268 THE GERM-PLASM 



character oi A", paniculata can hardly be recognised at all/ * In 

 this case, therefore, the paternal plant predominates, while the 

 cross between N. suai'eolens 9 and N. langsdorffii $ - bears little 

 resemblance"' to the latter species. Here, then, the maternal 

 characters predominate, and the hybrid plant?, are ' extremely 

 similar ' to A^. sua7>eole)is, and are only to be distinguished from 

 it by a partial separation of the stamens from the corolla-tube, a 

 slight difference in the colour and size of the flowers, the violet 

 or bluish coloration of the anthers, and by complete sterility/ 



On p. 474 of his book, Focke gives further instances. 'In 

 many cases the resemblance of the hybrid to one of the ancestral 

 forms is so close, that it might easily be taken for a minor 

 variety of this form.' Thus in the following instances the hybrid 

 resembles much more closely the parent form mentioned after 

 each : — Dimithus armeria x deltouies, D. deltoides ; Diant/ucs 

 ca?yop/iylli(s x chinensis^ D. caryophylliis ; Melaiidryuni rubruni 

 X 7ioctiflorunu M. rubniin ; Verbascum blattaria x nigniui, V. 

 7iigru)ii ; Digitalis purpurea x I idea, D. lutea. 



These cases seem to me to be of special importance on account 

 of the conclusions which can be drawn from them respecting 

 perfectly similar cases of individual transmission in Man. This 

 ^ pseudo-monogonic transmission,*' as I shall call it, must be 

 explained in terms of the idioplasm somewhat as follows. 



The predominance of one parent — e.g., the mother — might 

 be due to the presence of a larger iiuiiiber of idants and ids of the 

 species in question. If, for instance. Digitalis lutea possessed 

 thirty-two idants and D. purpurea sixteen only, the idants in 

 both cases consisting of the same number of ids, and if the 

 controlling force of the ids were the same in both species, the 

 ids of D. lutea would then predominate over the others in 

 every cell during the entire ontogeny ; that is to say, the char- 

 acter of D. lutea would be impressed more strongly than that 

 oi D. purpurea on the cell. The objection might be raised that 

 the cell which is thus produced must possess an intermediate 

 character, and cannot be a pure cell of D. lutea, even though it 

 resembles the latter most closely. As yet, however, we are 

 unable to determine to what extent intermediate forms of indi- 

 vidual cells may occur in individual cases ; and the expression 

 ' resultant," in connection with the unknown forces of the 



* Focke, loc. cit. p. 289. 



