Double Adaptations 431 



had to be studied anew. A clear analogy be- 

 tween them and corresponding types of wild 

 plants has yet to be pointed out. There can be 

 no doubt that such analogy exists; the concep- 

 tion that they should be limited to cultivated 

 plants is not probable. Striped flowers and va- 

 riegated leaves, changes of stamens into carpels 

 or into petals may be extremely rare in the wild 

 state, but the '* five-leaved ^' clover and a large 

 number of monstrosities cannot be said to be 

 typical of the cultivated condition. These, how- 

 ever, are of rare occurrence, and do not play 

 any important part in the economy of nature. 

 In order to attain a better solution of the 

 problem we must take a broader view of 

 the facts. The wide range of variability of 

 ever-sporting varieties is due to the presence of 

 two antagonistic characters which cannot be 

 evolved at the same time and in the same or- 

 gan, because they exclude one another. AVlien- 

 ever one is active, the other must be latent. But 

 latency is not absolute inactivity and may often 

 only operate to encumber the evolution of the 

 antagonistic character, and to produce large 

 numbers of lesser grades of its development. 

 The antagonism however, is not such in the ex- 

 act meaning of the word ; it is rather a mutual 

 exclusion, because one of the opponents simply 

 takes the place of the other when absent, or sup- 



