ADAPTATIOISr AND INHEKITANCE KAMMEEER. 429 



mens. The coralla was at times completely absent and the stamens 

 were more or less changed into petals and whole flowe.rs appeared as 

 leaf rosettes. All these changes appeared at one time m one and the 

 same plant. But nevermore than one of the several changes appeared 

 in a single individual resulting from the clo3e fertilized seeds of this 

 plant; that is, cither only a change in the position and the number of 

 the flowering parts, or the changing of the flowers into leaves, or only 

 the change of the stamens into petals occurred. Tlie last two changes 

 were emphasized in the seedlings. No changes could be demon- 

 strated in the female flowers, for example, the complete lack of petals, 

 but instead of this a new change not observed in the parent flower 

 became manifested, namely, a peculiar distantly spaced position of 

 the sepals, which was noticeable. 



Blaringhem, by the use of mechanical methods, mutilation, and 

 twistmg of the main stem, attacked a normal race of maize, Indian 

 corn {Zea mays pennsylvanica) , to produce varying forms. As a 

 result thereof, manifold abnormal forms appeared already in the 

 parent plant, of which only a part recurred m the seedlings. Not 

 transmissible was a variation, in which the seeds appeared separated 

 upon the cob ; nor a second, with chaffy ears and red instead of green 

 leaves; nor a third, in which all the flowers of the ear, which normally 

 should have all been ji istilate, had been changed to staminate flowers, 

 without a change of form or of the husk. The following changes, 

 however, remained constant upon further cultivation, without 

 renewed mutilation; a race with stamens upon the cob; that is, 

 bisexual ears. Normally the ears, which develop on the side of the 

 stem from the axil of the leaves of the Mays plant, are purely pistilate 

 fruit-flowers, wliile the terminal spikes at the summit of the stem are 

 purely staminate. However, the stamens growing between the 

 pistilate flowers were unable to produce pollen. Blaringhem calls 

 this race "Zea Tnays var. pseudo-androgyna;" i. e., " the false her- 

 maplu-odite." Another constant form was an early ripening race 

 with many densely crowded somewhat irregular rows of seeds, pos- 

 sessing also a different form of stem and number of leaves. Blaring- 

 hem calls this '^Zea mays var. semi-praecox," "the haK early." 

 Finally, a strongly different form, wliich blooms and ripens even 

 earUer, with remarkably small cars and stamuiate spikes, in wliich the 

 spikes, which should be purely staminate, are in part or wholly changed 

 into mere scars; that is, they have assumed the form of the pistilate 

 flower, which is intended to capture the pollen. Blaringhem calls 

 this form, "Zca mays praecox," "the very early," and considers it a 

 new distinct species. 



All the experiments so far cited pertain to plants or invertebrate 

 animals. To succeed in these experiments it is necessary to watch 

 the particular organism for at least two generations, and to keep 



