Note 111 — A DEFENCE OF MENDEL’S PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY.

These are then a mixture of pure dominants and cross-bred dominants, and are now inextricably confused. This time the round seeds may have been all on particular plants—showing recessive seed-shape as a maternal character. It seems just possible that this fact suggested the idea of “round” seeds on the coloured plants in the last generation. Till that result is confirmed it should be regarded as very doubtful on the evidence. But we cannot at the present time be sure how much difference there was between these round seeds and the normal maples in point of shape; and on the whole it seems most probable that the roundness was a mere fluctuation, such as commonly occurs among the peas with large indented seeds.