Page:Mendel's principles of heredity; a defence.pdf/74

54 easily avoided. It is almost superfluous to mention that the pods must remain on the plants until they are thoroughly ripened and have become dried, since it is only then that the shape and colour of the seed are fully developed.

Expt. 3.Colour of the seed-coats.—Among 929 plants 705 bore violet-red flowers and grey-brown seed-coats; 224 had white flowers and white seed-coats, giving the proportion 3⋅15 to 1.

Expt. 4.Form of pods.—Of 1,181 plants 882 had them simply inflated, and in 299 they were constricted. Resulting ratio, 2⋅95 to 1.

Expt. 5.Colour of the unripe pods.—The number of trial plants was 580, of which 428 had green pods and 152 yellow ones. Consequently these stand in the ratio 2⋅82 to 1.

Expt. 6.Position of flowers.—Among 858 cases 651 blossoms were axial and 207 terminal. Ratio, 3⋅14 to 1.

Expt. 7.Length of stem.—Out of 1,064 plants, in 787 cases the stem was long, and in 277 short. Hence a mutual ratio of 2⋅84 to 1. In this experiment the dwarfed plants were carefully lifted and transferred to a special bed. This precaution was necessary, as otherwise they would have perished through being overgrown by their tall relatives. Even in their quite young state they can be easily picked out by their compact growth and thick dark-green foliage.

If now the results of the whole of the experiments be brought together, there is found, as between the number of forms with the dominant and recessive characters, an average ratio of 2⋅98 to 1, or 3 to 1.

The dominant character can have here a double signification—viz. that of a parental-character, or a hybrid-