EFFECTS OF AMPHIMIXIS ON ONTOGENY 28 1 



US to ascertain which variant of the character must actually be 

 produced. The paternal idants P^ and P'^ might each consist 

 of ten ids, the same determinant a^ being contained in six ids in 

 /*!, and in eight ids in P'^. These two idants would then com- 

 bine in the attempt to give rise to the character A^^ with a con- 

 trolling force of 6 + 8 = 14 ids. Each of the maternal idants M^ 

 and AP might also contain ten ids, M^ being composed of two 

 determinants a}, four a^^ three a"'^ and one a}'^ ; this idant will 

 therefore tend to produce the character A^ with a power of four 

 ids only. If now, the other maternal idant M'^, with all its con- 

 tained ids, tended to give rise to the character A^^ with a power, 

 that is, of ten ids, the group of paternal idants would neverthe- 

 less predominate over that derived from the mother, as fourteen 

 paternal are opposed to ten maternal homodynamous deter- 

 minants. In this case both parental groups might possibly 

 control the character of the child together, but the paternal 

 group would be the stronger of the two. If, however, eighteen 

 homodynamous ids of the father were opposed to four homo- 

 dynamous ids of the mother, the influence of the latter would be 

 entirely suppressed as regards the character A. We must at 

 any rate conclude from the facts of the case, that the characters 

 of one parent may be strictly inherited without any apparent 

 intermingling of the corresponding characters of the other 

 parent. As already mentioned, this very point in the theory 

 seems to me to be the most reliable one, and known facts 

 concerning plant-hybrids compel us to accept this assumption. 

 The controlling force of the groups of paternal or maternal 

 idants may be entirely different in respect of individual char- 

 acters and groups of characters, according to the number of 

 homodynamous determinants by which these are respectively 

 represented. Moreover, this depends not only on the fact as 

 to whether the individual character is derived from the father 

 or the mother, or is a mixed one, but also on the entire number 

 of homodynamous determinants present from each parent. 



Although I have all along spoken of idants, I do not wish 

 to imply that every idant behaves as an indepoidoit whole. 

 Neither do I suppose that the resultant of the forces of the 

 whole aggregate of paternal, is opposed to that of the maternal 

 ids. It is quite conceivable that the same homodynamous 

 determinants occur in the ids of both parents, and that their 

 forces are cumulative, just as they would be if present in one or 



