Ever sporting Varieties. 19 
extreme but very common mode of appearance two other 
cases are possible, according to my experience : 
1. When the seeds of an abnormal individual are 
sown the anomaly is repeated from time to time in a few 
or more individuals, remaining rare or only appearing 
in a feeble state of development. Selection may improve 
it, but only to a very inconsiderable extent. 
2. Under favorable circumstances the anomaly may 
increase rapidly both in the degree of its development and 
in the number of individuals which present it. A so-called 
constant race is formed in the course of a few genera- 
tions. It is subject to a high degree of fluctuating vari- 
ability in respect to the character in question and is 
largely dependent on cultivation. 
I propose to term the first type of characters scini- 
latcnt and to distinguish amongst latent characters be- 
tween the genuine completely latent ones and those which 
occasionally come to light or the semi-latent ones. This 
term refers to the behavior of the character in the race as 
a whole; a semi-latent character may remain latent in 
many individuals and organs and be active in others. 
A true latent character on the other hand only very 
rarely becomes active. 
If we study these three cases statistically, trying to 
plot the variation of the anomaly in the form of a curve 
(p. 8) we generally obtain the following results: 
First cose. The genuine latent characters appear so 
rarely that they do not afford sufficient material for a 
curve. 
Second case. Semi-latent characters must be studied 
in combination with their antagonistic active characters, 
and are expressed by half curves (Fig. 1, p. 28), from 
which a two-sided curve mav be derived bv selection 
