APPENDIX 323 



[bleaching] is also confined to the individual and is not inherited by 

 the offspring. In luxuriant plants this appearance was frequently 

 noted. Seeds which are damaged by insects during their develop- 

 ment often vary in colour and form, but, with a little practice in 

 sorting, errors are easily avoided. It is almost superfluous to men- 

 tion that the pods must remain on the plants until they are thor- 

 oughly ripened and have become dried, since it is only then that 

 the shape and colour of the seed are fully developed. 



Expt. 3. Colour of the seed-coats. — Among 929 plants 705 bore 

 violet-red flowers and grey-brown seed-coats; 224 had white flowers 

 and white seed-coats, giving the proportion 3.15 to 1. 



Expt, 4. Form of pods. — Of 1,181 plants 882 had them simply 

 inflated, and in 299 they were constricted. Resulting ratio, 

 2.95 to 1. 



Expt. 5. Colour of the unripe pods. — The number of trial 

 plants was 580, of which 428 had green pods and 152 yellow ones. 

 Consequently these stand in the ratio 2.82 to 1. 



Expt. 6. Position of flowers. — Among 858 cases 651 had 

 inflorescences axial and 207 terminal. Ratio, 3.14 to 1. 



Expt. 7. Length of stem. — Out of 1,064 plants, in 787 cases 

 the stem was long, and in 277 short. Hence a mutual ratio of 2.84 

 to 1. In this experiment the dwarfed plants were carefully lifted 

 and transferred to a special bed. This precaution was necessary, 

 as otherwise they would have perished through being overgrown 

 by their tall relatives. Even in their quite young state they can be 

 easily picked out by their compact growth and thick dark-green 

 foliage.^ 



If now the results of the whole of the experiments be brought 

 together, there is found, as between the number of forms with the 

 dominant and recessive characters, an average ratio of 2.98 to 1, 

 or 3 to 1. 



The dominant character can have here a double signification — 

 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 char- 

 acter it must pass over unchanged to the whole of the offspring; as 



^ [This is true also of the dwarf or " Cupid " Sweet Peas.] 



^ [This paragraph presents the view of the hybrid-character as something inci- 

 dental to the hybrid, and not " transmitted " to it — a true and fundamental 

 conception here expressed probably for the first time.] 



