Note 63 — A DEFENCE OF MENDEL’S PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY.

The whole question as to seed-coat colour is most complex. Conditions of growth and ripening have a great effect on it. Mr Arthur Sutton has shown me samples of Ne Plus Ultra grown in England and abroad. This pea has yellow cotyledons with seed-coats either yellow or “blue.” The foreign sample contained a much greater proportion of the former. He told me that generally speaking this is the case with samples ripened in a hot, dry climate.

Unquestionable Xenia appears occasionally, and will be spoken of later. Moreover to experiment with such a plant-character an extra generation has to be sown and cultivated. Consequently the evidence is meagre.