Xo. 54fi] 



INFLUENCE OF STARVATION 



343 



taken for the ancestral series as would produce moder- 

 ately extreme conditions of depauperization and luxu- 

 riance in the crops. 



3. The influence of from one to three generations star- 

 vation of the ascendants upon the characteristics of the 

 adult descendants is not conspicuous, in fact hardly to be 

 detected by the eye in the field. Statistical constants 

 seem, however, to show a slight yet unmistakable influ- 

 ence of the treatment of the ancestors in the form of a 

 slight decrease in the number of pods per plant. 



4. The published data are as yet insufficient to justify 

 any discussion of the question of the cumulative influence 

 of the starvation conditions, or of the mechanism through 

 which the characters of the offspring plants are modified. 

 Evidence on these and various other pertinent questions 

 are being gathered as rapidly as possible. 



