Abstract
J. P. A. ANGSEESING1 is mistaken in most of his criticism of Kammerer's experiments as described by Koestler2. Angseesing quite reasonably supposes that the formation of nuptual pads on male midwife toads might involve a genetic mechanism activated by their confinement to aquatic conditions or high temperature. The crux of the argument, however, is the claim that this condition was inherited and intensified in successive generations. Any explanation must therefore involve selection or the inheritance of acquired characteristics, in addition to the probable physiological mechanism.
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References
Angseesing, J. P. A., Nature, 239, 408 (1972).
Koestler, A., The Case of the Midwife Toad (Hutchinson, London, 1971).
Waddington, C. H., The Strategy of the Genes (Allen and Unwin, London, 1957).
Wersky, P. G., Nature, 234, 489 (1971).
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WALLACE, H. A Salamander Midwife. Nature 242, 134–135 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/242134a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/242134a0
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