of the Pollen in Cross-breeding. 193 



or rather (as I wish not to occupy more than necessary of the 

 time of the Society), to state the results of a few of them, be- 

 lieving that I shall be able to explain satisfactorily, the cause 

 of a coloured variety of the Pea having been apparently 

 changed into a white variety, by the immediate influence of 

 the pollen in the experiment of Mr. Goss. 



When, in my experiments, the pollen of a gray Pea was in- 

 troduced into the prepared blossoms of a white variety, no 

 change whatever took place in the form, or colour, or size, of 

 the seeds ; all were white, and externally quite similar to 

 others which had been produced by the unmutilated blossoms 

 of the same plant. But these when sown in the following- 

 year, uniformly afforded plants with coloured leaves and stems, 

 and purple flowers; and these produced gray peas only. 

 When the stamens of the plants which sprang from such gray 

 peas were extracted, and the pollen of a white variety, of per- 

 manent habits, was introduced, the seeds produced were uni- 

 formly gray ; but many of these afforded plants with perfectly 

 green leaves and stems, and with white flowers, succeeded, of 

 course, by white seed. In these experiments the cotyledons 

 of all the varieties of Peas employed or produced were yellow ; 

 and, consequently, the Peas with white seed-coats retained 

 their ordinary colour, though they contained the plumules 

 and cotyledons of coloured Pea plants. The cotyledons of 

 the Blue Prussian Pea, which was the subject of Mr. Goss's 

 experiments, are, on the contrary, blue ; and the colour of 

 these being perceptible through the semi-transparent seed- 

 coats, occasioned those to appear blue, though they are really 

 white; the whole habits of that plant are those of a white 

 pea. The colour of the cotyledons only was, I therefore con- 

 ceive, changed ; whilst the seed-coats retained their primary 

 degree of whiteness. I must consequently venture to con- 

 clude, that the opinions of Mr. Salisbury, quoted by Mr. Goss, 

 which have also vei*y long been mine, viz. that neither the 

 colour of the seed-coats, nor the form, taste, or flavour of 

 fruits, are ever affected by the immediate influence of the 

 pollen of a plant of another variety or species, are well- 

 founded. 



I need not add, that Mr. Seton's experiment mentioned in 

 the note to Mr. Goss's paper, is also most perfectly accurate ; 

 though the results differed from those obtained by Mr. Goss, 

 owing, I imagine, to the greater permanence of colour in the 

 cotyledons of the Green Imperial Pea, which was the subject 

 of his experiments. 



Vol. C4. No. 317. Sept. 1824. B b XXXIII. Ob- 



