no COMMON MODES OF INHERITANCE 



expression or the modified expression of a peculiarity which was 

 none the less transmitted in its entirety, as the third generation 

 may demonstrate. 



Another fact that must be borne in mind is the difficulty cf 

 distinguishing even with probability between hereditary and 

 acquired resemblances. The Alpine plants which Nageli trans- 

 planted to a southern garden were changed by their new sur- 

 roundings ; their descendants were likewise changed, and the 

 new characters reappeared with constancy generation after 

 generation. But this was acquired or mcdincational, not 

 hereditary or innate resemblance, as was shown by the fact that 

 removal from the garden to poor gravelly soil was followed by 

 a reappearance of the original Alpine characteristics. Some 

 interesting cases have been alleged where the reappearance of 

 the Alpine characters was not immediate, but gradual. We 

 require, however, more circumstantial details in regard to these 

 cases. 



3. ^Blended Inheritance 



In this mode the special characters of the two parents are 

 intimately mingled in the offspring. The colour of the hair 

 may be an almost precise average between that of the blonde 

 mother and that of the black-haired father. In repose the boy's 

 face may seem markedly paternal ; it is moved with emotion, 

 and he is his mother's image. This blending is particularly well 

 seen in some plant hybrids, where the offspring shows in leaf- 

 venation, in size of epidermic cells, in number of stomata, in 

 length of style, in degree of hairiness, and so on, what seems 

 like an accurate mean of the two parents. Prof. J. M. Macfarlan,- 

 has given some beautifully precise data regarding the blendirj 

 of characters in plant hybrids. 



When in any given character of the offspring we can detect 

 both maternal and paternal peculiarities, we call the inheritance 



