No. 594] BLENDING AND MEN DELI AN INHERITANCE 323 



as observed, and the dividing line between them will cor- 

 respond with Hoshino 's class of minimal frequency in F 2 . 

 But the plants which Hoshino classified, on the basis of F 3 

 and F 4 tests, as extracted early (aabb) and extracted late 

 (A ABB) are usually not quite so early or late, respect- 

 ively, as the uncrossed races. Hence he assumes the 

 occurrence of "gametic contamination," and recognizes 

 classes of "would be" or "pseudo "-early and " pseudo "- 

 late. He also notes the occurrence of "qualitative" varia- 

 tion within the groups classed as "constant" early inter- 

 mediate and "constant" late intermediate. That is one 

 family supposed to be of the same genetic formula as 

 another may throughout its entire range produce plants 

 slightly earlier or later than those of the other family. 

 This behavior is not ascribed to any difference in genetic 

 formula, but to a slightly different value of the same gene 

 in the two families. 



The late race employed was also found to vary in late- 

 ness, one "pure line" derived from it being later than 

 another. Crosses made with these two lines are reported 

 separately. No factorial difference is recognized between 

 them. Each is AABB, but one flowers a little later than 

 the other and transmits this property to its descendants. 

 Thus "qualitative" variation of a gene, i. e., variation in 

 its potency, is recognized by Hoshino. Aside from the 

 occurrence of two pure lines in the late race, Hoshino con- 

 siders "the flowering time quite fixed and unchangeable in 

 the parent varieties," and cites his Tables IV-VI in sup- 

 port of this idea. Table VI is of particular interest in this 

 connection because in this case seeds were planted of the 

 earliest flowering and latest flowering individuals of the 

 same pure line and descended from the same individual 

 grandparent. These plantings constitute a test of the 

 existence of genetic variation within the pure line. The 

 progenies of the same grandparent plant (but of different 

 parents) are so obviously alike and so little variable in 

 flowering time that Hoshino has not considered it neces- 

 sary to calculate their mean flowering time. But if this is 

 done it affords unmistakable evidence that genetic varia- 



