Abstract
In order to ascertain the cause of deviation from the expected distribution of bivalents in asynaptic maize two models were set up corresponding to two different situations: 1) differential behaviour of chromosomes within meiocytes and 2) differences in the degree of synapsis between meiocytes within a population. Analysis of published data indicated differences between groups of meiocytes rather than intracellular differences. The implications of this finding and the limitations of this method of analysis were discussed.
