IT is desirable, though difficult, to atack genetic problems by both pedigree-culture and cytological methods. It is desirable because the problems are viewed from different standpoints; it is difficult because few forms are especially favorable for either kind of work. The present paper is a preliminary report upon certain characters in a species fairly desirable from each point of attack.Among plants teratological phenomena are common, especially those known as fasciations, Masters2 citing, in 1869, 120 genera in which they were not infrequent.The term fasciation is a broad one and includes, from a genetic standpoint, some very different phenomena. At least two distinct kinds of variation are now emphasized in genetic work, somatic and germinal, although often it is impossible to distinguish between them except by experimental cultures. Fasciation is a phenomenon of variation in which both types occur, though the evidence on this point is not all that could be desired. All observers agree that the fasciated character is constant and heritable in such races as Celosia cristata3 (cockscomb), Pisurn, sativumn umbellatum,4 Sedum refiexiun cristata,5 some races of Zea mays and Nicotiana No. 556] DEVELOPMENT IN NICOTIANA 207 tabacumn fasciata. On the other hand, many examples of fasciation are slight or severe somatic modifications, no more permanent than a swollen limb due to a bruise in our own bodies, or a bone spavin in a horse's foot, though the tissue proliferation may remain as a lasting scar. Examples of this form may be found in (Enotherc.7 Nasturtium,8 Picris hieracioides and Raphanus raphanistrum Y11.9 Such modifications are imperfectly understood, but may be brought about directly or indirectly by external agencies such as bruises, culture methods and insect injuries to the initial meristem. Aside from the work of Mendell" and De Vries," the phenomena of fasciation have not been dealt with in the liRht of modern genetics. Mendel's investigations were made on a fasciated strain of pea (Pisumn sativutm -um bellatum,),). When crossed with a non-fasciated strain the teratological character was recessive and segregated in F. in a simple 3 :1 ratio. This result -was essentially confirmed by Lock and Bateson, although environmental conditions were found by them to affect the character more than is usual in such phenomena. De Vries failed to distinguish between fasciations strictly heritable and those non-heritable. The only con-Exp. Stc. Bilt., No. 167, and Contrlib. from Lal. of Genetics, Bussey Inst. of Harvard Univ., No. 9, p. 133, P1. XXII (a) aud (b), 1911; also Emerson, R. A., personal communication, 1911. TK nox, A. A., ''Inlduetion, Development and Heritability of Fasciations,'' Carnegie Inst. of Wash. Pub. 98: 1-21, Pls. I-V, 1908.