32 INBKEEDING AND OUTBBEEDING 



because of the method itself. Again, if one desires further 

 evidence of descent in a single pure hereditary line con- 

 sistent with high specialization and inherent vigor 

 through long periods of time, there is the phenomenon 

 of apomixis to be cited. Apomixis is a general term for 

 certain reproductive anomalies in plants which are really 

 a return to vegetative reproduction. In a broad way it is 

 synonymous with parthenogenesis in animals; but par- 

 thenogenesis in animals includes only reproduction from 

 an unfertilized egg, while apomixis takes in reproduc- 

 tion from certain cells which are not eggs. Some twenty 

 or thirty species of vascular plants have already been 

 found to reproduce in this manner, and unquestionably 

 the list is very incomplete. Examples from Polypodiacecz, 

 RanunculacecB and Rosaceco are not uncommon, but in 

 particular it is the Composite, the highest group of flow- 

 ering plants, which seem inclined to make this method of 

 reproduction a habit. Of course, one cannot insist that 

 such a return to primitive reproductive methods even by 

 a more modern labor-saving route is wholly for the good 

 of the species concerned. No one in possession of all of 

 the facts could maintain the change to be progressive, or 

 argue that the species adopting it will have a great future 

 as future is measured by the evolutionist. This is not 

 the contention. We merely cite the adoption of apomixis 

 by flourishing genera of the most specialized and highly 

 developed plants as examples of asexual reproduction 

 over long periods without visibly harmful effects. We do 

 this because we believe the emphasis put by Darwin and 

 his followers on supposed ill effects following any type 

 of inbreeding or asexual propagation was misplaced. 

 Certainly the majority, the great majority, of the higher 



