Polycephalic Poppies 379 



somewhat larger scale and during a series of 

 years. 



Among the same lot of plants individual dif- 

 ferences almost always occur. They are partly 

 due to inequalities already existing in the seeds, 

 and partly to the diversity of the various parts 

 of the same bed. Some of the plants become 

 stout and have large terminal heads. Others 

 remain very weak, with a slender stem, small 

 leaves and undersized flowers. The height and 

 thickness of the stem, the growth of the foliage 

 and of the axillary buds are the most obvious 

 measures of the individual strength of the 

 plant. The development of the terminal flower 

 and the size of its ovarj^ manifestly depends 

 largely on this individual strength, as may be 

 seen at once by the inspection of any bed of 

 opium-poppies. Now this size of the head can 

 easily be measured, either by its height or cir- 

 cumference, or by its weight. Moreover we can 

 arrange them into a series according to their 

 size. If we do this with the polycephalous vari- 

 ety, the relation between individual strength 

 and degree of metamorphosis at once becomes 

 manifest. The largest heads have the brightest 

 crowns, and the number of supernumerary car- 

 pels diminishes in nearly exact proportion to the 

 size of the fruits. Fruits with less than 50 al- 

 tered stamens weighed on an average 5 grams, 



