IfAKCH 27, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



477 



Eecent work has amply demonstrated that off- 

 spring from alcoholized males are commonly de- 

 fective to greater or less degree, even though the 

 mother has not received treatment and is pre- 

 sumably normal. Stockard's experiments with 

 guinea-pigs have been especially conclusive, and 

 he has furthermore shown that the efEeots of the 

 treatment may persist to the second generation of 

 offspring. 



The present experiments were undertaken to 

 test this matter with rabbits, and to take advan- 

 tage of the complete control possible in double 

 matings, that is the mating of a single female to 

 two males at the same period, and the consequent 

 production of offspring from both fathers in a 

 single litter. By breeding a male homozygous for 

 color and an albino male both to an albino fe- 

 male it is possible to assign the young to their 

 respective fathers, since the offspring of the col- 

 ored male wiU be colored and those of the albino 

 male will be albinos. If one of the males now be 

 alcoholized while the other is normal, and offspring 

 from both result, any differences, such as defects 

 in the offspring, may safely be attributed to the 

 effects of the alcoholizing of the male, since both 

 sets of fetuses have developed in the same uterus 

 at the same time, and consequently there can be 

 no question of different environmental influences. 



As a preliminary test 36 double matings were 

 made in which both males were normal. Of these, 

 12, or 33 J per cent., were successful; that is, 

 young were obtained from both fathers. An in- 

 spection of the 24 matings in which the two nor- 

 mal males were used, but in which all the result- 

 ing offspring were from one father, shows that 

 the individuality of the male is of more impor- 

 tance than the order in which they are mated to 

 the female. Thus one pigmented male (14.1), 

 before he was alcoholized, was used in 23 ma- 

 tings, an albino male being used also in each case, 

 with the foUovring result: 



In 15 litters all the young were from 14.1, al- 

 though he gave first service in only 6 cases, and 

 followed the albino male in 9 eases. 



In 8 litters young were produced from both 

 males. 14.1 gave first service in 3 cases, and was 

 second in 5 cases. Of the 62 offspring produced, 

 14.1 was the father of 38, and the albino male 

 of 24. 



So while as a result of the whole 23 matings 

 there were 190 offspring produced, the albino male 

 sired only 24 of them. 



These facts appear to establish a strong indi- 



vidual potency for 14.1. On the other hand, after 

 he had been alcoholized (by the inhalation 

 method), he failed to sire any offspring at all 

 when used in conjunction with an albino male, 

 although he was bred to the female first in at 

 least 5 of the 7 matings made. But when he 

 alone was bred to normal females, he sired sev- 

 eral litters of young that appeared to be normal. 

 There have since, however, appeared certain signs 

 which may be indications of defects among these 

 offspring. 



Suirnn-ary: There appear to be differences in the 

 "potency" of the spermatozoa of different male 

 rabbits. (This may be due to differential "vital- 

 ity," expressed as greater or less motility, pene- 

 trating power or something of the sort.) Treat- 

 ing a male to the fumes of alcohol quickly lowers 

 this "potency." Litters were born to alcoholized 

 males (when used alone), but there are some indi- 

 cations of defects in the offspring. 



Some Negative Sesults Obtained From Experi- 

 ments With Fowl Tapeworms : John W. Scott. 

 Ransom in 1909 mentions that we do not know 

 the full life-history of any of the tape-worms 

 found in American poultry. The following ex- 

 periments were made in an attempt to find the 

 intermediate host of two of three forms, Hymeno- 

 lepis carioca and Davainea tetragona. A barn- 

 yard was located in which most of the fowls were 

 infected with one or both of these parasites. A 

 number of chicks as soon as hatched were placed 

 in a large screened cage and kept there until the 

 end of the experiment. (1) To one lot of these 

 chicks two species (not determined) of Menopon 

 were fed, the lice being collected in large num- 

 bers from no less than eighteen old and young 

 fowls in the barnyard. The idea was that, since 

 some of the lice are usually found feeding upon 

 the skin and soiled feathers in the anal region, the 

 fowl might easily swallow some of them while 

 preening its feathers. (2) Within easy access, 

 where the fowls spent much time in scratching 

 out "wallows" around a dung heap, were small 

 annelids (Eelodrilus parvus). A large number 

 of these were fed to a second lot of chicks. (3) 

 House flies, hatched from pupEe in a screened cage, 

 were exposed to ripe proglottids and to feces 

 taken from the intestines of infected fowls; on 

 following days they were fed to a third group of 

 chicks. Not a single tapeworm was found in any 

 of the chicks when killed, nor in the controls. 

 These results are reported since they appear to be 

 conclusively negative. 



