No. 464.] STUDIES ON PLANT CELL.— VII. 587 



varieties of corn distinguished by the color of the kernels, which 

 were white, yellow, red, or blue and by the texture whether 

 smooth, hard, and starchy (dent or flint corn) or wrinkled and 

 sugary (sweet corn). The results of his investigation are admir- 

 ably presented with excellent illustrations. He found that the 

 smooth kernel and starchy endosperm of the dent and flint corn 

 were transmitted very conspicuously as xenia when these forms 

 were employed as the male in crossing with the sweet corns 

 whose kernels are wrinkled and sugary. The characters of the 

 sweet corns do not seem to be expressed as xenia when smooth, 

 starchy, dent corn is used as the female member of the hybrid. 

 This experiment would seem to support Correns' proposition 

 number 14 that a more complicated compound is always formed 

 in xenia in place of a less complex. But Webber found that 

 flint corn, which is smooth and starchy, when pollinated with 

 a form of sweet corn developed the wrinkled kernel and sugary 

 type of endosperm of the male member indicating that this rule 

 of Correns is not universal. And McClure ('92) obtained simi- 

 lar results in crossing a white dent race with pollen of Black 

 Mexican which is a sugar corn with black kernels. The product 

 in this case showed xenia clearly in having the wrinkled blue- 

 black kernels of the male sugar corn. 



Some of Webber's most striking results were obtained in pol- 

 linating yellow and white corns with blue-black and red races. 

 The color was transmitted as xenia in a most striking manner. 

 Webber agrees with other authors that the color is only present 

 in the endosperm of the kernels. Thus the red of certain dent 

 corn, which lies in the pericarp, is not passed on as xenia and 

 McClure observed the same facts in experiments with cranberry 

 corn whose color lies in the seed coat and is not transmitted 

 when employed as the male member in crossing with white 

 corns. Webber's experiments show, as do those of other inves- 

 tigators, that the absence of color in the kernels of the male 

 parent does not seem to affect the tint of the kernels when the 

 female is markedly colored, in agreement with Correns' proposi- 

 tion number 10. But Webber is not convinced that some 

 influence might not be exerted on colored corn when pollinated 

 from races with colorless endosperm, because of certain experi- 

 ments on variegated xenia which will be described presently. 



