In order to ascertain what would be the effect of crossing two varieties, some flowers on the Purple sweet-pea, which has a dark reddish-purple standard-petal with violet-coloured wing-petals and keel, were castrated whilst very young, and were fertilised with pollen of the Painted Lady. This latter variety has a pale cherry-coloured standard, with almost white wings and keel. On two occasions I raised from a flower thus crossed plants perfectly resembling both parent-forms; but the greater number resembled the paternal variety. So perfect was the resemblance, that I should have suspected some mistake in the label, had not the plants, which were at first identical in appearance with the father or Painted Lady, later in the season produced flowers blotched and streaked with dark purple. This is an interesting example of partial reversion in the same individual plant as it grows older. The purple-flowered plants were thrown away, as they might possibly have been the product of the accidental self-fertilisation of the mother-plant, owing to the castration not having been effectual. But the plants which resembled in the colour of their flowers the paternal variety or Painted Lady were preserved, and their seeds saved. Next summer many plants were raised from these seeds, and they generally resembled their grandfather the Painted Lady, but most of them had their wing-petals streaked and stained with dark pink; and a few had pale purple wings with the standard of a darker crimson than is natural to the Painted Lady, so that they formed a new sub-variety. Amongst these plants a single one appeared having purple flowers like those of the grandmother, but with the petals slightly streaked with a paler tint: this was thrown away. Seeds were again saved from the foregoing plants, and the seedlings thus raised still resembled the Painted Lady, or great-grandfather; but they now varied much, the standard petal varying from pale to dark red, in a few instances with blotches of white; and the wing-petals varied from nearly white to purple, the keel being in all nearly white.