352 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I916. 



bush type of vine while the majority of the Improved Yellow 

 Eyes have a short runner vine. The first generation of the 

 cross between these two always has a runner type of vine. 

 In the segregating generations it was found that the Old Fash- 

 ioned Yellow Eye beans were always bush Deans while the 

 Piebald and Improved Yellow Eye segregates showed both 

 runner and bush types of vine. The data given are not suf- 

 ficient to make a detailed study of the inheritance of type of 

 vine, but it is of interest to note that there is a very close link- 

 age between the Old Fashioned Yellow Eye color pattern and 

 the bush type of vine. 



ON THE EFFECT OF CONTINUED ADMINISTRA- 

 TION OF CERTAIN POISONS TO THE DOMESTIC 

 FOWL, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE 

 PROGENY.* 



The investigation here reported deals with the general 

 problem of the origin and causation of new, heritable varia- 

 tions. That this is one of the most fundamental problems of 

 breeding admits of no doubt. The method by which this gen- 

 eral problem is attacked in the present investigation is that 

 of exposing systematically the germ-cells of an animal to some- 

 thing unusual or abnormal in the surrounding conditions, and 

 then analyzing, so far as may be, not only the new heritable 

 variations themselves (provided any such appear), but also the 

 factors which underlie their causation. 



The specific problems with which this investigation deals are 

 these : 



1. Does the continued administration of certain narcotic 

 poisons to the domestic fowl induce precise and specific changes 

 in the germinal material, such as to lead to new, heritable, 

 somatic variations? 



*This is an abstract of (a) a paper by Raymond Pearl, having the 

 same title, and published in the Proceedings of the American Philo- 

 sophical- Society, Vol. LV, pp. 243-258, 1916, and (b) a paper by the 

 same author, having the title "The Effect of Parental Alcoholism (and 

 certain other Drug Intoxications) upon the Progeny in the Domestic 

 Fowl," and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of 

 Sciences, Vol. 2, pp. 380-384, 1916. 



