326 Mendel's Experiments 



lisation by the mere influence of the foreign pollen. They 

 can, therefore, be observed even in the first year of experi- 

 ment, whilst all the other characters naturally only appear 

 in the following year in such plants as have been raised 

 from the crossed seed. 



THE FIRST GENERATION [BRED] FROM THE HYBRIDS. 



In this generation there reappear, together with the 

 dominant characters, also the recessive ones with their 

 peculiarities fully developed, and this occurs in the definitely 

 expressed average proportion of three to one, so that 

 among each four plants of this generation three display the 

 dominant character and one the recessive. This relates 

 without exception to all the characters which were investi- 

 gated in the experiments. The angular wrinkled form of 

 the seed, the green colour of the albumen, the white colour 

 of the seed-coats and the flowers, the constrictions of the 

 pods, the yellow colour of the unripe pod, of the stalk, of 

 the calyx, and of the leaf venation, the umbel-like form of 

 the inflorescence, and the dwarfed stem, all reappear in the 

 numerical proportion given, without any essential alteration. 

 Transitional forms were not observed in any experiment. 



Since the hybrids resulting from reciprocal crosses are 

 formed alike and present no appreciable difference in their 

 subsequent development, consequently the results [of the 

 reciprocal crosses] can be reckoned together in each experi- 

 ment. The relative numbers which were obtained for each 

 pair of differentiating characters are as follows : 



Expt. i. Form of seed. From 253 hybrids 7,324 seeds 

 were obtained in the second trial year. Among them were 

 5,474 round or roundish ones and 1,850 angular wrinkled 

 ones. Therefrom the ratio 2*96 to i is deduced. 



Expt. 2. Colour of albumen. 258 plants yielded 8,023 

 seeds, 6,022 yellow, and 2,001 green ; their ratio, therefore, 

 is as 3*oi to i. 



In these two experiments each pod yielded usually both 

 kinds of seed. In well-developed pods which contained on 

 the average six to nine seeds, it often happened that all the 



