34 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1044 



A paper by Dr. G. H. Shull- on the appar- 

 ent independence in inheritance of the stem 

 and bud colors (anthocyan) in (Enothera, sug- 

 gests a reference to the condition found in the 

 new garden sunflower with wine-red on the 

 rays. The more usual red (chestnut red, i. e., 

 red on orange) variety can nearly always be 

 recognized in the seedling stage by the dark 

 purple stems, a fact of utility in horticultural 

 practise. To our surprise, when we came to 

 raise the wine-red (red on primrose yellow) 

 form in quantity, we found that the purple- 

 stem character failed, in spite of the fact that 

 the history of the plant indicated that it 

 differed from the other red one in the yellow 

 background, not at all in the anthocyan factor. 

 Mr. Leonard Sutton, who grew the wine-red 

 variety in England from our seed, also reports : 

 " It is a remarkable fact, as you mention, that 

 the purplish color is not shown in the stems 

 of this new variety." ^ The question naturally 

 arises, whether in such a case it is necessary 

 to assume a splitting or complexity of the 

 factor representing anthocyanin; whether it 

 is not equally possible that some condition has 

 arisen controlling the expression of the factor 

 for red, that factor remaining genetically the 

 same? In the course of breeding plants, we 

 are doubtless too apt to assume that our re- 

 corded data represent the whole of the perti- 

 nent facts. It is evident that any given plant 

 represents, in addition to the known " units," 

 an assemblage of others which are unknown 

 or merely suspected, while the known ones may 

 have unknown properties. Thus, in spite of 

 records and observations, the stage may be 

 invaded at any moment by unnoticed dramatis 

 personm, and the development of the plot may 

 belie the promise of the first acts. 



t. d. a. cookerell 



University of Goloeado 

 November 29, 1914 



A REMARKABLE MICROSAUR FROM THE COAL 

 MEASURES OF OHIO 



The Amphibia of the American Coal Meas- 

 ures as now known are represented by eighty- 

 eight species, representing seventeen families 



- Journal of Genetics, June, 1914. 



3 Letter of September, 1914. 



and five orders. All of the species of 

 BrancMosauria and all of the hitherto recog- 

 nized Microsauria are uniform in the absence 

 of an osseous carpus and tarsus. It is thus 

 with considerable interest that we find an 

 osseous tarsus in a microsaurian species from 

 Linton, Ohio. The species was described many 

 years ago by Cope^ and it has not since been 

 studied until Professor Grabau recently for- 

 warded the type specimen to me from Colum- 

 bia University where it forms a part of the 

 geological collections. 



Ichthycanihus platypus, referred by Cope to 

 the Permian genus Eryops, is a small micro- 

 saur which in life probably did 'not attain a 

 length of more than eight inches but was of 

 a very active nature, as seems to be indicated 

 by the scanty remains preserved, which con- 

 sist of the posterior half of the body. 



At first glance the specimen recalls a reptile, 

 such as Eosauravus Oopei Will., but closer 

 examination reveals remarkable differences. 

 The femur, in its well-ossified condition and 

 the high degree of development of the tro- 

 chanters, is typically reptilian; and there is 

 nothing strikingly amphibian in the tibia and 

 fibula. The tarsus, however, is reptilian 

 with its central, and the distal row being 

 composed of five elements. All of the 

 elements are well ossified and articulate with 

 phalanges which have a typical amphibian 

 arrangement with the formula 2-2-3-3-2. 

 The sharply clawed ungual phalanges add to 

 the anomalous nature of the species. 



The recognition of the exact nature of this 

 species adds considerably to our knowledge of 

 the diversity of structure among the Coal 

 Measure Amphibia. Environmental condi- 

 tions prior to the Coal Measures had effected 

 a wide diversity of structure within the group. 

 So early in the geologic history of the land 

 vertebrates as the Pennsylvanic the Amphibia 

 had assumed a variety of forms which had 

 specialized into strictly aquatic, terrestrial, 

 sub-terrestrial and arboreal. Specialization 

 had extended to the loss of limbs, ribs and 



1 Cope, E. D., 1877, Proa. Amer. Phil. Soc, p. 

 574; 1888, Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc, p. 289, Kg. 1. 



