INHERITANCE- IMPRO I 'EMENT B ) ' BREEDING 1 89 

 144. Pericarp Colour. — The colour of the maize-grain is chap. 



sometimes found in, and confined to, the pericarp ; in such 

 cases this is readily demonstrated by soaking the grain in 

 water until the pericarp can be peeled off without removing 

 the aleurone layer. The red striped Cusco flour corn is a case 

 in point ; we also meet with sporadic cases of red ears appearing 

 unexpectedly in crops of white breeds, which, on examination, 

 prove to be cases of red pericarp colour. 



The pericarp of the grain belongs to the parental, and not 

 to the filial, generation ; it is part of the female plant parent. 

 The pollen grain therefore does not produce xenia in the peri- 

 carp. Thus if a white breed is crossed with pollen of a breed 

 with red pericarp colour, the resulting grain (b\ seed genera- 

 tion) will not show the red colour, though this will appear in 

 the second (F 2 seed) generation. 



The present writer has found four distinct red pericarp 

 colours, and East and Hayes describe five, which they call R b 

 R L „ R 3 , R 4 , and R 5 . 



Ri. — An ordinary dark red pop-corn ; glumes of male florets 

 sometimes reddish, but neither cobs nor silks red. Crossed 

 with white it gave 75 R and 22 W ears in the F 2 generation, 

 the reds being all dark and the whites showing no trace of 

 colour. The writer has met with a red pop, answering to 

 this description, in South Africa. 



R 2 . — A dark mosaic red, occurring as irregular red stripes 

 radiating from the point where the silk was attached. A similar 

 red occurs in South African maize. 



R 3 . — A dirty red colour, more abundant at the base of the 

 seed and almost wanting at the summit ; it appears to be 

 coupled with red silks. The dye occurs in small amounts. 

 " It is almost certain that this red forms an allelomorphic pair 

 with its absence, that is entirely independent of R ly R L> , and R 4 ." 

 R 4 . — A rose-red, which " develops only in the presence of 

 light, hence the ears with thick husks show the colour but 

 faintly. When the husks are stripped away and the ear 

 matures in full sunlight, the colour appears over the entire ear 

 as a bright rose-red." Red was not present in other parts of 

 the plants grown. A rose-red answering this description 

 occurs also in South Africa, where it threatens to give some 

 trouble to growers. 



V. 



