II. LATENT AND SEMI-LATENT CHARACTERS. 
3. EVERSPORTING VARIETIES. 
Before I proceed to deal with the results which have 
been obtained, in horticulture, with these highly variable 
varieties it is desirable, in order to clear up the concep- 
tions involved, to fix our attention on the various stages 
which may be interpolated between a species and a simple 
and constant variety derived from it. 
We will start from the fact that the chance appear- 
ance of an anomaly by no means always opens up the 
way to the acquisition of a novelty. One example out of 
many will suffice. Pitchers (Figs. 16, 106, and 109, Vol. 
I, pp. 61, 470, 484) are usually found as quite rare and 
isolated variations, 1 but in some species of plants, such 
as Magnolia and Tilia, tolerably frequently. But a vari- 
ety as rich in these structures as, for example, Tri folium 
pratensc quinquc folium is in 4- and 5-merous leaves does 
not exist, although it would obviously attract attention 
and pay the trouble of breeding experiments. 2 
This shows that an anomaly discovered by chance 
may be the expression of a latent character which cannot 
be brought to its full state of development. Besides this 
1 Over de erfelykheid van synfisen, Knildkundig Jaarbock, Gent, 
1895, P- 129- 
2 A variety of Ficus religiosa, with all its leaves changed into 
pitchers, has since been introduced into Europe by Mr. PRAIN, the 
Director of Kew-gardens. (Note of 1910.) 
