In conclusion it may be well to repeat in reference to the fertility of
these three lots of plants, that their flowers were left freely exposed
to the visits of insects and were undoubtedly crossed by them, as may be
inferred from the large number of good capsules produced. These plants
were all the offspring of the same mother-plants, and the strongly
marked difference in their fertility must be attributed to the nature of
the pollen employed in fertilising their parents; and the difference in
the nature of the pollen must be attributed to the different treatment
to which the pollen-bearing parents had been subjected during several
previous generations.
COLOUR OF THE FLOWERS.
The flowers produced by the self-fertilised plants of the last or fourth
generation were as uniform in tint as those of a wild species, being of
a pale pink or rose colour. Analogous cases with Mimulus and Ipomoea,
after several generations of self-fertilisation, have been already
given. The flowers of the intercrossed plants of the fourth generation
were likewise nearly uniform in colour. On the other hand, the flowers
of the London-crossed plants, or those raised from a cross with the
fresh stock which bore dark crimson flowers, varied extremely in colour,
as might have been expected, and as is the general rule with seedling
carnations. It deserves notice that only two or three of the
London-crossed plants produced dark crimson flowers like those of their
fathers, and only a very few of a pale pink like those of their mothers.
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