PLANT HYBRIDIZATION BEFORE MENDEL 121 



Following is the list of contrasting parental characters, as 

 Sageret gives them: 



Sageret remarks : 



"The assumed product of the crosses made ought to have been inter- 

 rnediate : 1 — flesh very pale yellow; 2 — seeds very pale yellow; 3 — net- 

 ting light ; 4 — ribs slightly marked ; 5 — flavor at once sweet and sprightly : 

 but the contrary was the case." (5, p. 303.) 



As a matter of fact, in the two hybrid fruits reported upon, the 

 characters were not blended or intermediate at all, but were clearly 

 and distinctly those of the one or the other parent. 



first hybrid second hybrid 



1. flesh yellow 1. flesh yellowish 



2. seeds white 2. seeds white 



3. skin netted 3. skin smooth 



4. ribs rather pronounced 4. ribs wanting 



5. flavor acid 5. flavor sweet 



In the further support of his conclusions regarding the descent 

 of characters in unitary fashion, he remarks upon the inheritance 

 of human hair and eye-color, in the mating of a brunette with a 

 blonde type. 



Sageret remarks upon the fact that such hybrids are types, of 

 which he had "several times obtained the analogues or their 

 equivalent." While there is fusion here and there, he says, "one 

 sees here a much more marked distribution of their diflFerent 

 characters without any mixture between them." (5, p. 303.) He 

 even uses for the first time in the literature of plant hybridiza- 

 tion, the word "dominate" with reference to characters in cross- 

 ing, in the following words. Speaking of the inheritance of flavor 

 in various melon crosses, he says : 



"The acid flavor of the muskmelon is encountered in the form of the 

 cantaloupe and the snake-melon ; in others, the form of the cantaloupe 

 dominated." (5, p. 307.) 



Summing up the results of his experiments in a general con- 

 clusion, he says, with regard to the natural expectation that in 



