The Inheritance of a Somatic Variation in Maize 31 
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 
into another. The fact that this modification of genetic 
factors results in a change from homozygosis to heterozy- 
gosis seems wholly incidental. It follows from the circum- 
stance that usually only one of the two V factors of so- 
matic cells is modified. My own data do not in fact show 
that the change always affects only one of the factors at a 
time. While the results prove that this is true in a part 
of the cases at least, the F x ratios suggest the possibility 
of both factors being modified in some cases. 
