igi2] SHULL— LYCHNIS AND PAP AVER 127 



floral characters from their purple-flowered male parent. They 

 were also like pure M . rubrum in not blooming until late in the 

 season. One plant having a rosette identical with those of the 

 three purple-flowered specimens remained a rosette, but will 

 doubtless have purple flowers if it survives the winter. 5 



Why there should be this segregation of types in the F x , and 

 why one of these types should so completely resemble the male 

 parent, while the other type was goneoclinic to the female parent, 

 though abundantly distinct from it in the rosettes, are mysteries. 

 Perhaps this unexpected segregation of characters in a putative F r 

 is further evidence of the heterogeneity of the M. album material. 

 If the white-flowered mother were heterozygous in a dominant 

 white factor, the expected result of a cross with M. rubrum would 

 be 3 white-flowered to 1 purple-flowered, or in this particular 

 family 20 white-flowered to 7 purple-flowered, to which expectation 

 the observed result is in sufficiently close agreement considering 

 the small number of individuals. The same result would be 

 attained if the rubrum parent were heterozygous in respect to 

 both the primary factors for color, C and R, it being assumed 

 that the album parent lacked both these factors. No other evi- 

 dence of heterogeneity in M. rubrum has yet appeared in my 

 cultures. It should be remarked that neither of these German 

 strains had been pedigreed in controlled cultures, but were simply 

 collected in separate regions in nature, so that questions as to 

 their genotypic purity are legitimate. 



In the derivatives of the corn-poppy (Pa paver Rhoeas L.), 

 among which are the dainty and beautiful "Shirley" poppies of 

 our gardens, color-inhibitors are also found. According to his own 

 statement, Rev. W. Wilks was first induced to pursue the course 

 of selection, which resulted in the strain known as the "Shirley 

 poppies," by discovering a bud- variation on a wild corn-poppy 

 growing in a corner of his garden. Several flowers on this plant 

 differed from the rest in having petals with a narrow white margin. 

 Such a white margin is now a frequent feature of garden poppies, 

 and when appropriate crosses are made, it is found that the presence 



s Note added June 5, 1912. This plant is now blooming and has purple 

 flowers as predicted. 



