Fatuoids or False Wild Oats

Abstract

MR. E. T. JONES'S observations¹ are, as he remarks, highly important in their bearing on the problem of the origin of fatuoids or false wild oats. The conclusions to be drawn from these observations are, however, in my opinion, precisely opposite to those drawn by Mr. Jones. His data, showing that two or more genes are concerned in the production of the fatuoid complex in diploid × tetraploid oat hybrids surely support my assumption that the fatuoid complex of hexaploids is determined by a number of linked genes. Therefore, for fatuoids to arise by gene mutation, as he considers they do, it is necessary to assume mutation occurring simultaneously in all these genes—a rather improbable assumption. The change in dominance, stressed by Mr. Jones, has in other cases been shown to be directly attributable to polyploidy.