29 



KI.1NT COKX (.KOSSKl) WITH SWKIOT COKN. 



Experiment 30a, GUmnn Flint '^ X Blueh Jlc.rlam S .- Only a few 

 koniols set, and these showed no indication of xenia. No other artili- 

 cial pollinations of this combination were made, but some of tiie ears 

 of Gihnan Flint grown at Lincoln \n 18!>9, and naturally fertilized, 

 showed wrinkled kernels resemblintr sweet corn (PI. II, tig. T) mixed 

 on the same ear with the normal kernels (PI. IV, tig. 8). The seed of 

 the Gilman Flint planted had been inbred artitieially the previous 

 season and had shown no sign of im])urity, so that the writer thinks this 

 to be an undoubted case of xenia. A row of Sto well's Evergreen was 

 growing near the (lilmun Flint, about lOO feet away, and the two races 

 were in bloom at the same time. It is interesting to note that the 

 wrinkled kernels of the Gilman P'ilnt showing xenia were yellow like 

 the normal Gilman Flint instead of white and hyaline like the Sto well's 

 Evergreen. So far as the writer is informed no race of yellow sweet 

 corn was grown near b}' from which the pollen could have come. The 

 wrinkled kernels were more translucent than the normal kernels, in 

 this regard resembling the sweet corn. In a munber of the kernels 

 which were wrinkled like sweet corn the effect seemed to be limited to 

 certain portions of the kernel, half of the kernel being smooth like 

 normal Hint and half wrinkled like the sweet corn parent. This may 

 be similar to the occurrence of color in spots in the endosperm, when 

 shown as xenia, as in several cases cited above. These differences in 

 composition in different portions of the endosj^jerm, however, are not 

 so easily recognizable as in the case of color differences and not so 

 marked when observed. 



SWEET COKX CKOSSEI) WlTir FLINT COKN. 



No experiments were made with this combination, but an interest- 

 ing case of apparent xenia occurred in the Black Mexican sweet corn 

 which was grown at Lincoln in the writer's experimental tield. On 

 two ears of the Black Mexican over half of the kernels were smooth 

 instead of wrinkled, resembling in shape the kernels of Gilman Flint 

 which was growing in the next row" 6 feet away. They were, how- 

 ever, dark blue-black in color like the typical Black Mexican. The 

 smooth kernels, while hard and containing an abundance of c6riieous 

 matter, nevertheless contained in the interior much more white, starchy 

 matter than- the typical kernels of the Black Mexican. Aside from 

 the blue-black coloration, the endosperm Avas very markedly similar 

 throughout to that of the Gilman Flint. While it can not be positively 

 affirmed that this change in the characters of the kernels is due to 

 xenia, because the seed used was not definitely known to be pure, yet 

 the evidence is in favor of this interpretation of the phenomenon. 



In Kellerman and Swingle's experiments above referred to, three 

 ears of different sweet corn races crossed with flint corn pollen showed 



