in Hybridisation 347 



The dominant character can have here a double signi- 

 fication — viz. that of a parental character, or a hybrid- 

 character^. In which of the two significations it appears in 

 each separate case can only be determined by the following 

 generation. As a parental character it must pass over 

 unchanged to the whole of the offspring ; as a hybrid- 

 character, on the other hand, it must maintain the same 

 behaviour as in the first generation \_F^. 



[/%] The Second Generation [bred] from 

 THE Hybrids. 



Those forms which in the first generation [i^J exhibit 

 the recessive character do not further vary in the second 

 generation [/%] as regards this character ; they remain 

 constant in their offspring. 



It is otherwise with those which possess the dominant 

 character in the first generation [bred from the hybrids]. 

 Of these ^«;<?-thirds yield offspring which display the domi- 

 nant and recessive characters in the proportion of 3 to i, 

 and thereby show exactly the same ratio as the hybrid 

 forms, while only one-third remains with the dominant 

 character constant. 



The separate experiments yielded the following results: 



Expt. I. Among 565 plants which were raised from 

 round seeds of the first generation, 193 yielded round seeds 

 only, and remained therefore constant in this character ; 

 372, however, gave both round and wrinkled seeds, in the 

 proportion of 3 to i. The number of the hybrids, therefore, 

 as compared with the constants is i '93 to i . 



Expt. 2. Of 519 plants which were raised from seeds 

 whose albumen was of yellow colour in the first generation, 

 166 yielded exclusively yellow, while 353 yielded yellow 

 and green seeds in the proportion of 3 to i. There resulted, 

 therefore, a division into hybrid and constant forms in the 

 proportion of 2*13 to i. 



* [This paragraph presents the view of the hybrid-character as some- 

 thing incidental to the hybrid, and not "transmitted" to it — a true and 

 fundamental conception here expressed probably for the first time.] 



