Chap. XII. 



INHERITANCE. 



21 



named varieties of Snapdragon {Antirrhinum majus), and utter confusion 

 was the result. In most cases the extremely fluctuating colour of seedling 

 plants is probably in chief part due to crosses between differently-coloured 

 varieties during previous generations. It is almost certain that this is 

 the case with the polyanthus and coloured primrose {Primula veris and 

 vulgaris), from their reciprocally dimorphic structure; 55 and these are 

 plants which florists speak of as never coming true by seed : but if care be 

 taken to prevent crossing, neither species is by any means very inconstant 

 in colour ; thus I raised twenty-three plants from a purple primrose, fer- 

 tilised by Mr. J. Scott with its own pollen, and eighteen came up purple ot 

 different shades, and only five reverted to the ordinary yellow colour : 

 again, I raised twenty plants from a bright-red cowslip, similarly treated 

 by Mr. Scott, and every one perfectly resembled its parent in colour, as 

 likewise did, with the exception of a single plant, 72 grandchildren. Even 

 with the most variable flowers, it is probable that each delicate shade of 

 colour might be permanently fixed so as to be transmitted by seed, by cul- 

 tivation in the same soil, by long -continued selection, and especially by the 

 prevention of crosses. I infer this from certain annual larkspurs {Delphi- 

 nium consolida and ajacis), of which common seedlings present a greater 

 diversity of colour than any other plant known to me ; yet on procuring 

 seed of five named German varieties of D. consolida, only nine plants out of 

 ninety-four were false; and the seedlings of six varieties of D. ajacis were 

 true in the same manner and degree as with the stocks above described. A 

 distinguished botanist maintains that the annual species of Delphinium are 

 always self-fertilised; therefore I may mention that thirty-two flowers 

 on a branch of I), consolida, enclosed in a net, yielded twenty-seven capsules, 

 with an average of 17-2 seed in each; whilst five flowers, under the same 

 net, which were artificially fertilised, in the same manner as must be 

 effected by bees during their incessant visits, yielded five capsules with an 

 average of 35-2 fine seed; and this shows that the agency of insects is 

 necessary for the full fertility of this plant. Analogous facts could be 

 given with respect to the crossing of many other flowers, such as carna- 

 tions, &c, of which the varieties fluctuate much in colour. 



As with flowers, so with our domesticated animals, no character is more 

 variable than colour, and probably in no animal more so than with the 

 horse. Yet with a little care in breeding, it appears that races of any 

 colour might soon be formed. Hofacker gives the result of matching two 

 hundred and sixteen mares of four different colours with like-coloured 

 stallions without regard to the colour of their ancestors; and of the two 

 hundred and sixteen colts born, eleven alone failed to inherit the colour of 

 their parents: Autenrieth and Ammon assert that, after two generations, 

 colts of a uniform colour are produced with certainty. 56 



In a few rare cases peculiarities fail to be inherited, apparently 

 from the force of inheritance being too strong. I have been 

 assured by breeders of the canary-bird that to get a good jonquil- 



Z 2T V i n ' ln ' j0Urnal of Proc - Linn - Soc. Bot.,' 1862, p. 94. 

 Hofacker, 'Ueber die Eigenschaften,' &c., s. 10. 



