﻿Monstrosities 
  425 
  

  

  dren 
  and 
  thereby 
  evidently 
  betraying 
  the 
  na- 
  

   ture 
  of 
  a 
  rich 
  or 
  double 
  race. 
  Likewise 
  the 
  mer- 
  

   cury 
  was 
  rich 
  in 
  such 
  deviations. 
  But 
  the 
  best 
  

   of 
  all 
  was 
  the 
  Eussian 
  sunflower, 
  and 
  this 
  was 
  

   chosen 
  for 
  closer 
  experiments. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  year 
  of 
  1888 
  I 
  had 
  the 
  good 
  luck 
  to 
  

   isolate 
  some 
  syncotylous 
  seedlings 
  and 
  of 
  find- 
  

   ing 
  among 
  them 
  one 
  with 
  19$ 
  of 
  inheritors 
  

   among 
  its 
  seeds. 
  The 
  following 
  generation 
  at 
  

   once 
  surpassed 
  the 
  ordinary 
  average 
  and 
  came 
  

   up 
  in 
  three 
  individuals 
  to 
  76, 
  81 
  and 
  even 
  89$. 
  

   My 
  race 
  was 
  at 
  once 
  isolated 
  and 
  ameliorated 
  by 
  

   selection. 
  I 
  have 
  tried 
  to 
  improve 
  it 
  further 
  

   and 
  selected 
  the 
  parents 
  with 
  the 
  highest 
  per- 
  

   centages 
  during 
  seven 
  more 
  generations; 
  but 
  

   without 
  any 
  remarkable 
  result. 
  I 
  got 
  figures 
  of 
  

   90$ 
  and 
  above, 
  coming 
  even 
  in 
  one 
  instance 
  up 
  

   to 
  the 
  apparent 
  purity 
  of 
  100$. 
  These, 
  how- 
  

   ever, 
  always 
  remained 
  extremes, 
  the 
  averages 
  

   fluctuating 
  yearly 
  between 
  80-90$ 
  or 
  there- 
  

   abouts, 
  and 
  the 
  other 
  extremes 
  going 
  nearly 
  

   every 
  year 
  downwards 
  to 
  50$, 
  the 
  value 
  which 
  

   would 
  be 
  attained, 
  if 
  no 
  selection 
  were 
  made. 
  

  

  Contra-selection 
  is 
  as 
  easily 
  made 
  as 
  normal 
  

   selection. 
  According 
  to 
  our 
  present 
  principle 
  it 
  

   means 
  the 
  choice 
  of 
  the 
  parents 
  with 
  the 
  smallest 
  

   hereditary 
  percentage. 
  One 
  might 
  easily 
  im- 
  

   agine 
  that 
  by 
  this 
  means 
  the 
  dicotylous 
  seed- 
  

   lings 
  could 
  be 
  rendered 
  pure. 
  This, 
  how- 
  

  

  