354 Oritjin and Behaviour of Oenothera rubriealyx 



failing to distinguish between pure rnhncalyx and its iiybrid with a 

 wholly distinct species ? These two things are so different that the 

 veriest amateur could have no difficulty in distinguishing between them, 

 either as rosettes or as mature plants. 



Such looseness of observation as ShuH's paper displays is inexcusable 

 when put forward with such a show of confidence in the soundness of 

 his results. I have stated repeatedly in previous papers that rubncalj:'; 

 is morphologically identical with rubrinervis, of which it is in fact a 

 very marked and striking colour variety. Photogi-aphs have also been 

 published (see Gates 1911, Figs. 4 and 5) which prove these assertions. 

 However, Shull evidently had occasional misgivings regarding the real 

 nature of his supposed rubriealyx rosettes, as when he says (footnote, 

 p. 84) : " Several features of my plants suggested a relationship to 

 0. grandijtora, particularly the rather lax rosettes, strong red spotting 

 of the young rosette-leaves, and the development of buds more slender 

 and rounder than in my 0. rubrinervis cultures." As I pointed out 

 several years ago (1909), these are all conspicuous features of Oe. 

 grandiflora, and this knowledge should have given him pause, par- 

 ticularly when he was aware that his " ruhriwlyx " plants were fi'om 

 unguarded seeds. 



In several places through his paper Shull wavers between the 

 assumption (which he knew was doubtful) that his " rubriealyx " was 

 pure, and the admission that it may have been a cross with yrandifiora. 

 Yet he must have realized that his results were almost valueless if the 

 latter was the case, and quite so if he was unable to determine between 

 these two alternatives. It is difficult to understand how the paper 

 coidd have been brought forward as a contribution to genetics under 

 these circumstances. Since the author states that it was originally 

 written before my last paper (Gates, 1914) dealing with rubriealyx 

 and its hybrids was published, the references to that paper, as well 

 as certain other changes, must have been made later. 



The plants which Shull assumed to be pui'e rubriealyx were obtained 

 by him from Dr A. F. Blakeslee, of Storrs, Connecticut, who grew them 

 from unguarded seeds of rubriealyx received from me. Dr Blakeslee 

 has kindly sent me the original seed packet, from which I find that the 

 seeds in question were collected from a plant grown in 1909. I grew 

 several families of rubriealyx in that year, and one of these was adjacent 

 to a culture of grandijloi-a. These unguarded seeds were not intended 

 for genetic experiments, and were sent (marked " open-pollinated ") in 

 answer to a request for any plants which would show the red-budded 



