in Hybridisation 347 



The dominant character can have here a double signi- 

 fication viz. that of a parental character, or a hybrid- 

 character^. In which of the two significations it appears in 

 each separate case can only be determined by the following 

 generation. As a parental character it must pass over 

 unchanged to the whole of the offspring; as a hybrid- 

 character, on the other hand, it must maintain the same 

 behaviour as in the first generation 



THE SECOND GENERATION [BRED] FROM 

 THE HYBRIDS. 



Those forms which in the first generation [jp a ] exhibit 

 the recessive character do not further vary in the second 

 generation [/%] as regards this character ; they remain 

 constant in their offspring. 



It is otherwise with those which possess the dominant 

 character in the first generation [bred from the hybrids]. 

 Of these ^m>-thirds yield offspring which display the domi- 

 nant and recessive characters in the proportion of 3 to i, 

 and thereby show exactly the same ratio as the hybrid 

 forms, while only one-third remains with the dominant 

 character constant. 



The separate experiments yielded the following results: 



Expt. i. Among 565 plants which were raised from 

 round seeds of the first generation, 193 yielded round seeds 

 only, and remained therefore constant in this character ; 

 372, however, gave both round and wrinkled seeds, in the 

 proportion of 3 to i . The number of the hybrids, therefore, 

 as compared with the constants is 1*93 to i. 



Expt. 2. Of 519 plants which were raised from seeds 

 whose albumen was of yellow colour in the first generation, 

 1 66 yielded exclusively yellow, while 353 yielded yellow 

 and green seeds in the proportion of 3 to i. There resulted, 

 therefore, a division into hybrid and constant forms in the 

 proportion of 2*13 to i. 



* [This paragraph presents the view of the hybrid-character as some- 

 thing incidental to the hybrid, and not " transmitted " to it a true and 

 fundamental conception here expressed probably for the first time.] 



