No. 464.] STUDIES ON PLANT CELL.— VI. 597 
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 ro. 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. 
