LUTHER BURBANK 



pigment may occupy some such place in the 

 scheme of coloration of the poppy as that occupied 

 by the chocolate color in the scheme of the mouse's 

 coat. In that case, a poppy would be blue only in 

 case the color factors for red and yellow were both 

 absent. And a poppy would be white only in case 

 the color factor for blue was absent, although there 

 might be present color factors for both yellow and 

 red in the condition of equilibrium which we have 

 spoken of as masked. A dingy white flower might 

 contain a trace of blue. 



This supposition might explain the case of the 

 yellow poppies crossed with the white ones, in 

 which the hybrid offspring were all crimson in 

 color. The hybridizing in this case may be sup- 

 posed to have brought together latent or masked 

 factors for red (present in the white flower), the 

 mating of which gave that color dominance, and 

 enabled it to assert itself, while the yellow fac- 

 tors were unable to assert themselves, yellow being 

 hypostatic to red. 



Suppose, for example, that the yellow poppy 

 bore factors for yellow and blue; and the white 

 one, factors for red and yellow. The combination 

 would bring together red, plus yellow, plus blue; 

 and red would be manifest, the other colors being 

 masked. Re-combinations should be expected in 

 the next generation. 



[132] 



