To go into the whole question in detail would require considerable space; but indeed it is unnecessary to labour the point. The reader who examines Gärtner’s account with care, especially the peculiar phenomena obtained in the case of the “grey” pea (_macrospermum_), with specimens before him, will have no difficulty in recognizing that Gärtner is simply describing the seeds _as they looked in their coats_, and is not attempting to distinguish cotyledon-characters and coat-characters. If he had peeled them, which in the case of “grey” peas would be _absolutely necessary_ to see cotyledon-colour, he must surely have said so. Had he done so, he would have found the cotyledons full yellow in every ripe seed; for I venture to assert that anyone who tries, as we have, crosses between a yellow-cotyledoned “grey” pea, such as Gärtner’s was, with any pure green variety will see that there is no question whatever as to absolute dominance of the yellow cotyledon-character here, more striking than in any other case. If exceptions are to be looked for, they will not be found _there_; and, except in so far as they show simple dominance of yellow, Gärtner’s observations cannot be cited in this connection at all. (2) _Seton’s case._ Another exception given by Professor Weldon is much more interesting and instructive. It is the curious case of Seton[86]. Told in the words of the critic it is as follows:-- “Mr Alexander Seton crossed the flowers of _Dwarf Imperial_, ‘a well-known green variety of the Pea,’ with the pollen of ‘a white free-growing variety.’ Four hybrid seeds were obtained, ‘which did not differ in appearance from the others of the female parent.’ These seeds therefore did _not_ obey the law of dominance, or if the statement be preferred, greenness became dominant in this case. The seeds were sown, and produced plants bearing ‘green’ and ‘white’ seeds side by side in the same pod. An excellent coloured figure of one of these pods is given (_loc. cit._ Plate 9, Fig. 1), and is the only figure I have found which illustrates segregation of colours in hybrid Peas of the second generation.” [86] Appendix to paper of Goss, _Trans. Hort. Soc._ v. 1822, pub. 1824 (_not_ 1848, as given by Professor Weldon), p. 236. Now if Professor Weldon had applied to this case the same independence of judgment he evinced in dismissing Darwin’s interpretation of Gärtner’s observations, he might have reached a valuable result. Knowing how difficult it is to give all the points in a brief citation, I turned up the original passage, where I find it stated that the mixed seeds of the second generation “were all completely either of one colour or the other, none of them having an intermediate tint, as Mr Seton had expected.” The utility of this observation of the absence of intermediates, is that it goes some way to dispose of the suggestion of xenia as a cause contributing to the result.