ign] CURRENT LITERATURE 485 



possibility is suggested that fasciation of the ears may be a purely physiological 

 effect of disturbed nutrition. 



EMERSON" reports the discovery of red aleurone color as a latent character 

 in a cross between Queen's Golden pop corn and Black Mexican sweet corn, 

 though other crosses between these two varieties gave only purple aleurone. 

 Crosses between a tested homozygous red-aleurone strain and White Rice 

 pop corn and Evergreen sweet corn produced F T 's with only purple aleurone 

 cells, thus demonstrating the presence of P as a latent character in both of 

 these white varieties. Dark and light yellow endosperm colors were also 

 seen to be latent as a result of a cross between the orange-colored Queen's 

 Golden and the Black Mexican with colorless endosperm. 



While not experimental, two papers by iLTis 22 on abnormalities are worthy 

 of mention. Both of these abnormalities are assumed to have been induced 

 by the traumatic action of Ustilago Maydis. In the first the glumes of the 

 female flowers were somewhat enlarged, and in place of the carpel arose a 

 tubular structure 10-20 cm. long, terminated by a long pistil-like thread 20 cm. 

 long. The occurrence of a ligule on this structure served to identify it as a 

 phyllode, and leads the author to the conclusion that the ovary, which after- 

 ward forms the seed coat, is homologous with the leaf sheath, and the style 

 with the leaf blade. Within this tube, as a prolongation of the axis, grew an 

 abnormal leafy branch. In the second paper^ the author describes abnormal 

 inflorescences in which the flowers are paired, each pair consisting of a sessile 

 female or hermaphrodite flower and a stalked male flower. This is an arrange- 

 ment characteristic of the Andropogoneae, and the author looks upon its 

 appearance in maize as a reversion. On this basis he would rank the Zeae as a 

 subtribe of the Andropogoneae, in support of HACKEL and STAFF, who had 

 adopted this arrangement on other grounds. GEO. H. SHULL. 



21 EMERSON, R. A., Latent colors in corn. Ann. Rept. Amer. Breeders' Ass. 6: 

 233-237- iQio- 



22 ILTIS, H., Ueber eine durch Maisbrand verursachte intracarpellare Prolifikation 

 bei Zea Mays L. Sitzungsber. Akad. Wiss. Wien. Math.-naturw. Klasse HQ 1 . 

 pp. 15. pis. 2. 1910. 



2 3 ILTIS, H., Ueber einige bei Zea Mays L. beobachtete Atavismen, ihre Verur- 

 sachung durch den Maisbrand, Ustilago Maydis (DC.) Corda iiber die Stellung der 

 Gattung Zea im System. Zeitschr. Abst. Vererb. 5*38-57. pis. 2. 1911. 



