MENDELISM AND SELECTION 



go like the wavelets on the ocean beach, but 

 have no more relation to evolution than the 

 waves have to the tides. The brilliancy of the 

 Mutation theory of De Vries, coupled with his 

 great service to biology in rediscovering the 

 Mendelian laws, has somewhat dazzled our eyes 

 and led us, I think, to accept too readily his 

 views concerning the efficacy of selection also. 

 Ten years' continuous work in selection con- 

 vinces me that much can be accomplished by 

 this means quite apart from the process of mu- 

 tation. The work of De Vries himself argues 

 strongly in favor of this idea. To be sure, his 

 interpretation of it is adverse to selection, and 

 has seemed to most of us at times overwhelm- 

 ingly convincing; but from his interpretation 

 we may fairly appeal to the record of the work 

 itself, and with this compare the record of our 

 own work. 



One of the most extensive selection experi- 

 ments conducted by De Vries was made on the 

 common buttercup, Ranunculus bulbosus, which 

 occurs as a weed in pastures and meadows in 

 this country as well as in Europe. It has, as 

 is known, regular 5-petaled flowers. An ex- 



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