I9II- CoLGAN. — Leaf-blotchiiigs in Arum maculatum. 211 



showed precisely the same blotchings, pittings, and pro- 

 tuberances as had been observed on the plants when removed 

 from their station by a shaded roadside at Newcastle. The 

 blotchings and pseudo-blisters are then not adventitious. 

 They arise from some inherent peculiarity of the plant which 

 bears them. 



The question next presented itself, is this capacity of 

 producing repousse leaf-maculations hereditary in the fullest 

 sense of the word ? Can it be transmitted by seed from one 

 generation to another ? For some time I despaired of finding 

 any answer to this question, as the garden plants for three 

 years after removal from the Newcastle station showed no 

 signs of flowering. At length, however, in May, 1908, two 

 liower-spathes made their appearance, each marked inside 

 with large red-brown blotches. But nothing came of this 

 flowering. Both of the flower-spikes faded away without 

 leaving behind a vestige of fruit. 



On the 7th May of the next year, 1909, three flower- 

 spathes appeared, two on one plant and the third on another 

 at some four inches distance, all three spathes being blotched 

 as had been those of the previous year. Some four months 

 later, on the 2nd September, I found that one of the three 

 flower-spikes had formed a head of 11 well-developed fruits. 

 These were gathered on the same day and yielded 11 seeds 

 (one for each fruit) which were forthwith planted in a large 

 flower-pot in ordinary potting mould. The pot was removed 

 indoors and kept moist by occasional watering. Some six 

 and a half months after this sowing, about the 25th March 

 1910, as no sign of germination was apparent above the soil, 

 I dug up one of the seeds and found that it had not only 

 germinated but had developed a rudimentary tuber at the 

 end of a highly curved germination shoot or cotyledon 

 proceeding from the empty seed-coat. This shoot was 

 curved almost into a semicircle, the empty seed-coat at one 

 end and above, the tuber at the other end and below, with 

 its radicle or primary root issuing from the base. The 

 young germination-shoot was replanted, and three months 

 later, in June, 1910, the surface of the soil was again closely 

 examined for signs of growth. No trace of a shoot, however, 

 was visible above the soil, and being at the time ignorant of 



