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  Fluctuations 
  

  

  perience 
  of 
  breeders 
  of 
  domestic 
  animals, 
  and 
  of 
  

   Louis 
  de 
  Vilmorin, 
  and 
  with 
  the 
  result 
  of 
  the 
  

   theoretical 
  considerations 
  concerning 
  the 
  fac- 
  

   tors 
  of 
  fluctuation 
  has 
  led 
  me 
  to 
  suggest 
  the 
  

   method 
  of 
  selecting, 
  which 
  I 
  have 
  made 
  use 
  of 
  in 
  

   my 
  experiments 
  with 
  tricotyls 
  and 
  syncotyls. 
  

  

  Seedling 
  variations 
  afford 
  a 
  means 
  of 
  count- 
  

   ing 
  many 
  hundreds 
  of 
  individuals 
  in 
  a 
  single 
  

   germinating 
  pan. 
  If 
  seed 
  from 
  one 
  parent- 
  

   plant 
  is 
  sown 
  only 
  in 
  each 
  pan, 
  a 
  percentage- 
  

   figure 
  for 
  the 
  amount 
  of 
  deviating 
  seedlings 
  

   may 
  be 
  obtained. 
  These 
  figures 
  we 
  have 
  called 
  

   the 
  hereditary 
  percentages. 
  I 
  have 
  been 
  able 
  to 
  

   select 
  the 
  parent-plants 
  after 
  their 
  death 
  on 
  

   the 
  sole 
  ground 
  of 
  these 
  values. 
  And 
  the 
  re- 
  

   sult 
  has 
  been 
  that 
  from 
  varieties 
  which, 
  on 
  an 
  

   average, 
  exhibited 
  50-55$ 
  deviating 
  seedlings, 
  

   after 
  one 
  or 
  two 
  years 
  of 
  selection 
  this 
  propor- 
  

   tion 
  in 
  the 
  offspring 
  was 
  brought 
  up 
  to 
  about 
  

   90$ 
  in 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  cases. 
  Phacelia 
  and 
  mercury 
  

   with 
  tricotylous 
  seedlings, 
  and 
  the 
  Russian 
  

   sunflower 
  with 
  connate 
  seed-leaves, 
  may 
  be 
  

   cited 
  as 
  instances. 
  

  

  Besides 
  these 
  tests, 
  others 
  were 
  performed, 
  

   based 
  only 
  on 
  the 
  visible 
  characters 
  of 
  the 
  seed- 
  

   lings. 
  The 
  result 
  was 
  that 
  this 
  characteristic 
  

   was 
  almost 
  useless 
  as 
  a 
  criterion. 
  The 
  atavists 
  

   gave, 
  in 
  the 
  main, 
  nearly 
  the 
  same 
  hereditary 
  

   percentages 
  as 
  the 
  tricotyls 
  and 
  syncotyls, 
  and 
  

  

  