No. 550] 



ZEA MAYS 



619 



During the last three years the writer has had under obser- 

 vation a large number of varieties and their hybrids. He has 

 been able to isolate more than a dozen tassel types which are 

 strikingly different in shape and which are distinct from each 

 other in inheritance. Some 

 of the characters of these 

 types are plainly correlated 

 with certain characters of 

 the ear. Advantage can un- 

 doubtedly be taken of this 

 fact in analyzing the be- 

 havior of such fluctuating 

 phenomena as size, shape, 

 and number of parts. 



This correlation between 

 tassel and ear permits the 

 selection of individuals in 

 the field before the silks 

 appear. These plants may 

 then be bagged and hand 



pollenated 



investigation not yet p 

 lished, the writer has foi 

 that the tassels in a la 

 number of varieties 



ub- 



before any pollen 

 from the anther 



tassels produce polh 

 ^age of from one 

 7S before the silks 

 during the first season (1910) 









w 



- IS 



W ; 



w 











the same plants. 



which the branched ear was 

 to see if it would reproduce the character only two out 

 of fifty kernels planted produced individuals bearing the 

 branched ears. It was at this time that the correlation between 

 the tassel and ear type was discovered. The fact that only two 

 Plants of the Z. ramosa type were obtained this first year indi- 

 cated that either the character was reproduced only occasionally 

 <* that it was a recessive character and that the parent was 

 Pollenated largely by neighboring plants bearing normal ears 

 wnich must be dominant to the branched form. It was pre- 



