HIS THEORY OF HEREDITY 115 



The black and the splashed are really pure races, 

 and behave as such when bred. The so-called 

 " pure " Blue Andalusian is a mongrel and must 

 always remain such. In fact, experiment has now 

 shown that more Blue Andalusians can be got by 

 mating black with splashed " wasters " than by 

 mating birds of the blue colour. There is a remark- 

 able point about this case, and that is that the 

 mongrel does not resemble either of its parents. 

 There is, therefore, neither dominant nor re- 

 cessive in this case, and the Mendelian law is to 

 some extent departed from. This is a point which 

 will be dealt with later on ; it is, no doubt, one 

 which will be cleared up on further investigation, 

 and this line of inquiry may lead to a wider ex- 

 tension of the law or laws which govern hybridity. 

 Even more promising experiments have been 

 made in connexion with wheat, and two of these 

 may be described, as they show the vast import- 

 ance which the discovery of the Augustinian abbot 

 may have upon agriculture. Our first instance 

 relates to a certain quality known as " strength," 

 a quality which, it appears, is absolutely essential 

 if the flour produced is to be finally made into the 

 only kind of loaf which is saleable at the present 

 time in England. So far this quality has been absent 

 in those kinds of wheat which it has been found 

 possible to grow at a profit in this country. It is 

 present in American and Canadian " hard " 

 wheats, and hence these are worth some shillings 

 a quarter more than the English corn, another 

 difficulty in the path of the already sufficiently 

 depressed corn-growing industry of England. It 



