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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [ Vol. XLIV 



If further evidence were wanting of the wholly uncritical 

 character of Russo's work, it might be found in his analysis of 

 the results of crosses involving Mendelian color characters. 

 Jordan correctly states Eusso's claim, though not his evidence. 

 The claim is that when albino or spotted females were mated 

 with gray or black males, the color character of the latter dom- 

 inated in the young, but when the same females were first treated 

 with lecithin and then mated with a black male the color char- 

 acter of the mot tier occurred in part or all of the young. The 

 conclusion is drawn that lecithin treatment of the mother is a 

 practical means of fixing a desired maternal character as a racial 

 character, a claim so astonishing and so important, if true, that 

 with Jordan's indorsement it is in danger of being taken seri- 

 ously by readers of the Naturalist. For that reason I have 

 been prompted to examine Russo's evidence carefully and to 

 write this note. His evidence consists of four cases, all the cases 

 bearing on this point concerning which he gives detailed infor- 

 mation, and he states that these are his best cases. 



Case l.—A young albino (Polish) female was treated with 

 lecithin and mated with a gray male and produced two gray 

 young. The lecithin treatment was continued and she was now 

 mated with a black male and had eight young, six white and two 

 black. The reader is led to conclude that the further lecithin 

 treatment is responsible for the appearance of white young in 

 the second litter. But is it ? No evidence is given as to the 

 gametic character of the male parent of either litter. If the 

 gray male was homozygous he should have produced, as observed, 

 only gray young, though the production of two young only was 

 no adequate test of his character. The same male should have 

 been used after the "further" lecithin treatment if information 

 were desired about the effect of lecithin, but this was not done. 

 A new untried male of a different color, black, was used. He 

 produced both albino and black young, a result which indicates 

 that he was heterozygous. If so. the result obtained is such as 

 would have followed without any lecithin treatment whatever! 

 The case proves absolutely nothing, because neither colored 

 parent was tested, so far as we have any information. Russo 

 seems to think that the first litter affords a criterion of what the 

 second should give by a different male parent, a conclusion which 

 no one familiar with Mendolian principles would entertain for 



