646 Varietäten, Descendenz, Hybriden. 
in Primula sinensis. (Report British Ass. Leicester. p. 691—692. 
1907.) 
An abstract is given of the results of further experiments upon 
Primula sinensis. 
The characters dealt with are: 
1) Short and long style. The conclusion, given in an earlier 
paper, that the inheritance is of a simple Mendelian type, the short- 
styled form being dominant, is confirmed. 2) The presence or 
absence of a large yellow “eye”. 3) The form of the leaf, whether 
palmate or “fern-leaf”. 4) The colour of the stem and petioles, 
whether with, or without, pigment. 5) The colour of the flowers. 
Under the last head, the existence of two kinds of whites is 
recorded. White-flowered plants with green stems are found to give 
a coloured F x when crossed with forms possessing coloured flowers; 
while white-flowered plants with red stems (“Dominant White”), when 
crossed with coloured forms, give a white or tinged white F x which, 
in Fo, gives a long series of coloured, tinged and white forms. 
The F 1 of (“Dominant White”) X (White on green stem) is 
white-flowered, and in F 2 gives white and coloured forms. 
_ R. P. Gregor} 7 . 
Henslow, G., The Heredit} 7 of Acquired Characters in Plants. 
(VII, 107 pp. with 24 plates. London, John Murray. Price 6 s. nett. 
1908.) 
The author says in the introduction “The object of this book is 
to put before the reader a few of the incontestible facts esta- 
blishing the heredity of acquired characters upon which the evolution 
of plants is based. It is no theory like “Darwinism”, but the process 
may be seen everj^vhere by the observant eye.” 
The first three chapters are devoted to a short discussion on 
the views propounded by certain writers with regard to the inheri¬ 
tance of acquired characters and to methods of evolution. The author 
concludes that variations arise through the response of the plant to 
changed conditions of life; and that the structures, altered in adap- 
tation to the new environment, become hereditary, if the plants, 
generation after generation, continue to live long enough in the 
new surroundings. This the author looks upon as “the true and 
only method of evolution”, and the remaining chapters of the book 
(Ch. IV—XI) are devoted to “Illustrative proofs of evolution by 
direct adaptation, with heredity of acquired characters”. In addition 
to inductive reasoning based on the structure of various plant Organs, 
the author adduces, in support of his views, the results of some 
experiments made b} 7 growing plants from seed under conditions 
differing from those under which the plant usually grows. In the last 
chapter an hypothesis is put forward of the origin of monocotyledons 
from aquatic dicotyledonous ancestors by adaptive response to con¬ 
ditions. The book is provided with an index. R. P. Gregory. 
Relander, L., Kann man mit Praecipitinreaktion Samen von 
verschiedenen Pflanzenarten und Abarten von ein¬ 
ander unterscheiden? (V. M.). (Centr. f. Bakt. 2. XX. p. 518. 
1908.) 
Verf. setzte die Versuche von Bertarelli fort, welcher gefun¬ 
den hatte, dass die biologische Methode zur Unterscheidung der 
