Principles of Heredity 143 



Without going further it would be highly improbable 

 that Gartner is speaking solely or even chiefly of the 

 cotyledons, from the circumstance that these observations 

 are given as evidence of " the influence of foreign pollen on 

 the female organs" ; and that Gartner was perfectly aware of 

 the fact that the coat of the seed was a maternal structure 

 is evident from his statement to that effect on p. 80. 



To go into the whole question in detail would require 

 considerable space ; but indeed it is unnecessary to labour 

 the point. The reader who examines Gartner's account 

 with care, especially the peculiar phenomena obtained in 

 the case of the "grey" pea (macrospermum), with specimens 

 before him, will have no difficulty in recognizing that 

 Gartner is simply describing the seeds as they looked in 

 their coats, and is not attempting to distinguish cotyledon- 

 characters and coat-characters. If he had peeled them, 

 which in the case of "grey' peas would be absolutely 

 necessary to see cotyledon-colour, he must surely have 

 said so. 



Had he done so, he would have found the cotyledons 

 full yellow in every ripe seed ; for I venture to assert that 

 anyone who tries, as we have, crosses between a yellow- 

 cotyledoned "grey' : pea, such as Gartner's was, with any 

 pure green variety will see that there is no question 

 whatever as to absolute dominance of the yellow cotyledon- 

 character here, more striking than in any other case. 

 If exceptions are to be looked for, they will not be found 

 there ; and, except in so far as they show simple dominance 

 of yellow, Gartner's observations cannot be cited in this 

 connection at all. 



(2) Seton's case. Another exception given by Pro- 

 fessor Weldon is much more interesting and instructive. 



