54 Mr Bateson, Note on the Resolution, etc. 



breeds true, and forms gametes bearing the synthesised character, 

 the term synthesis seems inappropriate. If we use " analysis " for 

 a distribution of component characters among gametes, "synthesis" 

 should be reserved for a reconstitution of the compound character 

 in the gametes. 



In a sense, of course, the union of the gametes in the zygote 

 leads to an apparent synthesis — F x D, for instance, giving a 

 zygote resembling the original R — but to use the term in that 

 sense introduces great obscurity. Further difficulties would arise 

 also from the fact that we already know cases where various pairs 

 of dissimilar gametes lead to the formation of the same hetero- 

 zygote form which may exactly reproduce the compound character 

 of a pure type. Clearly there is no true synthesis here ; for 

 while the pure type could be resolved into its several components, 

 each heterozygote would contain only the elements brought in by 

 the particular gametes which produced it. 



