THE 



AMERICAN NATURALIST 



Vol. XLVI June, 1912 No. 546 



A FIRST STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE 

 STARVATION OF THE ASCENDANTS UPON 

 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 

 DESCENDANTS— I 



Dr. J. ARTHUR HARRIS 



I. Introductory Remarks 

 One need not search widely in biological or agricultural 

 literature to encounter discussions of the influence of the 

 conditions to which the ancestors are exposed upon the 

 characteristics of the offspring which they produce. To 

 review here the mass of more or less pertinent literature 

 would lead us too far afield from our present main pur- 

 pose, which is simply to present the data and state the 

 apparent conclusions from an experimental and statis- 

 tical study of the influence of starvation and feeding upon 

 the characteristics of garden beans. It is sufficient for 

 the moment to point out that some biologists have attrib- 

 uted a very important role to the environment of the 

 mother in determining the characteristics of the off- 

 spring. It is perhaps superfluous to say that others of 

 equal authority have expressed diametrically opposite 



The problem is, therefore, a real and an important one. 

 Unfortunately the serious investigator who publishes in 

 this field is sure to be between two large and several 



