96 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLVIII 



Seeds Planted 







Self-red Ears | Variegated Ears 



Settled 



55 



85 

 1,852 



75.3 

 39.3 

 18.8 





More than one half red 

 Narrow red .stripes 



Non-red 



In comparison with the cases reported by Hartley and 

 by East and Hayes and one of my first cultures from 

 open-pollinated ears, in all of which red grains produced 

 no variegated ears and striped grains no red ones, the 

 striking features of the results from these 106 self-pol- 

 linated ears are the facts that the wholly red grains 

 yielded some variegated as well as red ears and that the 

 striped grains and even the wholly non-red grains yielded 

 some red as well as variegated ears. The percentages noted 

 above indicate in a general way that for self-pollinated, 

 variegated ears, the more red there is in the seed planted 

 the larger the percentage of red ears in the progeny. 

 These records, however, do not give a wholly trustworthy 

 indication of the mode of inheritance of the somatic vari- 

 ations concerned here. If there is a modification of some 

 factor in the female gametes, associated with a visible 

 modification of somatic cells of the pericarp and even at 

 times of the cob and husks, modifications that do not be- 

 come visible until long after the gametes are formed, may 

 there not be a similar modification of the same factor in 

 the male gametes, though here not associated with any 

 visible change in somatic cells because of the fact that the 

 staminate inflorescence dies too soon after the pollen is 

 shed? If male gametes do carry such modified factors 

 and if the modification is as irregular in occurrence as the 

 somatic modifications seen in variegated ears, so that any 

 part of the tassel, from all to none, may produce gametes 

 with the modified factor while not showing any visible 

 somatic modification, it is obvious that the real nature of 

 the male gametes of any variegated-eared maize plant 

 can not be foretold. The mere fact that a variegated ear 

 is self-pollinated, therefore, does not insure that its seeds 

 are fertilized with pollen of known character. 



