VARIATION IN PEDIGREE-CULTURES 211 



Misinterpretation of Results 



Beyond such mistaken attempts at an analysis of the problems, 

 there is another series of difficulties that interferes materially with 

 the advancement of knowledge of the subject. This consists in care- 

 less, prejudiced or mistaken interpretation of results, having the 

 force in some instances of actual misrepresentation. Such demonstra- 

 tions do no final harm, yet they befog a difficult subject: with 

 ' opinions * and * beliefs,' they are quite out of place in any scientific 

 discussion. 



Since I have had (Enothera Lama-rckiana,, one of the plants which 

 offer a favorable example of discontinuous variation in unit-characters, 

 under cultivation for several years, I am disposed to regard Dr. D. S. 

 Jordan's recent statement concerning this plant as of the above char- 

 acter. He says " it is not at all unlikely that the original (Enothera 

 Lamarckiana found in the field near Amsterdam was a hybrid stock, 

 a product of the florist, the behavior of its progeny being not unlike 

 that which appears in the progeny of hybrids. It is moreover known 

 that the seeds of hybrids of an American species, probably (Enothera 

 biennis, the common evening primrose, with other American species 

 produced by Mr. Burbank, have been in the past years sold in the 

 cities of Germany.'' The well-informed botanist will be in doubt as 

 to whether these statements are supposed to lie in ' the plane of ether/ 

 or are to be taken literally. If seriously meant, carelessness as to the 

 existence of records of the plant in question in several localities, long- 

 previous to the beginning of the activity of any living horticulturist, 

 is shown. Moreover, material from these localities has been found to 

 be in a mutative condition. It is unnecessary to cite facts so readily 

 accessible in any well-appointed botanical library. The following will 

 be of interest in connection with the statements quoted above : 



1. Xumerous and repeated hybridizations between 0. biennis and 

 other species have been made without obtaining anything resembling 

 0. Lamarckiana in anatomy or behavior. Several unit-characters are 

 exhibited by 0. LamarcTciana not found in any other species. 



■2. 0. grandiflora obtained pure in its original habitat is now giving 

 off mutants in the cultures in the Xew York Botanical Garden, after 

 p manner generally similar to 0. Larnarckiana. 



3. The close examination of the evening-primroses shows that 

 the several species are extremely localized. 0. grandiflora, discovered 

 by John Bartram in 1??*. was unknown except in gardens, until re- 

 discovered in the original habitat by Professor S. M. Tracy in 1901. 

 0. parviflora has been known in Europe at least since 1759 and has 

 not been seen in America until 1905, when some undoubted indigenous 

 specimens were found in Maine. During the interhn the reasoning 



