196 Albinism in Maize 



yellowish-green colour of thf leaves. Crosses between these yellowish- 

 green individuals and fully-gncn plants showed that the character was 

 not a dominant one. 



Another class included plants which had prominent longitudinal 

 stripes of green, pale green and white. So far as his study had gone 

 this character appeared to be a Mendelian recessive, though he men- 

 tioned that in certain cultures it appeared as if it might be due to the 

 absence of two positive factors. 



There was also a peculiar, definite, regular striping of the leaf In 

 the region of the fibrovascular bundles the leaf is dark green, but 

 between the bundles the leaf is pale gi-een. He believed this was also 

 a Mendelian recessive. 



He also reported the occurrence of plants the leaves of which 

 showed a few very narrow streaks of white. This type of inconspicuous 

 variegation was noted in a family in which pure white plants also 

 occurred. The character appeared to be a recessive one, but it had 

 not been fully studied. 



Gernert(12) in 1912 briefly discussed the occurrence of pure white 

 seedlings in certain of his cultures of maize. He also reported the 

 presence of yellowish-gi'een plants and suggested the possibility that 

 they might be an intermediate stage of albinism. His studies clearly 

 indicate that the albino form is inherited as a simple Mendelian 

 recessive. The data in regard to the yellowish-gi-ecn condition were 

 rather incomplete, though it is quite likely that this is also a simple 

 recessive. 



Davis (7) in 1912 described etiolated rosettes of Oenothera, which 

 he discovered in the second generation of a cross between two green 

 plants. The plants later became green and developed to maturity. In 

 a later paper (8) he reported that selfed seed from one of the F., jjlants 

 which had developed fi-om an etiolated seedling gave a progeny con- 

 sisting entirely of etiolated rosettes. The plants developing from these 

 etiolated rosettes became green, as did those of the preceding generation. 



Nilsson-Ehle (13) in 1913 described the appearance and behaviour 

 of pure white and yellowish-white seedlings in some of the common 

 cereals. 



In barley he found pure white plants and also some plants whose 

 leaves were yellowish, or sometimes slightly greenish. The individuals 

 of both types die in the seedling stage, though the yellowish ones lived 

 somewhat longer than those which were pure white. Green appeared 

 fully dominant, and in some families which consisted of homozygous 



