kempton: endosperm color and albinism in maize 147 



In studying the effects of temperature and light upon the rate 

 of elongation of albino seedlings the writer had occasion to grow 

 seedlings from an ear which had both yellow and white seeds, 

 and found what appears to be a correlation between the color 

 of the endosperm in the seed and the development of chloro- 

 phyll in the seedlings. The ear from which this seed was se- 

 cured was the result of a self-fertilized first generation plant of a 

 cross between Zea tunicata and Zea ramosa. This cross has been 

 recently described in detail by Mr. Collins. 2 



The ear was non-podded and had approximately three yellow 

 seeds to one white. The actual figures were 70 yellow and 18 

 white. These yellow seeds were similar to those reported by 

 other investigators of yellow endosperm in that they varied 

 greatly in the intensity of the color, but in this instance little 

 difficulty was encountered in segregating the white seeds. The 

 70 yellow seeds were divided into four groups with respect to 

 the intensity of the color, the two darkest groups having 18 

 seeds each, and the two lightest groups having 17 seeds each. 



table i 



ALBINO 



Dark yellow . . •. 

 Yellow, grade 1 

 Yellow, grade 2 

 Yellow, grade 3 

 White 



Total 



1 

 2 

 4 

 6 

 12 



25 



Fortunately every seed germinated and it was immediately 

 seen that there was a correlation between white or colorless en- 

 dosperm and albino seedlings. The percentage of albino seed- 

 lings from the yellow seeds is 18.6, while the white seeds pro- 

 duced 61.5 per cent albinos. Had we been growing only the 

 white seeds from this ear a very misleading conception of the 

 ratio of albino to normal plants would have resulted. It is also 



2 Collins, G. N. Hybrids of Zea ramosa and Zea tunicata. Read at the meet- 

 ing of American Naturalists, New York, December 29, 1916. 



