The Inheritance of a Somatic Variation in Maize H 
seeds produced 22 white ears and 22 solid red ears. The 
authors' interpretation of these results is that the white 
seed which gave rise to the original colored ear had been 
fertilized by pollen from a red-eared plant and that the 
F ± plant, ' ' due to produce a red ear varied, somatically so 
that one half of the ear was red and one half striped.' ' 
The authors further state : 
This variation was transmitted by seeds, but at the same time the 
hybrid character of its seeds was unchanged as shown by their segrega- 
tion into reds and whites in the next generation and the normal segre- 
gation of the hybrid dark reds in a further generation. 
In the light of my own observations, it is equally pos- 
sible and seems more likely that the white seed from which 
the original red-and-variegated ear came was the result 
of pollination from a plant with variegated ears, and that 
the somatic variation was from variegated grains to solid 
red grains rather than from red to variegated. But the 
important fact is that a somatic variation was later in- 
herited in a strictly Mendelian way. 
In 1909 I obtained results somewhat similar to those re- 
ported by East and Hayes. A few " freak' ' ears were 
secured, mainly from local and national corn expositions. 
Nothing was learned as to their parentage or pollination. 
Obviously, however, the parentage of the red, the varie- 
gated, and the white grains of any one ear was the same, 
and it is reasonable to suppose that the different sorts of 
grains of any one ear were pollinated with approximately 
the same kind or the same mixture of pollen. The results, 
as shown below, were essentially like those of Hartley and 
of East and Hayes. 
Seeds Planted 
Number of Plants with 
Red Ears 
Variegated Ears 
White Ears 
Self-red 
Variegated and white 
43 
0 
0 
22 
33 
29 
The results from four other ears were somewhat differ- 
