t2 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



a solid foundation from which the problem of heredity may be attacked in. 



the future." 



We cannot go into the details of Mendel's experiments— for this the 

 reader is referred to the paper itself— but he seems to have set out with the 

 idea of discovering some general law governing the formation and develop- 

 ment of hybrids, which would account for the striking regularity with which 

 the same hybrid forms always reappear whenever fertilization took place 

 between the same two species, and on looking round for suitable subjects 

 for experiment he selected, primarily, various kinds of peas, species or 

 varieties, and subsequently a few other kinds of Leguminosse. The results 

 are very difficult to summarize, but one of the principal conclusions arrived 

 at was that when two plants possessing differentiating characters in any 

 particular organ were crossed together the said characters were either trans- 

 mitted wholly or not at all. Thus, if a pea having smooth, round seeds were 

 crossed with another having angular, wrinkled ones, the resulting hybrid 

 seeds would be either smooth or wrinkled (not intermediate), though both 

 might appear in the same pod. Those characters which were transmitted 

 entirely or almost unchanged were termed " dominant," while those that 

 disappeared or became latent were termed " recessive," but these might 

 reappear unchanged in a subsequent generation. It is in the proportions, 

 of this reappearance that the Mendelian law begins to be demonstrated, the 

 dominant characters appearing constantly in the proportion of three to one,. , 

 without any transitional forms appearing. In the second generation the 

 same proportions were maintained, and the law held good for subsequent 

 generations, the experiments being continued for eight years. From the 

 facts observed Mendel deduces the principle that in hybrids the ovules and. 

 pollen-grains do not contain a heterogeneous admixture of prepotencies, but 

 retain their individuality throughout, and combine with each other on well- 

 defined lines, the eventual combination of characters being strictly confined, 

 to the number of combinations which may be possible between the original 

 ones, these retaining their integrity throughout all transmitions. 



We have been asked how far Mendel's results throw light upon any ot 

 the facts observed or recorded by Orchid hybridists, and what practical 

 application they may have. As regards the first point, we do not think any 

 experiments have been made with Orchids which are strictly comparable,, 

 and although we have read Mendel's paper twice, we admit that we cannot 

 follow all the stages of his experiments. There are several cases on record 

 of seedling Orchids having been raised from hybrids fertilized with their own 

 pollen, and if we recollect rightly some of them are said to have reverted to- 

 one or the other parent, but it is doubtful if these experiments were con- 

 ducted with all the care necessary in such cases. We should like to- 

 see a few carefully conducted experiments on these lines, and would suggest 



