This latter result, however, would almost certainly have been reversed,
if the plants had been allowed to grow for another month, as the
Westerham-crossed were still growing vigorously, whilst the intercrossed
had almost ceased to grow. This case reminds us of the somewhat
analogous one of Eschscholtzia, in which plants raised from a cross with
a fresh stock did not grow higher than the self-fertilised or
intercrossed plants, but produced a greater number of seed-capsules,
which contained a far larger average number of seeds.
COLOUR OF THE FLOWERS ON THE ABOVE THREE LOTS OF PLANTS.
The original mother-plant, from which the five successive
self-fertilised generations were raised, bore dingy purple flowers. At
no time was any selection practised, and the plants were subjected in
each generation to extremely uniform conditions. The result was, as in
some previous cases, that the flowers on all the self-fertilised plants,
both in the pots and open ground, were absolutely uniform in tint; this
being a dull, rather peculiar flesh colour. This uniformity was very
striking in the long row of plants growing in the open ground, and these
first attracted my attention. I did not notice in which generation the
original colour began to change and to become uniform, but I have every
reason to believe that the change was gradual. The flowers on the
intercrossed plants were mostly of the same tint, but not nearly so
uniform as those on the self-fertilised plants, and many of them were
pale, approaching almost to white.
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