EXPERIMENTS IN PLANT- 

 HYBRIDISATION*,. 



BY GREGOR MENDEL. 



(Read at the Meetings of the %th February and %th March, 1865.) 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



EXPERIENCE of artificial fertilisation, such as is effected 

 with ornamental plants in order to obtain new variations 

 in colour, has led to the experiments which will here be 

 discussed. The striking regularity with which the same 

 hybrid forms always reappeared whenever fertilisation took 

 place between the same species induced further experiments 

 to be undertaken, the object of which was to follow up the 

 developments of the hybrids in their progeny. 



To this object numerous careful observers, such as 

 Kolreuter, Gartner, Herbert, Lecoq, Wichura and others, 

 have devoted a part of their lives with inexhaustible per- 

 severance. Gartner especially, in his work " Die Bastard- 

 erzeugung im Pflanzenreiche " (The Production of Hybrids 

 in the Vegetable Kingdom), has recorded very valuable 

 observations ; and quite recently Wichura published the 

 results of some profound investigations into the hybrids 

 of the Willow. That, so far, no generally applicable law 

 governing the formation and development of hybrids has 

 been successfully formulated can hardly be wondered at by 

 anyone who is acquainted with the extent of the task, and 

 can appreciate the difficulties with which experiments of 



* [This translation was made by the Royal Horticultural Society, and 

 is reprinted with modifications and corrections, by permission. The original 

 paper was published in the Verh. nalurf. Ver. in Jlrimn, Abhandlungen, 

 iv. 1865, which appeared in 1866.] 



