50 Latent and Scnii-Latcnt Characters. 
These figures are presented graphically in Fig. 6. 
It Will be seen that the normal curve is a symmetrical 
one slightly depressed, however, over the ordinates of 
the even numbers as a result of that symmetry which we 
discussed above. The two other lines form half curves; 
in both of them the apex coincides with one extreme. 
The curve B, of the atavistic individual, is almost the 
same as the curve which was the dominant one in the first 
years of my experiment when there were, as yet, no 6-7- 
foliate leaves (p. 38). It is an ordinary half curve of 
variation, which is characteristic of the half races of 
semi-latent anomalies. The curve C is, however, re- 
versed; it displays the predominance of the racial char- 
acter over the antagonistic one which is that of the 
original species. It also shows the preference for sym- 
metrical leaves. 
If atavistic individuals are used as seed-parents the 
character of the race can be observed to vanish more or 
less completely in a short time. I carried out an experi- 
ment of this kind in the years 1896-1898, after the race 
had reached its maximum development in 1894-1895 as 
described on page 38. Within the space of three gen- 
erations this race has retrogressed so far that the plants 
could no longer be recognized as belonging to it. For the 
purposes of this reversed selection I chose, from the 
plants which had borne a large number of 5-7-merous 
leaves in 1895, those seedlings of which the primary 
leaves were single and the first leaves trifoliate. With 
a few exceptions they had all developed occasional tetra- 
pentamerous leaves by the middle of June. Three of the 
exceptional ones were isolated before flowering, they sub- 
sequently developed a few multipartite leaves. But when 
their seeds o- e rrnmated it was seen that they were not 
