IQII] CURRENT LITERATURE 481 



were discovered in the descendants of one original plant mutilated by the 

 author in 1902. After that time the pedigrees were kept carefully controlled, 

 either by hand-pollinations or by cultivation in isolated plots. 



The reviewer,* at about the time this monograph appeared, demonstrated 

 the occurrence of numerous biotypes in hybrid combination in what appeared 

 to be a fairly uniform population of maize, and believes this to be the general 

 situation in this species. JOHANNSENS has pointed out that the reviewer's 

 results favor a different interpretation of BLARINGHEM'S experiences, since the 

 new types which proved to be hereditary may have appeared as the result of 

 segregation of biotypes which were already present in the original plant chosen 

 for mutilation, this segregation being due, not to the mutilation, but to the 

 subsequent method of breeding. GRIFFON 6 has given further support to this 

 interpretation of BLARINGHEM'S results, by showing that similar abnormalities 

 appear when no mutilations have been practiced, and the reviewer has had 

 the same experience. GRIFFON shows that the abnormalities which character- 

 ized BLARINGHEM'S forms are strongly dependent upon seasonal conditions 

 for their development, being much more abundant in all cultures in some seasons 

 and less abundant in all in other seasons. He does not agree with BLARING- 

 HEM that with respect to these abnormalities these maize families constitute 

 ever-sporting varieties. It does not follow, however, that abnormalities are 

 not hereditary because they are strongly affected by the environment. Hus 

 and MURDOCK? have shown the inheritance of fasciation in a strain of popcorn, 

 the offspring of two fasciated ears giving progenies over 50 per cent of which 

 produced fasciated ears, while an unfasciated ear from the same strain gave 

 only 3 per cent fasciated ears. It will be understood, of course, that the strain 

 from which these ears were selected was complexly hybrid, and that pure-bred 

 derivatives might have shown either approximately 100 per cent fasciated 

 or approximately no fasciation, under favorable conditions. There is evidence 

 that the fasciation is strongly fluctuating, the two ears on a single stem being 

 not infrequently one fasciated and the other normal. The significance of 

 the percentage inheritance is doubtful in complex material of this kind. 



The reviewer 8 has presented additional evidence of the hybrid nature 

 of ordinary vigorous maize plants, and their dependence for their vigor upon 



4 SHULL, G. H., The composition of a field of maize. Report Am. Breeders' 

 Association 4 : 296-301. 1908. 



s JOHANNSEN, W., Elemente der exacten Erblichkeitslehre. pp. vi+5i6. jigs. ji. 

 Jena: Gustav Fischer. 1909. See p. 451. 



6 GRIFFON, E., Observations et recherches experimentales sur la variation chez 

 le mais. Bull. Soc. Bot. France 57:604-615. 1910. 



7 Hus, H., and MURDOCK, A. W., Inheritance of fasciation in Zea Mays. Plant 

 World 14:88-96. 1911. 



8 SHULL, G. H., Hybridization methods in corn breeding. Amer. Breeders' Mag. 

 1:98-107. 1910. 



