SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, JUNE 25. 



xxxix 



Committee and its work were always of the deepest interest to its Chair- 

 man, and the fortnightly meetings formed one of the most agreeable 

 interludes in his busy life." 



New Vice- Chairman. — Rev. W. Wilks announced that the Council 

 had that day resolved to appoint Messrs. J. T. Bennett-Poe, M.A., V.M.H., 

 and E. A. Bowles, M.A., F.L.S., to fill the vacant places caused by the 

 loss the Committee and the Society had sustained through the lamented 

 death of Dr. M. T. Masters, F.R.S., and of Professor Michael Foster, F.R.S. 

 The announcement was received with great pleasure by the Committee. 



Stveet Peas and the Mendclian Laws. — Mr. R. H. Biffen showed a 

 very interesting series of sweet peas to illustrate the discoveries so far 

 made in regard to the laws of inheritance as exhibited in these plants. 

 The great majority of crosses and so on had been made by Mrs. Biffen. 

 The following were included in the series. 



(1) Cream crossed with white gave all white (i.e. white dominant 

 over cream). In the second generation from these whites self -fertilised, 

 white and cream varieties were produced in the proportion of three white 

 to one cream. The cream breeds true in the following generation, but 

 only one in three of the whites is pure, the remaining two again producing 

 creams. 



(2) White crossed with white in the first generation gave a sweet pea 

 approaching ' Painted Lady ' in type. The seeds of this, by self-fertilisa- 

 tion, gave ' Painted Lady ' and white in the proportion of nine of the 

 former to seven of the latter, showing that one white parent carries a 

 certain factor, the other another, which meeting, produce the red colour. 

 In the third generation the whites and one of the reds breed true. 



(3) White x blue in the first generation gave purple, and in the 

 following generation purple, blue, white, and 'Painted Lady.' The 

 parents thus carry the two red-producing factors whose existence is 

 demonstrated in the cross between the two white peas mentioned above. 

 Where these meet in the presence of the blue colour, purple is formed, 

 but in its absence 'Painted Lady.' Seeds of the purple varieties may 

 reproduce the whole colour series again, those of the 'Painted Lady,' 

 white and ' Painted Lady ' only. The white varieties breed true, but blue 

 may throw white. 



(4) Cream with purple picotee edge x Mont Blanc (white) gave 

 purple and in the second generation cream, white, cream with picotee 

 edge, white with blue edge, ' Painted Lady ' and purple. The character 

 producing the picotee is dominant over the non picotee. The parents 

 carry the factors for red demonstrated in the case of the cross between the 

 two white varieties, which on meeting give ' Painted Lady.' In addition 

 to these characters there are yellow and white, the former being recessive 

 to the latter. Non-picotees breed true to this character. Picotees breed 

 true in the proportion of one to three. Thus a picotee white may throw 

 picotee white, picotee cream, plain white and plain cream, but a plain 

 cream will breed true from the outset. 



(5) ' Eric Hinton ' (pink, with waved standard) x 'Hon. F. Bouverie ' 

 (pink, with buff tinge due to the presence of yellow chromoplasts, standard 

 not waved). In the first cross the colour of the flowers was deep rose, 

 similar to ' Prince of Wales,' and all had flat standards ; in the second the 



