﻿406 
  Ever-sporting 
  Varieties 
  

  

  and 
  a 
  whole 
  series 
  of 
  steps 
  may 
  easily 
  be 
  ob- 
  

   served 
  from 
  sufficiently 
  large 
  cultures. 
  But 
  

   they 
  are 
  always 
  relatively 
  rare, 
  and 
  any 
  lot 
  of 
  

   plants 
  conveys 
  the 
  idea 
  of 
  a 
  dimorphous 
  race, 
  

   the 
  small 
  twisted 
  stems 
  contrasting 
  strongly 
  

   with 
  the 
  tall 
  straight 
  ones. 
  

  

  A 
  sharper 
  contrast 
  between 
  good 
  representa- 
  

   tives 
  of 
  a 
  race 
  and 
  their 
  atavists 
  is 
  perhaps 
  to 
  

   be 
  seen 
  in 
  no 
  other 
  instance. 
  All 
  the 
  details 
  

   contribute 
  to 
  the 
  differentiation 
  in 
  appearance. 
  

   The 
  whole 
  stature 
  of 
  the 
  plants 
  is 
  affected 
  by 
  

   the 
  varietal 
  mark. 
  The 
  atavists 
  are 
  not, 
  as 
  

   in 
  the 
  case 
  of 
  the 
  poppies, 
  obviously 
  allied 
  with 
  

   the 
  type 
  by 
  a 
  full 
  range 
  of 
  intermediate 
  steps, 
  

   but 
  quite 
  distant 
  from 
  it 
  by 
  their 
  rarity. 
  There 
  

   seems 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  gap 
  in 
  the 
  same 
  way 
  as 
  between 
  

   the 
  striped 
  flowers 
  of 
  the 
  snapdragon 
  and 
  their 
  

   uniform 
  red 
  atavists, 
  while 
  with 
  the 
  poppies 
  

   the 
  atavists 
  may 
  be 
  viewed 
  as 
  being 
  only 
  the 
  

   extremes 
  of 
  a 
  series 
  of 
  variations 
  fluctuating 
  

   around 
  some 
  average 
  type. 
  

  

  From 
  this 
  reason 
  it 
  is 
  as 
  interesting 
  to 
  appre- 
  

   ciate 
  the 
  hereditary 
  position 
  of 
  the 
  atavists 
  of 
  

   twisted 
  varieties 
  as 
  it 
  was 
  for 
  the 
  red-flowered 
  

   descendants 
  of 
  the 
  striped 
  flowers. 
  In 
  order 
  to 
  

   ascertain 
  this 
  relation 
  it 
  is 
  only 
  necessary 
  to 
  iso- 
  

   late 
  some 
  of 
  them 
  during 
  the 
  blooming-period. 
  

   I 
  made 
  this 
  experiment 
  in 
  the 
  summer 
  of 
  1900 
  

   with 
  the 
  eighth 
  generation 
  of 
  my 
  race, 
  and 
  con- 
  

  

  