THE AMARYLLIS 268 



Johnson's amaryllis in existence to-day, includ- 

 ing of course those with which I first experi- 

 mented, may be a generation or more removed 

 from the original hybrid. Not so many gen- 

 erations as might at first thought appear, for the 

 usual method of propagation of the amaryllis is 

 by bulbs. But now and again new plants would 

 be raised from the seed, and it would be natural 

 that the florist should select for seedlings the best 

 and most typical representatives of the species. 

 So we may assume that the specimens with which 

 I worked represented a fixed type of hybrid in- 

 bred for a number of generations, yet still carry- 

 ing the new combination of hereditary factors 

 originally brought together through hybridiza- 

 tion of the other forms, already named as H. 

 vittatum and H. regince. 



VERY MIXED PEDIGREES 



So when I began hybridizing experiments, and 

 crossed the H . Johnsoni with H. vittatum, I was 

 in reality making a union of a hybrid with one of 

 its parents. 



The closeness of affinity of the two would in- 

 sure ready fertilization. But, on the other hand, 

 the balance of hereditary factors that had been 

 attained in the hybrid would be disturbed and 

 the immediate offspring would really represent 



