Terminal chromosome attachments.

Descriptions are presented of four cases of attachment of chromosome material at the ends of normal chromosomes in Drosophila. Since no material appears to be missing from the polytene chromosomes and there are no ill effects to the organism in morphology, viability, or fertility when the chromosome is made homozygous, it is argued that the attachment occurred without the loss of any essential genetic material and that, in all probability, the break at the end of the chromosome occurred within the telomere of the chromosome. These cases may serve as a parallel to cases of apparent terminal breakage and reunion in certain rearrangements in man.