn plant, Zea mays, is 
considered in its systematic relationships. 
Different classifications are considered, but the 
well-known one of Sturtevant, slightly modi- 
fied, is finally adopted as being the most prac- 
tical and convenient. In this connection 
there is some speculation in regard to the 
origin of maize based upon the facts brought 
out in the investigation concerning the trans- 
mission of its characters. After reviewing 
briefly some of the theories proposed by other 
authors the suggestion is here offered that 
maize is derived from teosinte or some similar 
plant. The maize ear represents an evolu- 
tionary product derived by progressive mer- 
istic variation of the central spike of the lat- 
eral tassels of the teosinte. Other changes 
are to be accounted for in the accession or 
dropping of characters, the transmission being 
in accordance with Mendel’s principles. 
Mention is then made of the work of pre- 
vious investigators of inheritance in maize. 
It is interesting to note how very close some 
of these workers were, in the days of the 
eighties and nineties, to the rediscovery of 
Mendel’s law, yet failed to recognize its opera- 
tion in their results. It is also interesting to 
note that Zea mays is the plant that furnished 
the data which finally did lead to the redis- 
covery of the law on the part of both de Vries 
and Correns. 
Next follows a catalogue description in de- 
tail of each of the twenty-nine ears of corn 
that formed the parentage of the various hy- 
brid combinations used in this investigation. 
Experimental methods and precautions are de- 
scribed. Very much of the value of this re- 
port depends upon the painstaking care with 
which the investigation was carried out, as for 
example, the previous inbreeding of all the 
stock used, in order to establish purity. An- 
