88 The Pi.ant World. 



INHERITANCE OF FASCIATION IN ZEA MAYS. * 

 Henri Hus and A. W. Murdock. 



Though the question of the inheritance of teratological 

 characters readily lends itself to experimental investigation, the 

 ground does not appear to have been covered so thoroughly 

 that the detailed study of individual cases is entirely without 

 interest. All malformations are not inherited, nor would we 

 expect this to be the case. No one seriously would advance the 

 view that galls, for instance, could be transmitted to the off- 

 spring, i. e. that the production of galls could be a character 

 inherent in the seed. For many other teratological characters, such 

 as fasciation, inheritance generally is conceded, though instances 

 are not lacking in which this transmission has been disputed and 

 even, in experiment, apparently has been shown not to exist, f 

 However, it is to be noted that, in the case of Opuntia, the exist- 

 ence of pseudo-fasciations has been observed by Trinchieri, % 

 and that in such cases we would not expect the character to be 

 inherited. 



Even when teratological characters are transmitted, they 

 are not always transmitted to the same degree. Unfortunately 

 this last statement does not present the true aspect of the case 

 and is, in fact, misleading. When we say a teratological char- 

 acter, such as fasciation for instance, is inherited by a percentage 

 of the offspring only, we really mean that the character was 

 visible only in this percentage of the offspring. If the experi- 

 ment is not carried farther, we are in the dark as to the nature 

 of the plants which do not show a broadening of the stem or of 

 the inflorescence. For the becoming evident of a fasciation 

 may depend on several external circumstances, generally speak- 

 ing those which influence nutrition.** Similarly, bifurcation in 



♦Contribution No. 120 from the Botanical Department of the University of Michigan. 



■j^Fobe, F. Ueber die sogenannten Hahnenkammformen bei den Kakteen. Monatschr. 

 f. Kakteenkunde, 16: 87. 1906. 



jTrinchieri, G. Fasciation et "Pseudo-fasciation." Atti dell, Acad. Gioenia di Sc. nat. 

 in Catania. 1907. Trans. G. Renaudet. See. d. Nat. luxemb., 1910. 



* *Geneau de Lamarli^re, L. Sur la production exp^rinientale de tiges et d'inflorescences 

 fascines. Compt. Rend., 128: 1601, 1899. 



Hus, H. Fasciation in Oxalis crenala and experimental production of fasciations. 

 Ann. Rep. Missouri Botanical Garden, 17: 147, 1906 



