[35] [This paragraph presents the view of the hybrid-character as something incidental to the hybrid, and not “transmitted” to it--a true and fundamental conception here expressed probably for the first time.] THE SECOND GENERATION [BRED] FROM THE HYBRIDS. Those forms which in the first generation maintain the recessive character do not further vary in the second generation as regards this character; they remain constant in their offspring. It is otherwise with those which possess the dominant character in the first generation [bred from the hybrids]. Of these _two_-thirds yield offspring which display the dominant and recessive characters in the proportion of 3 to 1, and thereby show exactly the same ratio as the hybrid forms, while only _one_-third remains with the dominant character constant. The separate experiments yielded the following results:-- Expt. 1.--Among 565 plants which were raised from round seeds of the first generation, 193 yielded round seeds only, and remained therefore constant in this character; 372, however, gave both round and angular seeds, in the proportion of 3 to 1. The number of the hybrids, therefore, as compared with the constants is 1·93 to 1. Expt. 2.--Of 519 plants which were raised from seeds whose albumen was of yellow colour in the first generation, 166 yielded exclusively yellow, while 353 yielded yellow and green seeds in the proportion of 3 to 1. There resulted, therefore, a division into hybrid and constant forms in the proportion of 2·13 to 1. For each separate trial in the following experiments 100 plants were selected which displayed the dominant character in the first generation, and in order to ascertain the significance of this, ten seeds of each were cultivated. Expt. 3.--The offspring of 36 plants yielded exclusively grey-brown seed-coats, while of the offspring of 64 plants some had grey-brown and some had white. Expt. 4.--The offspring of 29 plants had only simply inflated pods; of the offspring of 71, on the other hand, some had inflated and some constricted. Expt. 5.--The offspring of 40 plants had only green pods; of the offspring of 60 plants some had green, some yellow ones. Expt. 6.--The offspring of 33 plants had only axial flowers; of the offspring of 67, on the other hand, some had axial and some terminal flowers. Expt. 7.--The offspring of 28 plants inherited the long axis, and those of 72 plants some the long and some the short axis.