and Bot. Congress of London 1866.) that the seeds of the large red- flowered BIENNIAL stock, Matthiola annua (Cocardeau of the French), are light brown, and those of the purple branching Queen stock (M. incana) are violet-black; and he found that, when flowers of the red stock were fertilised by pollen from the purple stock, they yielded about fifty per cent of BLACK seeds. He sent me four pods from a red flowered plant, two of which had been fertilised by their own pollen, and they included pale brown seed; and two which had been crossed by pollen from the purple kind, and they included seeds all deeply tinged with black. These latter seeds yielded purple-flowered plants like their father; whilst the pale brown seeds yielded normal red-flowered plants; and Major Clarke, by sowing similar seeds, has observed on a greater scale the same result. The evidence in this case of the direct action of the pollen of one species on the colour of the seeds of another species appears to me conclusive.
Gallesio (11/132. 'Traite du Citrus' page 40.) fertilised the flowers of an orange with pollen from the lemon; and one fruit thus produced bore a longitudinal stripe of peel having the colour, flavour, and other characters of the lemon. Mr. Anderson (11/133. 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 3 page 318. See also volume 5 page 65.) fertilised a green-fleshed melon with pollen from a scarlet-fleshed kind; in two of the fruits "a sensible change was perceptible: and four other fruits were somewhat altered both internally and externally." The seeds of the two first- mentioned fruits produced plants partaking of the good properties of both parents. In the United States, where Cucurbitaceae are largely cultivated, it is the popular belief (11/134. Prof. Asa Gray 'Proc. Acad. Sc.' Boston volume 4 1860 page 21. I have received statements to the same effect from other persons in the United States.) that the fruit is thus directly affected hy foreign pollen; and I have received a similar statement with respect to the cucumber in England. It is believed that grapes have been thus affected in colour, size, and shape: in France a pale-coloured grape had its juice tinted by the pollen of the dark-coloured Teinturier; in Germany a variety bore berries which were affected by the pollen of two adjoining kinds; some of the berries being only partially affected or mottled. (11/135. For the French case see 'Journ. Hort. Soc.' volume 1 new series 1866 page 50. For Germany see M. Jack quoted in Henfrey's 'Botanical Gazette' volume 1 page 277. A case in England has recently been alluded to by the Rev. J.M. Berkeley before the Hort. Soc. of London.)
As long ago as 1751 (11/136. 'Philosophical Transactions' volume 47 1751-52 page 206.) it was observed that, when differently-coloured varieties of maize grew near each other, they mutually affected each other's seeds, and this is now a popular belief in the United States. Dr. Savi (11/137. Gallesio 'Teoria della Riproduzione' 1816 page 95.) tried the experiment with care: he sowed yellow and black-seeded maize together, and on the same ear some of the seeds were yellow, some black, and some mottled, the differently coloured seeds being arranged irregularly or in rows. Prof. Hildebrand has repeated the experiment (11/138. 'Bot. Zeitung' May 1868 page 326.) with the precaution of ascertaining that the mother-plant was true. A kind bearing yellow grains was fertilised with pollen of a kind having brown grains, and two ears produced yellow grains mingled with others of a dirty violet tint. A third ear had only yellow grains, but one side of the spindle was tinted of a reddish-brown; so that here we have the important fact of the influence of the foreign pollen extending to the axis. Mr. Arnold, in Canada, varied the experiment in an interesting manner: "a female flower was subjected first to the action of pollen from a yellow variety, and then to that from a white variety; the result was an ear, each grain of which was yellow below and white above." (11/139. See Dr.