MENDEL 



yielded usually both kinds of seeds. In 

 well-developed pods which contained 

 on the average six to nine seeds, it 

 often happened that all the seeds were 

 round (Expt. 1) or all yellow (Expt. 

 2); on the other hand there were never 

 observed more than five wrinkled or 

 five green ones in one pod. It appears 

 to make no difi'erence whether the 

 pods are developed early or later in 

 the hybrid or whether they spring 

 from the main axis or from a lateral 

 one. In some few plants only a few 

 seeds developed in the first formed 

 pods, and these possessed exclusively 

 one of the two characters, but in the 

 subsequently developed pods the nor- 

 mal proportions were maintained 

 nevertheless. 



As in separate pods, so did the dis- 

 tribution of the characters vary in 

 separate plants. By way of illustration 

 the first ten individuals from both 

 series of experiments may serve. 



Experiment 1. Experiment 2. 



Form of Seed. Color of Albumen. 

 Plants Round Angular Yellow Green 



1 45 12 25 11 



2 27 8 32 7 



3 24 7 14 5 



4 19 16 70 27 



5 32 11 24 13 



6 26 6 20 6 



7 88 24 32 13 



8 22 10 44 9 



9 28 6 50 14 

 10 25 7 44 18 



As extremes in the distribution of 

 the two seed characters in one plant, 

 there were observed in Expt. 1 an in- 

 stance of 43 round and only 2 angular, 

 and another of 14 round and 15 angu- 

 lar seeds. In Expt. 2 there was a case 

 of 32 yellow and only 1 green seed, 

 but also one of 20 yellow and 19 green. 



These two experiments are impor- 

 tant for the determination of the aver- 

 age ratios, because with a smaller num- 



ber of experimental plants they show 

 that very considerable fluctuations 

 may occur. In counting the seeds, also, 

 especially in Expt. 2, some care is 

 requisite, since in some of the seeds 

 of many plants the green colour of 

 the albumen is less developed, and at 

 first may be easily overlooked. The 

 cause of this partial disappearance of 

 the green colouring has no connec- 

 tion with the hybrid-character of the 

 plants, as it likewise occurs in the 

 parental variety. This peculiarity 

 [bleaching] is also confined to the in- 

 dividual and is not inherited by the 

 ofi^spring. In luxuriant plants this ap- 

 pearance was frequently noted. Seeds 

 which are damaged by insects during 

 their development often vary in colour 

 and form, but, with a little practice in 

 sorting, errors are easily avoided. It is 

 almost superfluous to mention that the 

 pods must remain on the plants until 

 they are thoroughly ripened and have 

 become dried, since it is only then that 

 the shape and colour of the seed are 

 fully developed. 



Expt. 3. Colour of the seed-coats.— 

 Among 929 plants 705 bore violet-red 

 flowers and grey-brown seed-coats; 

 224 had white flowers and white seed- 

 coats, giving the proportion 3.15 to 1. 



Expt. 4. Form of pods.— Of 1,181 

 plants 882 had them simply inflated, 

 and in 299 they were constricted. Re- 

 sulting ratio, 2.95 to 1. 



Expt. 5. Colour of the unripe pods. 

 —The number of trial plants was 580, 

 of which 428 had green pods and 152 

 yellow ones. Consequently these stand 

 in the ratio 2.82 to 1. 



Expt. 6. Position of flowers.— Among 

 858 cases 651 had inflorescences axial 

 and 207 terminal. Ratio, 3.14 to 1. 



Expt. 7. Length of stem.— Out of 

 1,064 plants, in 787 cases the stem was 

 long, and in 277 short. Hence a mutual 

 ratio of 2.84 to 1. In this experiment 

 the dwarfed plants were carefully 



