234 PLANT LIFE 
complex, so clearly related to the sexual act, 
and so similar in its details in the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms alike, can be devoid of sig- 
nificance. It emphasises the individuality of 
the chromosomes in the strongest way, and in 
this respect it is in accordance with results of 
many experiments which indicate that the 
chromosomes are, as a matter of fact, different 
from one another, 2.e. possess an individuality 
of their own. Moreover, we see that in the 
nuclei before meiosis, the chromosomes are 
present as pairs of homologous individuals, 
the individuals of each pair having originated, 
one from the sperm, the other from the egg, 
at the act of fertilisation to which the plant 
owed its existence. Furthermore, there is 
a considerable body of evidence to show that 
the chromosomes in some way represent the 
agents by which hereditary qualities are trans- 
mitted from each parent. Meiosis provides 
an obvious method by which the qualities, 
through the agents that are responsible for 
them, may be shuffled in the sexual cells; 
and, as a matter of fact, when hybrids are 
inbred, or when plants are crossed with one 
another in a variety of ways, we find the 
results agree in practice very closely with 
what is deduced as possible from a study of 
the behaviour of chromosomes. Indeed, it is 
not going too far to say that in meiosis and 
fertilisation we are witnessing the chief act 
of distributing and recombining the very 
substances which determine the possibilities 
