Thirdly, the question arises, whether the mutation is complete, not only
as to the morphologic character, but also as to the hereditary
constitution of the mutated individuals. But here unfortunately the high
degree of sterility of the peloric plants, as previously noted, makes
the experimental evidence a thing of great difficulty. During the course
of several years I isolated and planted together the peloric individuals
already mentioned, all in all some twenty plants. Each individual was
nearly absolutely sterile when treated with its own pollen, and the aid
of insects was of no avail. I intercrossed my plants artificially, and
pollinated more than a thousand flowers. Not a single one gave a normal
fruit, but some small and nearly rudimentary capsules were produced,
bearing a few seeds. From these I had 119 flowering plants, out of which
106 were peloric and 13 one-spurred. The great majority, some 90%, were
thus shown to be true to their new type. Whether the 10% reverting ones
were truly atavists, or whether they were [478] only vicinists, caused
by stray pollen grains from another culture, cannot of course be decided
with sufficient certitude.
Here I might refer to the observations concerning the invisible
dimorphous state of the flowers of the normal toad-flax. Individuals of
the same type, when fertilized with each other, are nearly, but not
absolutely, sterile. The yield of seeds of my peloric plants agrees
fairly well with the harvest which I have obtained from some of the
nearly sterile pairs of individuals in my former trial. Hence the
suggestion is forced upon us that perhaps, owing to some unknown cause,
all the peloric individuals of my experiment belonged to one and the
same type, and were sterile for this reason only. If this is true, then
it is to be presumed that all previous investigators have met the same
condition, each having at hand only one of the two required types. And
this discussion has the further advantage of showing the way, in which
perhaps a full and constant race of peloric toad-flaxes may be obtained.
Two individuals of different type are required to start from. They seem
as yet never to have arisen from one group of mutations. But if it were
possible to combine the products of two mutations obtained in different
countries and under different conditions, there would be a chance [479]
that they might belong to the supposed opposite types, and thus be
fertile with one another. My peloric plants are still available, and the
occurrence of this form elsewhere would give material for a successful
experiment. The probability thereof is enhanced by the experience that
my peloric plants bear large capsules and a rich harvest of seeds when
fertilized from plants of the normal one-spurred race, while they remain
nearly wholly barren by artificial fertilization with others. I suppose
that they are infertile with the normal toad-flaxes of their own sexual
disposition, but fertile with those of the opposite constitution.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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