222 Cytology and Genetics of the Genus Fuckski 



" Semiramide •' and the reciprocal cross yielded seedlings which in both 

 instances resembled the female. Meehan (12) recorded the occurrence 

 of offspring resulting from the pollination of Fuchsia arhorescens with 

 pollen of a garden variety of Fuchsia in which the characters were 

 entirely those of the female parent (F. arhorescens). I commenced a 

 series of observations upon this subject but these have up to the present 

 been only partially completed. I will, however, give a brief account of 

 these observations so far as they have gone. 



After due attention to the careful castration of the flowers of a plant 

 of Fuchsia fulgens these were pollinated with pollen from F. virgata. 

 Twenty-eight seedlings were obtained and these entirely resembled the 

 female parent {F. fulgens) and no trace of F. virgata could be detected 

 in any of them. 



Subsequently a further cross was made between Fuchsia fulgens ( $ ) 

 and F. virgata ((/'). These gave seedlings which, with one doubtfu 

 exception, all resembled F. fulgens in every respect. 



These F. fnlgens-Mke offspring were selfed and, of the 50 seedlings 

 which were grown on, 44 plants flowered and were the exact replica of 

 F. fulgens both in their flowers and their vegetative characters, whilst 

 the six remaining plants did not flower before my observations had to be 

 broken off, but they resembled F. fulgens in all their vegetative characters. 

 Another cross was made between F. fulgens {%) and the garden variety 

 " Ballet Girl " (cT ). Twelve seedlings were obtained of which five flowered 

 before the observations were interrupted. These all resembled F. fulgens 

 and showed no trace of " Ballet Girl " in any of their characters. In all 

 cases every precaution had been taken to remove the stamens from the 

 $ flowers at an early stage of their development and before there was 

 any possibility of their dehiscence. 



The reciprocal cross between F. virgata { % ) and F. fulgens {(^) was 

 made and in this case the offspring showed chaiacters derived from 

 both parents. The size and the form of the leaves were intermediate 

 between those of the two parents. The red pigmentation, which is 

 characteristic of F. fulgens but absent in F. virgata, was very strongly 

 marked in some of the hybrids (especially in the plant 3 0) and com- 

 pletely wanting in others (e.g. 3 5). In other cases it was entirely 

 limited to the veins, which were bright red, whilst the general tissues 

 of the leaf were pure green (e.g. 3 F). The flowers were in all cases 

 closer to F. virgata than F. fulgens in their general form and colour, 

 but in many instances showed traces of their F. fulgens ancestry in the 

 slightly increased length of the calyx-tube. 



