No. 481] NOTES AND LITERATURE 



females of Asiatic Elephants are tusklcss, so that here \\c li;i\<- ;i ( use 

 in which tusk development has gone beyond sex diliVrctitiiuioii. 



If Babirussa seems to be handicapped bv its teeth, though tliere is 

 another side to the case, how about Mesoplodon, in one species of 

 which the teeth lock over the beak so that the animal can open its 

 mouth for a short distance only and yet shows no signs of i);is.sing out 



The elongation of the snout of Teleosaurus is cited as aii..ili.T .11.- 

 advantageous character but the Gangetic (Javial in wliirh ihr mioih 

 is nearly as long, finds this of great service in calcliiiig as un- 

 doubtedly Teleosaurus did, aii.l Dr. Al.rl -iNvs rl,,noaiinn ..f snout 

 as characteristic of fresh-water (ctaccaiis. 



Stegosaurus did not come to an end on account of it^ licaw aruior 

 but from some other cause, for llie active predatory <linosaurs. sndi 

 as Allosaurus, that were unincumbered by any defensive ainior, died 

 out just as did their heavier-plated contemporaries. The male 

 Narwhal which has a single long tusk lives in the sann- ^ a and jn-i 

 as long and happily as his tuskless spouse, and many similar in-iances 

 might be cited. The problem of the extinction of aiiimaf- far too 

 complicated to be decided in haste and few of ihc ( xamplo ( iied by 

 Mr. Loomis seem to be conclusive. 



Xenia in Wheat.' — As everyone has noticed, when white sweet 

 corn is pollinated whh red corn the outer part of the grains, although 

 not truly part of the embryo, is red. This is a case of so called xenia. 

 Xenia has been observed in other ca.ses also, notably in beans and 

 in wheat. Tschermak has recently studied xenia in wheat in more 

 detail. He experimented with two races — the Hanna wlu-at and tiie 

 Petkus wheat. Both kinds of wheat when in bud yiehi both given 

 and yellow seeds;^ but yellow Hanna wheat gives 80% of yellou grains 



The green Hanna and the vellow I 

 only about half of their own kind 

 that when green and yellow llanna 

 resulting show the color of the mot 



Likewise when the green and i!ic 



licher Kreuzung, II." Zcitschr. /. d. Inndw. Vrrsun 

 pp., Feb., 1906. 



