August 29, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



313 



at once that if we could get tlie red (antho- 

 cyan) on the primrose background, we should 

 have a quite new and more rosy color. In the 

 summer of 1912 we accordingly crossed the 

 reds with primulinus, and obtained a quantity 

 of seed. The primulinus was used as the seed 

 plant. As orange was sure to be dominant 

 over primrose (or absence of orange), we could 

 not expect to see our new variety until the F„ 

 generation. In order to hasten matters, we 

 raised the F^ generation indoors during the 

 winter, and got enough seed to produce quite a 

 series of plants. The F^ plants did not differ 

 in any respect from the reds to which we were 

 accustomed, all having a rich orange-yellow 

 background. Some, especially in the larger 

 series now growing in the garden, show ex- 

 tremely rich and deep red colors, so that we 

 should take them for homozygous reds if we 

 did not know otherwise. On July 16 the first 

 of the F, plants came into flower, and we were 

 pleased to see that the rays had an entirely 

 new shade of color, wine red on a primrose 

 background. The first one, probably hetero- 

 zygous for red, was rather dilutely colored, 

 but we now have plants showing rays of a very 

 rich deep wine red, with variable primrose 

 tips. This new variety may be named vinosus. 

 It is certainly interesting to obtain in this 

 way an entirely new color, which nevertheless 

 is due entirely to the redistribution of previ- 

 ously known factors, and which could thus be 

 predicted in advance. Up to the time of writ- 

 ing, 21 F, plants have bloomed, of which 12 

 are red (of the chestnut type, of several minor 

 varieties, as suffused and bicolored), 8 are 

 vinosus, and one is pure primrose like the 

 grandmaternal ancestor. This exactly agrees 

 with the theoretical expectation as regards the 

 reds and the primrose, but we have so far twice 

 as many vinosus as expected, and no plain 

 orange-yellows, of which there should be three 

 or fovir. Probably when all the plants are in 

 bloom the result will agree more exactly with 

 the expectation.^ 



'Postscript. A census taken August 9 gives 71 

 led (chestnut), 19 yellow, 25 vinous and 8 prim- 

 rose. The theoretical expectation for this number 

 is 69 red, 23 yellow, 23 vinous and 8 primrose. 



We have obtained a number of other varie- 

 ties, which will be fully described at some 

 other time. One curious one, which I call 

 tortuosus, has the apical half of the rays 

 twisted, as though in curl-papers. We have 

 this both in the plain orange yellow and rich 

 chestnut red with yellow tips, in each case the 

 disc being dark. Similar forms have been 

 obtained at other times by horticulturists. 



A collection of seeds shows extraordinary 

 variability in form and color; it would hardly 

 be too much to say that the seeds are less alike 

 than the resulting plants. Thus the tall prim- 

 rose (primulinus) has black or nearly black 

 seeds, Sutton's double primrose has gray seeds 

 streaked with white, while there is a strain of 

 dwarf primrose with perfectly white seeds. 

 Seeds from any one plant are practically uni- 

 form, and we do not find any evidence that 

 the pollen used affects the appearance of the 

 resulting seed. T. D. A. Cockerell 



University of Colorado, 

 Boulder, Col., 

 July 22, 1913 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE biological SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 512th meeting of the Biological Society of 

 Washington was held in the assembly hall of the 

 Cosmos Club, April 19, 1913, with Vice-president 

 Hay in the chair and about 30 persons present. 



Under the heading ' ' Brief Notes and Exhibi- 

 tion of Specimens, ' ' lienry Talbott exhibited an 

 unusually large tooth of the fossil shark, Car- 

 charodon megelodon from South Carolina and by 

 way of comparison the much smaller teeth of 

 Odontaspes from Chesapeake Beach, Md., and 

 made remarks on these sharks. 



Wells W. Cooke made remarks on the spring 

 migration, noting that the yellowthroat, redstart, 

 wood thrush and catbird had arrived three days 

 ahead of schedule time. 



The regular program consisted of a communica- 

 tion by C. D. Marsh, entitled "Stock Poisoning 

 by Larkspur. ' ' He stated that ranchmen of the 

 west had long claimed losses of stock due to lark- 

 spur, and on scientific inquiry had found their 

 observations correct, and that the monetary loss 

 was considerable. Although larkspur occurs in 

 other parts of the world, it apparently only causes 

 trouble in the western United States. The average 



