The Inheritance of Quantitative Characters in Maize 65 
Passing to cross 60-8x54 (Table 27) one finds the same in- 
creased variability in F 2 over that shown by the F 1 generation. 
There two plants were followed to the F 3 generation. One was a 
comparatively short plant 43 inches high; the other was a tall 
plant 85 inches high. The range of the first fraterDity was from 
28 inches to 55 inches with the mode about 40 inches. It is 
clearly a larger type than the original Tom Thumb. Part of 
this height may be due to the vigor of heterozygosis, but certainly 
the maternal parent is not reproduced. The other distribution, 
that from the tall stalk, is remarkable for its extreme variability. 
Its members range from 37 inches to 91 inches with the mode at 
about 61 inches. The modes of the two families differ therefore 
by something like 21 inches. One can scarcely doubt the possi- 
bility of recovering a very tall strain from this highly variable 
family, by continued selection. 
Table 28 shows the results from a cross between a small 
flint, No. 5, and a large dent. No. 6. The mean of the first variety 
is 68 inches and the mean of the second variety 101 inches. The 
coefficient of variability of the F x generation is about the same 
as that of the tiint parent. The coefficients of variability of the 
four F 2 families are significantly greater. One has only to 
examine the range of variation to see this. Individuals were 
obtained with the complete range from the smallest individuals 
of the small variety to the largest individuals of the large va- 
riety. The coefficient of variability of F 1 is 8.68 ± .55, while 
those of the F 2 families are 15.75 ± .68, 13.34 ± .68, 12.02 ± .58, 
and 12.65 ± .46, respectively. 
Xo F 3 families can be reported for this cross, because the lo- 
cation of the experiment was of necessity moved northward and 
the plants would not mature. 
Table 29 contains the data secured from a cross of Tom 
Thumb pop and Missouri dent, very short and rather tall strains 
respectively. The cross was made in the greenhouse in the 
winter of 1908-9 and the F x generation grown the following sum- 
mer as Xo. 170. The two parent plants grown in the greenhouse 
were from open pollinated ears and no- selfed seed was obtained 
from either plant. There was grown, however, along with the 
Fj_ plants in 1909, representatives of the two parents — 146, Mis- 
souri dent, and 151, Tom Thumb pop — from the same open-pol- 
linated ears from which the two greenhouse plants used in the 
cross were grown. The plants of all three of these families were 
measured, but the data were recorded in six-inch classes and 
therefore can not be presented in a table in which one-decimeter 
classes are used. The extreme fluctuations of the families are. 
however, shown in the table by means of arrows. ¥ 1 is plainly 
intermediate between the parents but somewhat nearer the large 
than the small parent. 
3 
