TRANSMISSION OF IDIOPLASMIC DETERMINANTS. 17 



Fertilization by diosmose of the spermatic substance 

 is impossible.* 



In the idioplasm of a germ cell arising from the 

 crossing of unlike individuals the micellar rows of 

 the individual determinants have sometimes an 

 intermediate constitution and produce character- 

 istics in the organism which are intermediate 

 between the characteristics of the parents. Some- 

 times the micellar rows derived from the father and 

 mother respectively lie side by side unchanged in 

 the idioplasm of the offspring in distinct groupings 

 and may reproduce in the organism their respective 

 characteristics side by side, or only one of them 

 may develop, while the other remains latent. 



On account of the union of both idioplasms as the 

 result of fecundation, two sexually mature organ- 

 isms are the more able to form with each other a 

 viable germ cell, the nearer they are genetically 

 related that is, the more nearly the male and 

 female idioplasms correspond in their configuration 

 and chemical nature, because in this case the mi- 

 cellar arrangements are best suited to each other, 

 and the idioplasm of the new fertile germ cell re- 

 ceives its most suitable nourishment from the 

 mother. If, however, self-fecundation or the 

 closest in-and-in breeding often yields products of 



This assertion is a direct corollary from the structure of the determi- 

 nants and the idioplasm. If the idioplasm of the fertilizing cell were to 

 pass through the membrane about the ovum by osmosis, its organized 

 structure would be lost. 7Va. 



