XIV] 



Maternal Characters in Seeds 



265 



The next feature of interest is the specific behaviour of 

 the round pea Nain de Bretagne, which distinguishes it 

 from the other round peas, creating a problem in the 

 chemistry of the reserve-materials well worth investigating. 



Lastly we have one more illustration of the special 

 properties of the '' B factor." This factor, it will be 

 remembered, was concerned both in producing some of the 

 phenomena of coupling, and spurious allelomorphism in the 

 Sweet Pea, and we may anticipate that its presence will 

 be shown to have profound effects on the constitution of 

 plants*. 



* The seed-shapes of Sweet Peas have not been studied. There is a 

 great diversity in size. Some also are quite spherical, others being some- 

 what elongated. The self-coloured vwlel-^owered kinds alone (Countess 

 Radnor, &c.) have shrivelled seeds. In i^ seeds from these crossed 

 with common round sorts no mixture of shapes occurs, and the shape 

 is evidently a plant-character. 



