310 



TJIE AMERICAN NATURALIST 



[Vol. LVI 



5. From these results it is concluded that the action of 

 alcohol is complicated ; that it works in two or more dif- 

 ferent ways. The data on hehavior and litter size suggest 

 that the alcohol may modify germinal material directly. 

 The data on the number of litters and growth indicate 

 that the direct effect of alcohol upon these characters is 

 in one direction and tliat its indirect effect is in the op- 

 I^osite direction; this may be interpreted by the assump- 

 tion of a selective role played l)y tlie alcohol. It is urged 

 that the alcohol problem can l)e settled biologically only 

 when, instead of generalizing from the quality of specific 

 end results, we deal with the channels through which al- 

 cohol may work. 



