ON PEAS AND BEANS 



•were tall, but one-fourth of the offspring of the 

 second generation were short. 



Similarly when a pea with yellow pods was 

 crossed with one having green pods, all the plants 

 of the first generation had yellow pods; but one- 

 fourth of their offspring of the next generation 

 had green pods. 



The Segregation of Characters 



A second very important feature discovered by 

 Mendel was that the different antagonistic pairs 

 of qualities are transmitted quite independently 

 of one another. 



For example, the relations of tall and short 

 peas, blended in heredity, are quite independent 

 of the question of yellowness versus greenness of 

 pod. So observation may be made as to two or 

 more qualities in the course of the same 

 experiment. 



Thus if a tall variety of pea that bears green 

 pods is crossed with a short variety bearing yellow 

 pods, all the offspring will be tall peas with yellow 

 pods — therefore unlike either parent. But the off- 

 spring of the next generation will show a recur- 

 rence of each of the recessive factors in one case 

 in four, so that one-fourth of them will be short 

 and one-fourth will have green pods. But it 

 appeared, so far as Mendel could determine, to be 

 a mere matter of chance — like the throwing of 



[91] 



