R. H. CoMPTON 69 



In this paper it was shown that in two-rowed Barley there is no 

 inheritance of the right- and left-handed characters, nor is there any 

 regularity in the distribution of right- and left-handed seedlings on 

 the ear. 



(1) The previous conclusions in the case of two-rowed Barley 

 are confirmed by new experimental results: in particular it is amply 

 shown that, while the ratio of lefts to rights is maintained through 

 three successive generations, the kind of asymmetry itself is not 

 inherited. 



(2) In Maize it also seems clear that there is no inheritance of 

 right- and left-handedness as such. 



(3) In six-rowed Barley an excess of LH seedlings was also found : 

 and there was no conspicuous variation in the ratio LH/RH as between 

 different rows of grain on the ear : but the numbers examined were too 

 small to be decisive. 



(4) In Maize the ratio LH/RH is very near unity (I'OIO). Setaria 

 italica shows, like Barley, an excess of left-handed seedlings, LH/RH 

 being 1'19 (5-tl °/^ LH). Both stereo-isomeric forms are also present 

 in Rye. 



(5) Oats show a considerable excess of right-handed seedlings, the 

 ratio LH/RH being 0-814 (44'88 °/^ LH) : it thus gives a result the 

 inverse of that found for Barley. This may be in some way connected 

 with the fact that in Barley the mature leaf-blades are generally 

 slightly twisted into a right-handed screw, while in Oats the torsion is 

 in the reverse direction. 



(6) The seeds on a Maize-cob give different ratios of left-handed 

 seedlings according to their position : the seeds on odd orthostichies 

 giving an excess of right-handed, those on even rows an excess of left- 

 handed, offspring. This result is obtained in the majority of cobs, but 

 there are exceptions. On the average, deduced from 5847 seedlings 

 from 16 cobs of .several varieties and sizes, the ratio LH/RH for 

 even rows is 1'184, for odd rows 0"857 (54'22 and 46'16 "/^ LH re- 

 spectively). 



(7) An attempt to discover whether there was any connection 

 between the shape of the seed of Maize and the direction of fold of the 

 first leaf gave a negative result. 



