1)F. IJENNY ON RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF PARENTAGE. 21 
what a blend, the purple hue of Le Grand and the deep scarlet of 
Leonidas having produced a very dark crimson scarlet, almost 
maroon. The foliage, too, of "Wellington is most distinctly of the 
nosegay type ; its habit still more vigorous than either parent. 
In breeding for variegates, and using the variegates (which, as 
a rule, are wanting in vigour) as pollen-parents, and the robust 
green zonals as seed-parents, about half the number of their 
progeny showed variegation, and possessed weakly constitutions, 
the remainder being green zonals ; upon the order of procedure 
being reversed, by which the pollen-parent became the parent of 
the greater vigour, the mother's influence was almost nil. 
I believe that it is owing to the existence of a diff'erence in the 
vigour of the respective parents that the production of novelties 
and varieties in our flowers (and probably in our fruits too) mainly 
depends, and that were it not for a preponderance of power on the 
mother's side, the progeny would almost invariably resemble the 
father ; and hence the immutability of our flowers and vegetables, 
which are annually reproduced from seed, the result of self- 
fertilisation. 
But I consider another source of variation exists in the 
tendency in all flowers (and fruits) that have been artificially bred 
up to a state far in advance of their original condition, to revert 
towards former progenitors (especially under the influence of self- 
fertilisation), by which means new combinations of ancestral pro- 
perties are formed, and therefore new varieties. Even under 
artificial fertilisation I find in the Pelargonium this tendency to 
reversion to exert very considerable modifying influences. I have 
especially observed it as regards the colour of the flower ; for 
instance, the magenta shades that have been produced upon the 
scarlet Pelargonium have resulted from the crossing of pinks upon 
scarlets ; and very many of my seedlings — the offspring resulting 
from the crossing of two magenta-coloured flowers — have pro- 
duced pink ones as well as scarlets, showing reversion to both 
the colours of their immediate ancestors. It is a point worthy of 
observation whether the colour of a flower or a cihange in the 
character of a plant that has recently been obtained are conveyed 
to their offspring in the same proportion as to numbers and with 
the same certainty as those of long standing. I think not. 
A remarkable instance of reversion as regards foliage occurred 
in two out of a number of seedlings raised this spring from Yiolet 
Hill Nosegay as seed-parent, crossed by lanthe, with the object of 
obtaining variety in the flower. Two of this batch of seedlinos 
