76 



SCIENCE. 



LN. S. Vol. XVII. No. 419. 



pure dominants, and the other half dominants 

 in whom the recessive character is latent; but 

 both sorts will be alike (normal) in appear- 

 ance, as actually observed. 



The third son appears to have married each 

 time a woman in whom the albinic character 

 was recessive. The probability of such unions 

 is indicated by Mr. Farabee's observations of 

 other albinos 'in the vicinity.' For to every 

 albino produced, where crossing with normal 

 individuals takes place, there are certain to 

 be produced at least twice as many ' normal ' 

 individuals containing the recessive character. 

 If, as supposed, the third son and each of his 

 wives contained the recessive character, we 

 should expect one in four of their ofEsjjring 

 to be an albino; the recorded observation is 

 four in fifteen, a close approximation to the 

 calculated result. W. E. Castle. 



ZooLOGiCAi, Laboratory, Harvard University, 

 December 16, 1902. 



MAGAZINE SCIENCE. 



To THE Editor of Science: The following 

 letter from Mr. C. E. Borchgrevink, in regard 

 to the criticisms published by me in Science 

 of September 13 on the captions of the illus- 

 trations of his article on the eruptions of Mt. 

 Pelee which appeared in Leslie's Monthly for 

 July, has just been received. In justice to 

 the author, I trust that you will publish this 

 extract from his letter in your columns. 



" From a correspondent I hear that you 

 have made an attack on me based upon the 

 article published in Leslie's Monthly. I am 

 not responsible for those statements or for 

 those errors in regard to photographs, which 

 never met my eye before they appeared in 

 Leslie's Monthly. Very few of those photo- 

 graphs came from my hand and I never of 

 course claimed them." E. O. Hovet. 



SHORTER ARTICLES. 



AGGREGATE ATAVIC MUTATION OF THE TOMATO. 



On former occasions I have described two 

 remarkable cases of aggregate phylogenetic 

 mutation of the tomato which occurred sud- 

 denly under my personal observation, in which 

 publications * I used the term mutation in 



' Science, November 29, 1901. Bull. Torrey 

 Bat. Club., August, 1902. 



the special sense that has been adopted by 

 Professor De Vries. The following remarks 

 refer to reports that have reached me from 

 correspondents concerning equally sudden and 

 complete atavic reversion of" similar plants 

 and their fruit, for which process I here use 

 the term mutation in its ordinary sense. 

 While the main fact of atavic mutation is 

 clearly stated in these personal reports, they 

 are wanting in certain details necessary to 

 a fuller study of the subject. They are, how- 

 ever, important as aids in an interesting line 

 of inquiry. 



In May, 1902, I received from Mr. H. J. 

 Browne, of Washington, D. C, who was then 

 in Havana, Cuba, on business, a package con- 

 taining a cluster of small spherical tomatoes 

 of the variety known as the Cherry tomato. 

 An accompanying note informed me that they 

 were obtained from the proprietor of a planta- 

 tion a few miles from Havana who had grown 

 them there, and who assured Mr. Browne that 

 they were the immediate product of seed of 

 the large and fine variety well known through- 

 out our country as the Trophy. These Trophy 

 seed were obtained from the United States 

 and planted in Cuba. The resulting crop of 

 fruit was excellent and perfectly true to that 

 variety as regards size, color, consistence and 

 edible quality; but the seed of those Cuban- 

 grown Trophy tomatoes invariably produced 

 there the small cherry variety. The planter 

 further stated that essentially the same result 

 occurred in the case of all the several other 

 improved varieties of tomatoes, the seed of 

 which he had also procured from the United 

 States, and that the degeneration was in all 

 cases complete, heritably permanent and of 

 uniform character; and that the change 

 equally afPected the whole crop. Because of 

 this constantly occurring and hereditary ata- 

 vism the planter was obliged to procure fresh 

 seed from the United States for every accept- 

 able crop of tomatoes grown on his Cuban 

 plantation. 



Quite independently of the foregoing state- 

 ment I lately received a similar one from 

 Miss Mary E. Starr, of Morristown, N. J. 

 Her observations were made upon her father's 

 plantation on the Bayou Teche, St. Martin's 



