Preface ix 



of the present article has indeed been written in 

 consultation with her. The reader who seeks fuller 

 statement of facts and conceptions is referred to the 

 writings of other naturalists who have studied the 

 phenomena at first hand (of which a bibliography is 

 appended) and to our own Report 



I take this opportunity of acknowledging the 

 unique facilities generously granted me, as repre- 

 sentative of the Evolution Committee, by Messrs 

 Sutton and Sons of Reading, to watch some of the 

 many experiments they have in progress, to inspect 

 their admirable records, and to utilise these facts for 

 the advancement of the science of heredity. My 

 studies at Reading have been for the most part 

 confined to plants other than those immediately the 

 subject of this discussion, but some time ago I availed 

 myself of a kind permission to examine their stock of 

 peas, thus obtaining information which, with other 

 facts since supplied, has greatly assisted me in treating 

 this subject 



I venture to express the conviction, that if the 

 facts now before us are carefully studied, it will be- 

 come evident that the experimental study of heredity, 

 pursued on the lines Mendel has made possible, is 

 second to no branch of science in the certainty and 

 magnitude of the results it offers. This study has 



