146 kempton: endosperm color and albinism in maize 



It would naturally be expected that an occurrence of neodym- 

 ium-bearing apatite free from the green color of ferrous iron 

 would actually show the red-violet; which expectation has now 

 been fulfilled. The U. S. Geological Survey has recently trans- 

 mitted to the National Museum an extensive series of minerals 

 collected by Dr. W. T. Schaller in the pegmatites of southern 

 California, among which are two kinds of violet apatite. One, 

 the color of which is pure violet, from the Mountain Lily Mine, 

 Oak Grove, agrees with apatites from Maine and Saxony, pre- 

 viously examined, in color and in absence of absorption spec- 

 trum; no guess will here be hazarded as to the cause of its color. 

 But the other, from the San Diego Mine, Mesa Grande, has a 

 red-violet color similar to that of the Joplin calcite, and shows 

 an even more intense absorption spectrum, so is to be regarded 

 as also owing its color to neodymium. 



GENETICS. — A correlation between endosperm color and albi- 

 nism in maize. J. H. Kempton, Bureau of Plant Industry. 

 (Communicated by G. N. Collins.) 



Seedlings in which chlorophyll does not develop occur not in- 

 frequently in many cultivated species. Such plants are known 

 as albinos. As photosynthesis is impossible without chloro- 

 phyll these seedlings soon perish. Some varieties of maize pro- 

 duce many albino seedlings, and it has been possible to isolate 

 strains which give regularly a certain proportion of albino seed- 

 lings. Several investigators have tested the exactness of the 

 ratio between normal and albino plants and have concluded that 

 albinism is a simple Mendelian character, recessive to the nor- 

 mal form. 1 



1 East, E. M., and Hays, H. K. Inheritance in maize. Conn. Agr. Exp. 

 Sta. Bull., clxvii, 1911. 



Emerson, It. A. The inheritance of certain forms of chlorophyll reduction in 

 corn leaves. Nebr. Agr. Exp. Sta. Twenty-fifth annual report. 1912. 



Gernert, W. B. The analysis of characters in corn and their behaviour in 

 transmission. Published by author, 1912. 



Miles, Frank C. A genetic and cytological study of certain types of albinism 

 in maize. Journal of Genetics, 4: 193. 1915. 



