MENDEL 



lifted and transferred to a special bed. 

 This precaution was necessary, as 

 otherwise they would have perished 

 through being overgrown by their tall 

 relatives. Even in their quite young 

 state they can be easily picked out by 

 their compact growth and thick dark- 

 green foliage. ^^ 



If now the results of the whole of 

 the experiments be brought together, 

 there is found, as between the number 

 of forms with the dominant and re- 

 cessive characters, an average ratio of 

 2.98 to 1, or 3 to 1. 



The dominant character can have 

 here a dozible signification— vh.. that of 

 a parental character, or a hybrid-char- 

 acter.^'* In which of the two significa- 

 tions it appears in each separate case 

 can only be determined by the follow- 

 ing generation. As a parental character 

 it must pass over unchanged to the 

 whole of the offspring; as a hybrid- 

 character, on the other hand, it must 

 maintain the same behaviour as in the 

 first generation [Fo]. 



[f3] the second generation 

 [bred] from the hybrids 



Those forms which in the first gen- 

 eration [Fo] exhibit the recessive char- 

 acter do not further vary in the second 

 generation [F3] as regards this char- 

 acter; they remain constant in their 

 offspring. 



It is otherwdse with those which 

 possess the dominant character in the 

 first generation [bred from the hy- 

 brids]. Of these fiiJO-thirds yield off- 

 spring which display the dominant and 

 recessive characters in the proportion 

 of 3 to 1, and thereby show exactly 



13 [This is true also of the dwarf or 

 "Cupid" Sweet Peas.l 



14 [This paragraph presents the view of 

 the hybrid-character as something incidental 

 to the hybrid, and not "transmitted" to it — a 

 true and fundamental conception here ex- 

 pressed probably for the first time.] 



the same ratio as the hybrid forms, 

 while only one-X.\\\vd remains with the 

 dominant character constant. 



The separate experiments yielded 

 the following results: 



Expt. 1. Among 565 plants which 

 were raised from round seeds of the 

 first generation, 193 yielded round 

 seeds only, and remained therefore 

 constant in this character; 372, how- 

 ever, gave both round and wrinkled 

 seeds, in the proportion of 3 to 1. The 

 number of the hybrids, therefore, as 

 compared with the constants is 1.93 

 to 1. 



Expt. 2. Of 519 plants which were 

 raised from seeds whose albumen was 

 of yellow colour in the first genera- 

 tion, 166 yielded exclusively yellow, 

 while 353 yielded yellow and green 

 seeds in the proportion of 3 to 1. There 

 resulted, therefore, a division into hy- 

 brid and constant forms in the propor- 

 tion of 2.13 to 1. 



For each separate trial in the follow- 

 ing experiments 100 plants were se- 

 lected which displayed the dominant 

 character in the first generation, and 

 in order to ascertain the significance of 

 this, ten seeds of each were cultivated. 



Expt. 3. The offspring of 36 plants 

 yielded exclusively grey-brown seed- 

 coats, w^hile of the offspring of 64 

 plants some had grey-brown and some 

 had white. 



Expt. 4. The offspring of 29 plants 

 had only simply inflated pods; of the 

 offspring of 71, on the other hand, 

 some had inflated and some con- 

 stricted. 



Expt. 5. The offspring of 40 plants 

 had only green pods; of the offspring 

 of 60 plants some had green, some yel- 

 low ones. 



Expt. 6. The offspring of 33 plants 

 had only axial flowers; of the offspring 

 of 67, on the other hand, some had 

 axial and some terminal flowers. 



Expt. 7. The offspring of 28 plants 



