1907] Brainerd,— Mendel's Law of Dominance in Viola — 211 
MENDEL'S LAW OF DOMINANCE IN THE HYBRIDS 
OF VIOLA. 
E. BRAINERD. 
IN a recent paper! I gave some account of certain experimental 
cultures of the offspring of violet hybrids. It was shown that these 
seedlings diverge in a striking manner from the mother plant and from 
each other, in accordance with the laws of heredity that Mendel found 
to control the progeny of a hybrid. During the past summer I have 
been able to trace the operation of these laws in the characters of the 
petaliferous flowers of these seedlings, and in several cases have raised 
a second generation of seedlings. 
In these experiments it has clearly come to light, that in some par- 
ticulars at least, Mendel's Law of Dominance finds illustration among 
violet hybrids. 'The special instance of this that I wish to present in 
detail, relates to the inheritance of color of capsules and of seeds in 
V. hirsutula X papilionacea, briefly discussed in RHODORA, ix. 93, 
June 1907. 
'The putative parents of this hybrid differ from each other as shown 
in the following table:— 
V. HIRSUTULA V. PAPILIONACEA 
[ habit nearly prostrate erect 
| width 2-4 cm. 5-10 em. 
Leaves i 
| upper surface hirsutulous glabrous 
petioles glabrous somewhat hairy 
TRUS | color reddish purple deep violet 
| spurred petal villous glabrous 
( length 6-8 mm. 10-15 mm. 
| 
Capsules 1 color purple green 
{number of seeds 20-30 50-70 
length 1.6 mm. 2 mm. 
— color buff dark brown ; 
The offspring of the hybrid present, in the most varied manner, a 
redistribution of most of these points of difference. Segregation in 
leaf characters was especially well marked. The differences in size 
of capsule and in number of seeds were obscured by the impairment 
1 Read before sections F & G of the A, A. A. S., Dec. 27, 1906, and printed in Science 
June 14, 1907. 
