A favourable result could now scarcely be doubted; the next generation must afford the final proof. From the seed sown there resulted for the first experiment 90 plants, and for the third 87 plants which fruited: these yielded for the—
| 1st Exp. | 3rd Exp. | ||
| 20 | 25 | round yellow seeds | AB |
| 23 | 19 | round yellow and green seeds | ABb |
| 25 | 22 | round and angular yellow seeds | AaB |
| 22 | 21 | round and angular green and yellow seeds | AaBb |
In the second and fourth experiments the round and yellow seeds yielded plants with round and angular yellow and green seeds, AaBb.
From the round green seeds plants resulted with round and angular green seeds, Aab.
The angular yellow seeds gave plants with angular yellow and green seeds, aBb.
From the angular green seeds plants were raised which yielded again only angular and green seeds, ab.
Although in these two experiments likewise some seeds did not germinate, the figures arrived at already in the previous year were not affected thereby, since each kind of seed gave plants which, as regards their seed, were like each other and different from the others. There resulted therefore from the
2nd Exp. | 4th Exp. | ||||
31 | 24 | plants | of | the form | AaBb |
26 | 25 | " | " | Aab | |
27 | 22 | " | " | aBb | |
26 | 27 | " | " | ab | |
In all the experiments, therefore, there appeared all the forms which the proposed theory demands, and also in nearly equal numbers.
In a further experiment the characters of floral colour and length of stem were experimented upon, and selection so made that in the third year of the experiment each character ought to appear in half of all the plants if the above theory were correct. A, B, a, b serve again as indicating the various characters.