IcarefullyexaminedtheflowersofninetyplantsofthecrossedAntirrhinuminthetwobeds，andtheirstructurehadnotbeenintheleastaffectedbythecross，exceptthatinafewinstancestheminuterudimentofthefifthstamen，whichisalwayspresent，wasmorefullyorevencompletelydeveloped。Itmustnotbesupposedthatthisentireobliterationofthepeloricstructureinthecrossedplantscanbeaccountedforbyanyincapacityoftransmission;forI
raisedalargebedofplantsfromthepeloricAntirrhinum，artificiallyfertilisedbyitsownpollen，andsixteenplants，whichalonesurvivedthewinter，wereallasperfectlypeloricastheparent—plant。Herewehaveagoodinstanceofthewidedifferencebetweentheinheritanceofacharacterandthepoweroftransmittingittocrossedoffspring。Thecrossedplants，whichperfectlyresembledthecommonsnapdragon，wereallowedtosowthemselves，andoutofahundredandtwenty—sevenseedlings，eighty—eightprovedtobecommonsnapdragons，twowereinanintermediateconditionbetweenthepeloricandnormalstate，andthirty—sevenwereperfectlypeloric，havingrevertedtothestructureoftheironegrand—parent。Thiscaseseemsatfirstsighttoofferanexceptiontotherulejustgiven，namely，thatacharacterwhichispresentinoneformandlatentintheotherisgenerallytransmittedwithprepotentforcewhenthetwoformsarecrossed。ForinalltheScrophulariaceae，andespeciallyinthegeneraAntirrhinumandLinaria，thereis，aswasshowninthelastchapter，astronglatenttendencytobecomepeloric;butthereisalso，aswehaveseen，astillstrongertendencyinallpeloricplantstoreacquiretheirnormalirregularstructure。Sothatwehavetwoopposedlatenttendenciesinthesameplants。Now，withthecrossedAntirrhinumsthetendencytoproducenormalorirregularflowers，likethoseofthecommonSnapdragon，prevailedinthefirstgeneration;whilstthetendencytopelorism，appearingtogainstrengthbytheintermissionofageneration，prevailedtoalargeextentinthesecondsetofseedlings。Howitispossibleforacharactertogainstrengthbytheintermissionofageneration，willbeconsideredinthechapteronpangenesis。
Onthewhole，thesubjectofprepotencyisextremelyintricate，——fromitsvaryingsomuchinstrength，eveninregardtothesamecharacter，indifferentanimals，——fromitsrunningeitherequallyinbothsexes，or，asfrequentlyisthecasewithanimals，butnotwithplants，muchstrongerinonesexthantheother，——fromtheexistenceofsecondarysexualcharacters，——fromthetransmissionofcertaincharactersbeinglimited，asweshallimmediatelysee，bysex，——fromcertaincharactersnotblendingtogether，——and，perhaps，occasionallyfromtheeffectsofapreviousfertilisationonthemother。Itisthereforenotsurprisingthatnoonehashithertosucceededindrawingupgeneralrulesonthesubjectofprepotency。
INHERITANCEASLIMITEDBYSEX。
Newcharactersoftenappearinonesex，andareafterwardstransmittedtothesamesex，eitherexclusivelyorinamuchgreaterdegreethantotheother。