The Inheritance of Fasciations. 
489 
on a sufficiently branched individual is fasciated, any more 
than that all the individuals in a large crop produce the 
anomaly without exception. The Celosia cristata, which 
comes closest to perfection in this respect, is only an ap- 
parent exception to the rule. 
Fasciations, therefore, afford valuable material for 
the study of inconstant characters. Moreover they are 
Fig. 104. Ears of rye with two and three tops, such as are 
sometimes found in mowing the fields (1891). 
known everywhere, can be procured by everybody, and 
are fairly easy to cultivate; and the successful cultures 
give rise to beautiful instances of fasciation in a third 
or even in a greater proportion of the individuals. There 
is a complete series of transitional forms between the 
atavists and the most abnormal specimens, inasmuch as 
the broadening of the axis can be either very slight or 
