510 The Inconstancy of Fasriated Races. 
mentioned specimens as seed-parents and destroyed the 
rest before they flowered. 
These three plants therefore formed the beginning of 
my race. Denoting the wild specimens of 1886 as the 
first generation, the second grew in 1887 and 1888, the 
third in 1889 and 1890, and so on. This third one con- 
sisted of 120 plants, of which 48 or about 40% already 
exhibited a comb-shaped linear growing point in the 
heart of their rosettes in the winter. This comb was in 
some specimens as much as six centimeters long. I se- 
lected the three finest fasciations as seed-parents and re- 
moved the rest before flowering. The fourth generation 
raised from this seed produced a slightly lower propor- 
tion of fasciations, containing, as it did, only 30% of 
them. In the fifth generation a further reduction took 
place, viz., to 24% - 1 The sixth generation (1895-1896) 
was very rich in fasciations, and in ten plants out of the 
40, produced a growing comb of from 4 to 7 centimeters. 
Unfortunately the remaining fasciations of less degree 
mostly died in the winter before they were recorded, so 
that an exact percentage value can not be given, Never- 
theless it was obvious that the character of the race had 
been displayed oftener than in the previous generation. 
In the following, viz.. the seventh generation, I also re- 
corded only the expanded rosettes before the winter, and 
found ten of them amongst 49 plants, that is about 20%. 
The eighth generation was not sown till 1902, and only 
on a very small scale. The combs became visible during 
the winter 1902-3. 
If we summarize the results which we have described, 
we see that the seed collected in the field, without selec- 
tion, gave about 12% fasciatecl offspring, whilst the seeds 
1 Botaiiisch faarbaek, Gent, 1894, p. 80, and 1897, p. 66. 
