A PEELIMINAPiY REPORT ON SOME BREEDING 
EXPERIMENTS WITH EOXOLOYES. 
By ERNEST WARREN, D.Sc. (Lond.). 
In 1914 in the garden of the writer there occurred among some ordinary fox- 
gloves {Digitalis gloxinia efora) a specimen of the variety known as monstrosa in 
which there is a large, more or less regular, peloric or crown flower arising by the 
fusion of a variable number of ordinary flowers at the top of the axis. The idea 
arose that it would be of interest to ascertain whether this peloric character would 
blend in the oft'spring when the two forms of foxgloves were crossed, or whether, 
as would appear more likely, the character would be transmitted in its entirety 
or not at all. 
In working at this particular character it was found that the shape, the spotting, 
and the general intensity of colouration of the ordinary zygomorphic flowers varied 
greatly, and accordingly a record has been made of these different characters in 
the first generation. The second generation is now being raised ; but, as it will be 
some time before flowering takes place, a preliminary report on the results of the 
observation on the first generation will be of interest, since they indicate the 
general trend of the experiment. 
I am much indebted to Dr Conrad Akerman for making most of the measure- 
ments and for ever-ready assistance in the experiment ; to Mr A. W. Cullingworth, 
Mr W. Gr. Rump and Miss R. Meanwell for general help in the cultivation of the 
plants, mounting the pressed flowers, etc., and to Mr George Carter, Mr W. Bain- 
bridge, Mr C. R. C. McDonald and Mr H. C. Burnup for growing some of the plants 
in their gardens, also to Mr J. F. Nicolson for allowing me to examine and take 
specimens of plants from his private grounds. 
I. Material. 
The parent plants were the following : 
(1) Medium-purple crowned foxglove raised from seed from Erfurt, Germany 
= A. 
(2) Very-pale-purple crowned foxglove from Mr George Carter's Nursery, 
Pietermaritzburg, raised from Erfurt seed = G (1). 
(3) White ordinary foxglove (Carter) = C (2). 
(4) Light-purple ordinary foxglove (Carter) = C (3). 
(5) Medium-purple ordinary foxglove from Mr P. T. Badock's garden, 
Hilton Rd = 5 (1). 
