622 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1008 



from stigmatic and from typical anthers being 

 used, but in no case did seed set. Very few 

 capsuJes were found with seed this last season, 

 however, on untreated plants. In the spring 

 of 1913 search was made for flowers with stig- 

 matic anthers. Of 305 flowers examined from a 

 woodlot which comprised about five acres, there 

 were only 13 with stigmatic anthers. Twelve 

 were found in a patch about 10 ft. square and 

 a single specimen 100 ft. distant. A single 

 flower with stigmatic anthers, however, had 

 been found the previous year about 200 yards 

 from the patch just mentioned. Some few of 

 the flowers classed as normal had rudimentary 

 pistils though normal stamens. One hundred 

 and thirty-two flowers from outside this wood- 

 lot were found to be normal. The total num- 

 ber is not sufiicient to warrant one in making 

 a suggestion as to the probability of the ab- 

 normal form having originated in this single 

 locality. 



The transformation of stigmas into anthers 

 seems to completely block the possibility of 

 fertilization, for the ovules which are laid 

 down in deformed pistils have never been 

 found to develop. The abnormality described, 

 therefore, has a double interest. It not only 

 shows an alteration in the products of an 

 organ with a highly stereotyped sexual devel- 

 opment, but it also offers an instance appar- 

 ently of a mutation directly unfavorable to 

 the reproduction of the species. In conse- 

 quence the subject has seemed worthy of fur- 

 ther investigation and the present note is to 

 call attention of botanizers this spring to the 

 possible occurrence of the abnormality in other 

 localities. We should be glad to correspond 

 with any one finding abnormal flowers of the 

 bellworts. 



A. F. Blakeslee, 

 a. f. schulze 

 Connecticut Agricultural College, 

 Stoers, Conn. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE anthropological SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON' 



At tlie 470th regular meeting of the society 

 held December 16, 1913, James Mooney, of the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology, delivered an ad- 



dress on "The Gaelic Factor in the World's 

 Population. ' ' The speaker dealt chiefly with the 

 Irish Gaels and drew a distinction between the 

 Irish of native Gaelic stock and the unassimilated 

 alien element massed in several of the north- 

 eastern counties as the result of the ' ' Planta- 

 tions" under James I. and Cromwell. This alien 

 element was of English and Lowland Scotch 

 stock, with a slight Highland Gaelic infusion, 

 Protestant in religion and mostly Unionists in 

 politics, while those of the old native stock were 

 as solidly Catholic and Nationalist. Speaking 

 broadly, in Ireland the Catholics represent the 

 original Gaelic stock; the Episcopalians, those of 

 English stock, and the Presbyterians and Metho- 

 dists, those of Scotch origin, constituting respect- 

 ively about 74, 13 and 11 per cent, of the total 

 population. The present Gaelic race of Ireland 

 is a blend of the Gael proper, a Keltic people who 

 arrived in the country probably from northern 

 Spain about 1,000 B.C., and of all other races 

 who preceded or followed them up to the end of 

 the thirteenth century, including the neolithic man, 

 the unknown megalith builders, the dark-haired 

 Firbolg, the Picts, Danes, Normans and Welsh. 

 The Irish immigration to the American colonies 

 previous to the Revolution was mainly of the 

 alien Scotch and English element, known some- 

 times as Scotch-Irish. The Gaelic Irish immi- 

 grants did not begin to arrive in any great num- 

 ber until after the war of 1812, excepting in 

 Maryland. 



The wars growing out of the Reformation and 

 the Stuart contests reduced the Irish race from an 

 estimated two and a half million in 1560 to about 

 960,000 at the end of the Cromwellian war in 

 1652. In 1845 it reached its maximum estimate 

 of 8,500,000. Then came the great famine of 

 1846^7. Within three years nearly 1,500,000 

 perished of hunger or famine fever. This started 

 the great flood of emigration by which Ireland 

 has lost virtually one half its population within 

 sixty years. In 1911 it stood at 4,390,219, the 

 lowest point reached in over a century. Owing to 

 governmental and economic conditions this de- 

 crease has been chiefly at the expense of the old 

 native Gaelic stock rather than the Planter stock, 

 the Gaelic percentage, as indicated by the reli- 

 gious statistics, having fallen from 83 to 74. In 

 the sixty years ending March 31, 1911, according 

 to the official British figures, 4,191,552 emigrants 

 left Ireland, or nearly as many persons as are now 

 living in the country. About three million of 

 these came to the United States, the total Irish im- 



