224 GENETICS [Bot. Absts., Vol. V, 



high or low is neither completely dominant to the other; (3) the female may transmit the 

 factor for specific configuration although she is always of the six-spot type.- — Stock 501 gave 

 a mutant with an exceptionally large outer spot. Tests with two-spot line indicate that the 

 factor for the middle spots may be sex-linked in this particular strain. — Temperature has a 

 differential effect on spotting. Low temperatures (11-15°C.) emphasize outer spots and 

 reduce the middle ones, even in the two-spot selected lines. — Six females appeared simultane- 

 ously in one stock, lacking the middle spots. When mated to brothers, these gave rise to a 

 variable abnormal strain. Selection purified the stock. Crosses show that male can trans- 

 mit the factor, although not showing the character himself. — To conclude, inheritance of 

 spotting in D. busckii is complicated. The same spot in the female and in different strains 

 of males are due to different factors. Environment, particularly temperature, has a differen- 

 tial effect on the development of the various spots, and is important in the interpretation 

 of selection. — Joseph Krafka, Jr. 



1692. Weatherwax, Paul. The origin of the intolerance of inbreeding in maize. Amer. 

 Nat. 54: 184-187. Mar.-Apr., 1920. — In regard to androgyny and to protogyny of individual 

 inflorescences maize presents no fundamental difference from other American representatives 

 of Maydeae. This fact together with reduction in number of inflorescences due to the mode 

 of long continued cultivation and hence widespread cross-pollination make it unnecessary to 

 assume the introduction of intolerance of self-pollination from another group. — D. F. Jones. 



1693. Weimer, J. L. Variations in Pleurage curvicolla (Wint.) Kuntze. Amer. Jour. Bot. 

 6: 406-^09. 1919. — Data on the extent of variation in certain characters due to differences 

 in substratum upon which a pure strain of Pleurage curvicolla was grown, indicates unreli- 

 ability of taxonomic criteria for species formation in fungi. Spore size was found to be rela- 

 tively constant but size of perithecia showed greater variation and secondary spore appen- 

 dages, a recognized character for this species, were not seen. Observations of author and 

 others indicate that this species may have 128, 256, or 512 spores in ascus as a result of 7, 8 or 

 9 mitoses. [See also Bot. Absts. 5, Entry 694.] — T. H. Goodspeed. 



1694. Wenholz, H. Maize breeding. Agricultural research in Australia. Advisory 

 Council Sci. and Ind. Commonwealth of Australia Bull. 7: 39-48. 1918. — Author believes that 

 improvement of maize can be accomplished largely by selection within a variety and therefore 

 the experiment farms of New South Wales have been restricted to the use of one variety which 

 previous experience has shown to be the best for the district. — Study of ear characters had 

 led to the conclusion that some of them are associated with yield. These characters are 

 length and shape of ear, weight and percentage of shelled grain, space between the rows, fill- 

 ing and character of the butts and tips, depth of grain and size of core. The ideal ear with 

 many of these desirable characters highly developed has not been found by experiment to 

 be positively correlated with yielding capacity under all conditions. — Data are being col- 

 lected to discover what visible characters in the ear are associated with yielding capacity. 

 Thus far it is found that although depth of grain is correlated with yield in a late-maturing 

 variety on the coast, this correlation does not exist with the early variations of the table- 

 lands. In regions of good rainfall, moderate-sized core is correlated with yielding capacity 

 while in regions of scanty rainfall smallness of core is a character somewhat related to drought 

 resistance but not to very high yields. — Another measurable ear character found to be related 

 to yield is the weight. Author states that uniformity in the appearance, size, shape of ear, 

 and character of the indentation of the grain gives a greater uniformity in the maturing of the 

 crop and in consequence a greater uniformity in flowering which latter has been found to be 

 directly associated with a smaller percentage of barren stalks.— Ear-to-row breeding is highly 

 recommended and in ear-to-row tests author notes having made some very careful observa- 

 tions which have thrown considerable light on maize breeding and selection. It has been 

 found, for instance, that some rows from individual ears contain a high percentage of barren 

 stalks while other rows have practically none. It has also been found that many of the 

 highest-yielding rows in the tests have been most uniform in the type of ears produced. 

 Author considers that this observation supports the practice of breeding for uniformity in 



