400 



ON THE DIRECT ACTION OF THE 



Chap. XI. 



variety bore berries which were affected by the pollen of two adjoining 

 kinds; some of the berries being only partially affected or mottled. 12 * As 

 long ago as 1751 m it was observed that, when differently-coloured varieties 

 of maize grow near each other, they mutually affect each other's seeds, and 

 this is now a popular belief in the United States. Dr. Savi m tried the expe- 

 riment with care : he sowed yellow and black- seeded maize together, and 

 on the same ear some of the seeds were yellow, some black, and some 

 mottled, 127 the differently coloured seeds being arranged in rows or irregu- 

 larly. Mr. Sabine states 12s that he has seen the form of the nearly globular 

 seed-capsule of Amaryllis vittata altered by the application of the pollen 

 of another species, of which the capsule has gibbous angles. Mr. J. 

 Anderson Henry 129 crossed Rhododendron Dalhousice with the pollen of 

 B. Nuttallii, which is one of the largest-flowered and noblest species of the 

 genus. The largest pod produced by the former species, when fertilised 

 with its own pollen, measured If inch in length and 14 in girth; whilst 

 three of the pods which had been fertilised by pollen of B. Nuttallii 

 measured If inch in length and no less than 2 inches in girth. Here we 

 see the effect of foreign pollen apparently confined to increasing the size of 

 the ovarium ; but we must be cautious in assuming, as the following case 

 shows, that in this instance size has been directly transferred from the 

 male parent to the capsule of the female plant. Mr. Henry fertilised 

 Arab is blepharopliylla with pollen of A. Soyeri, and the pods thus produced, 

 of which he was so kind as to send me detailed measurements and sketches, 

 were much larger in all their dimensions than those naturally produced by 

 either the male or female parent-species. In a future chapter we shall see 



124 jr or thg French, case, see ' Proc. 

 Hort. Soc.,' vol. i. new series, 1866, p. 

 50. For Germany, see M. Jack, quoted 

 in Henfrey's • Botanical Gazette,' vol. i. 

 p. 277. A case in England has recently 

 been alluded to by the Eev. J. M. 

 Berkeley before the Hort. Soc. of Lon- 

 don/ 



125 t philosophical Transactions,' vol. 

 xlvii., 1751-52, p. 206. 



126 Gallesio, ' Teoria della Biprodu- 

 zione,' 1816, p. 95. Dr. Hildebrand, of 

 Bonn, in a letter dated Jan. 2nd, 1868, 

 informs me that he has recently crossed 

 yellow and red maize, and obtained the 

 same results as Dr. Savi, with the im- 

 portant addition, that in one case the 

 axis, which supports the seeds, was 

 stained of a brownish colour. Dr. Hilde- 

 brand also gives me some striking cases 

 with respect to the apple-tree, like those 

 recorded further on. These valuable 

 facts will soon be published in the ' Bot. 

 Zeitung.' 



12 ' It may be worth while to call 

 attention to the several means by which 



flowers and fruit become striped or 

 mottled. Firstly, by the direct action 

 of the pollen of another variety or spe- 

 cies, as with the above-given cases of 

 oranges and maize. Secondly, in crosses 

 of the first generation, when the colours 

 of the two parents do not readily unite, 

 as in the cases of Mirabilis and 

 Diantb.ua given a few pages back. 

 Thirdly, in crossed plants of a subse- 

 quent generation, by reversion, through 

 either bud or seminal generation. 

 Fourthly, by reversion to a character not 

 originally gained by a cross, but which 

 had long been lost, as with white- 

 flowered varieties, which we shall here- 

 after see often become striped with some 

 other colour. Lastly, there are cases, as 

 when peaches are produced with a half 

 or quarter of the fruit like a nectarine, 

 in which the change is apparently due 

 to mere variation, through either bud or 

 seminal generation. 



128 . Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. v. p. M- 

 ™ « Journal of Horticulture,' Jan. 20, 

 1863, p. 46. 



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in size, 







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