208 HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 



combinations of ancestral characters are evi- 

 dent. Usually a child inherits some traits 

 from one parent and other traits from the 

 other parent, so that it is a kind of mosaic of 

 ancestral traits. Such inheritance, bit by bit, 

 of this character from one progenitor and that 

 from another was described by Galton as "par- 

 ticulate" (Fig. 45). On the other hand Galton 

 supposed that in some instances a child might 

 inherit all or nearly all of his traits from one 

 parent, a thing which is most improbable ; such 

 inheritance he called "alternative" (Fig. 45). 



BLENDING ALTERNATIVE PARTICULATE 



O 



FIG. 45. Diagram to illustrate three kinds of inheritance 

 described by Galton. (After Walter.) 



