348 
Men who make a business of producing 
plant novelties, Burbank, for example, are de- 
lighted with the slightest indication of sport- 
ing, because they consider that, the “ stability 
of the type” having been disturbed, other 
variations are likely to follow. 
Whether there is any basis of fact for this 
idea cases like that here described may tend 
to show, if carefully followed up. If the sup- 
posed phenomenon is found to be a real one 
and an initial color variation is frequently 
followed by others, then it will remain to dis- 
cover an explanation, since “instability of 
type ” can scarcely be regarded as an explana- 
tion, but only a figurative statement, of a phe- 
nomenon observed. 
Studies of the inheritance of albinism, as 
already stated, show it to be independent in 
transmission of the several factors which de- 
termine the particular character of the pig- 
mentation, as gray, black, yellow, ete. For 
in crosses with colored varieties, albinos actu- 
ally do transmit to their offspring particular 
qualities of pigmentation, as gray, black, 
yellow, etc. It is assumed, therefore, that in 
the albino variation something has been lost 
from the organism which is indispensable to 
the production of pigment, though it has 
nothing to do with controlling the particular 
sort of pigment which the organism can form. 
Albinos, therefore, can be produced of as 
many different sorts as regards their breeding 
capacity, as are the visibly different pigmented 
sorts. Each pigmented sort finds its counter- 
part among albinos, though all these albinos 
may look alike. A study of the progeny of an 
albino through two generations will serve to 
show with what particular colored variety it 
Such a study has not yet been 
completed for the albino Peromyscus. 
The albino variation, being a loss variation 
and recessive in nature, must have existed in 
both the gametes (the egg and the sperm) 
‘which produced the individual captured by 
Mr. Clark. Both the parents of that individ- 
ual, accordingly, transmitted albinism and 
probably produced other albino young, if they 
had more than a single litter of offspring. But 
the survival of albino offspring in the wild 
corresponds. 
SCIENCE 
vision. 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 896 
state would be exceedingly doubtful because 
of their conspicuousness and their defective 
Yet the heterozygous brothers and 
sisters of the albino sports should themselves 
be at no disadvantage in the struggle for ex- 
istence and should produce about 25 per cent. 
of albino young. Therefore we should not be 
surprised if the sporadic occurrence of al- 
binism should continue in a locality where it 
has once made its appearance, as in Clinton 
County, Michigan. The naturalists of that 
region would perform a service to science by 
looking for and reporting future occurrences 
of albinism in field mice there. 
In conclusion I wish to express my grati- 
tude to Professor Barrows (father and son) 
for entrusting to me the experimental study 
of this interesting variation. 
W. E. Castie 
LABORATORY OF GENETICS, 
BussEy INSTITUTION, 
Forest Hinus, MAss., 
February 7, 1912 
ORIGIN OF THE SEDIMENTS AND COLORING MATTER 
OF THE RED BEDS OF OKLAHOMA’ 
Since the origin of the sediments and the 
red coloration of the Oklahoma red beds has 
long been the object of more than ordinary 
curiosity, it may not be out of place to briefly 
outline some of the results of a recent study 
of these deposits. 
Previous workers have made known the fact 
that the light-colored sediments of the lower 
Permian rocks of Kansas become red in Okla- 
homa, and that the similar light-colored Al- 
bany beds of Texas redden on approaching 
Oklahoma. In the Texas reports Cummins 
hinted that a lateral transition of the Albany 
beds into the red rocks of the Wichita forma- 
tion might not be impossible. Later he worked 
out this transition in detail.2 Gould ‘and 
1 Published with the permission of the director 
of the Oklahoma Geological Survey. 
?The leading recent articles bearing upon this 
subject are: Cummins, Trans. Tex. Acad. Sci., for 
1897, pp..93-98. Gould, Kans. Univ. Quart., pp. 
175-177, 1900; Amer. Jour. Sci., XI., pp. 185-190, 
1900; Trans. Kans. Acad. Sci., XVII., pp. 179- 
181, 1901. Adams, Amer. Jour. Sci., XII., pp. 
