190 A Defence of 



ficance of ancestry, they point the opposite way from that 

 in which Professor Weldon desires to proceed. 



In view of the evidence, the conclusion is forced upon 

 me that the suggestion that "ancestry" may explain the 

 facts regarding Telephone has no meaning behind it, but is 

 merely a verbal obstacle. Two words more on Telephone. 

 On p. 147 I ventured to hint that if we try to understand 

 the nature of the appearance of green in the offspring of 

 Telephone bred with yellow varieties, we are more likely to 

 do so by comparing the facts with those of false hybridi- 

 sation than with fluctuations in dominance. In this 

 connection I would call the reader's attention to a point 

 Professor Weldon misses, that Tschermak also got yellowish- 

 green seeds from Fillbasket (green) crossed with Telephone. 

 I suggest therefore that Telephone's allelomorphs may be 

 in part transmitted to its offspring in a state which needs 

 no union with any corresponding allelomorph of the other 

 gamete, just as may the allelomorphs of "false hybrids." 

 It would be quite out of place here to pursue this reasoning, 

 but the reader acquainted with special phenomena of 

 heredity will probably be able fruitfully to extend it. 

 It will be remembered that we have already seen the 

 further fact that the behaviour of Telephone in respect to 

 seed-shape was also peculiar (see p. 152). 



Whatever the future may decide on this interesting 

 question it is evident that with Telephone (and possibly 

 Buchsbaum) we are encountering a specific phenomenon, 

 which calls for specific elucidation and not a case simply 

 comparable with or contradicting the evidence of dominance 

 in general. 



In this excursion we have seen something more of the 

 " exceptions." Many have fallen, but some still stand, 

 though even as to part of the remainder Tschermak enter- 



