140 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 
of +? + 2 xy +7”, in which x? and 7? are pure as to this character, 
though descended from mixed parents on both sides. 
Now the +? part of this offspring, having no y characters, will 
continue to breed pure x as well as if no y were involved in the 
make-up of its ancestry, and likewise for the 9? 
The 2 xy part of this generation is hybrid like the parents, 
and, when bred together, will reproduce again the same general 
character of offspring as their hybrid parents of the last genera- 
tion, namely, +?+ 227+ 4"; that is to say, when hybrids of 
nonblending characters are bred together they will produce three 
kinds of offspring. One will be like the one pure parent ; another 
will be like the other pure parent, and the third group, consti- 
tuting one half the total numbers, will remain hybrid. The two 
others will breed pure, but the hybrid will not. 
Dominant and recessive characters. In truth, it is seldom in 
practice that all these three classes stand clearly out. Some char- 
acters are dominant over others; that is, more easily detected, 
such as strong colors over weak, huge size over small, etc. 
Suppose now that we take such a case, representing the 
dominant or easily detected character by the letter DY, and the 
recessive, as it is called, or the obscure character by the letter 7. 
The result of breeding Dr hybrids with themselves will then 
be D? + 2Dr+ 7. 
Now what will this kind of a population /ook like ? The D*, 
being pure, will of course be easily seen. The same is true of 
the 7%, though less distinct, because the recessive characters are 
less conspicuous ; that is, 25 per cent of the population is clearly 
and another 25 per cent is as certainly 7. But what about 
the remaining 50 per cent? 
Clearly this 50 per cent (Dr) will /ook like pure D, because 
the y character, though actually present, will not be noticed, 
being recessive. 
Accordingly the whole population, instead of looking like 
25 + 50 Dr+ 257%, as it really is, will appear like 75 D?+ 
25 7%, the eye being unable to distinguish between the 25 D and 
