No. 566] 



INHERITANCE IN EARS OF MAIZE 



111 



the somatic variations in variegated flowers of Mirabilis. 

 Some of these variations in maize are self-red cob patches 

 on otherwise variegated cobs, and dark, variegated grains 

 occurring in patches or scattered over light, variegated 

 ears. 



General Considebations 



The experiments of de Vries, Correns, Hartley, and 

 East and Hayes, as well as the records reported in this 

 paper, all indicate that certain somatic variations are in- 

 herited in strictly Mendelian fashion. All these somatic 

 variations consist in the appearance of self-colors on 

 plants that are normally variegated in pattern. The fact 

 that variegated plants occasionally throw both bud-sports 

 and seed-sports with self-colors is not, in general, to be 

 taken as an indication that the variegated plants in ques- 

 tion are heterozygous. Such behavior seems to be insep- 

 arably associated with variegation. Correns has pointed 

 out (loc. cit.) that variegated Mirabilis plants can not be 

 considered mosaics of green and "chlorina" types due to 

 heterozygosis, since they do not segregate into chlorina 

 and green, but into variegated and green. The same rea- 

 soning applies to variegation in the color of maize ears. 

 Variegated-eared plants do not throw reds and whites, but 

 reds and variegates. The conclusion seems irresistible 

 that self-color occurring as a somatic variation is due to 

 the change of a Mendelian factor for variegation into a 

 factor for self-color. If this be granted, the behavior of 

 these variations in later generations is a mere matter of 

 simple Mendelian inheritance. 



From the title of his paper and the tone of his discus- 

 sion, it is clear that Correns regards, as the most signifi- 

 cant feature of these inherited somatic variations, the 

 change from a homozygous to a heterozygous condition. 

 He even refers to them as cases of "vegetativen Bastar- 

 dierung" or "autohybridization." To me, however, the 

 essential feature is the change of one Mendelian factor 

 mto another. The fact that this modification of genetic 

 factors results in a change from homozygosis to heterozy- 



