No. 521] 



NOTES AND LITERATURE 



319 



tion took place. The pupa period remained about the same as 

 normal, whence the conclusion is reached that regeneration takes 

 place during the caterpillar stage and differentiation during the 

 pupa stage. In the castrated series, in which the wing anhige 

 was removed, it was found that the wing developed its normal 

 sex character, although no sex cells were present. There was a 

 difference in the amount of regeneration just as in the control 

 series. Likewise in males with transplanted ovaries, the regen- 

 erated wing was of the normal male type, and exactly corre- 

 sponded with its unregenerated mate. 



From these experiments Meisenheimer concludes that in these 

 moths primary sex cells have no influence on secondary sex char- 

 acters or on sexual instinct. He therefore does not agree with 

 the theory that internal secretions from the sex glands affect 

 the soma. Both primary and secondary sexual characters are to 

 be traced back to the young germ cells, since the secondary are 

 not influenced by the primary during ontogeny. 



E. N. Browne. 



ANTS 



The last number in the Columbia Biological Series is a volume 

 by W. M. Wheeler 1 on ants. It is the largest number in the 

 series, containing nearly 700 pages, but the unusual interest of 

 the subject justifies the .size of the publication. After an intro- 

 ductory account of ants as dominant insects, the author devotes 

 several chapters to their structure and development. Then fol- 

 lows a discussion of polymorphism in which the interesting 

 problem of the non- reproductive worker in relation to heredity 

 is fully elucidated. After this come chapters on the classifica- 

 tion and distribution of ants and on their geological history. 

 The remainder of the body of the text contains a must fas. --mat ing 

 account of the habits of ants. Following a consideration of the 

 habits of ants in general, of nest-building and of the ponerine 

 ants, the most primitive and generalized type of modern ants, 

 is a succession of chapters on special habits and relations. 

 These include accounts of the driver ants, the Huns and Tartars 

 of the insect world; the harvesting ants, which, though they are 



