432 Ever-sporting Varieties 



plements it to the extent that it may be only im- 

 perfectly developed. This completion ordinar- 

 ily occurs in all possible degrees and thus 

 causes the wide range of the variability. Nev- 

 ertheless it may be wanting, and in the case of 

 the double stocks only the two extremes are 

 present. 



It is rather difficult to get a clear conception 

 of the substitution, and it seems necessary to 

 designate the peculiar relationship between the 

 two characters forming such a pair by a simple 

 name. They might be termed alternating, if 

 only it were clearly understood that the alterna- 

 tion may be complete, or incomplete in all de- 

 grees. Complete alternation would result in 

 the extremes, the incomplete condition in the 

 intermediate states. In some cases as with the 

 stocks, the first prevails, while in other cases, as 

 with the poppies, the very extremes are only 

 rarely met with. 



Taking such an alternation as a real char- 

 acter of the ever-sporting varieties, a wide 

 range of analogous cases is at once revealed 

 among the normal qualities of wild plants. Al- 

 ternation is here almost universal. It is the ca- 

 pacity of young organs to develop in two diverg- 

 ing directions. The definitive choice must be 

 made in extreme youth, or often at a relatively 

 late period of development. Once made, this 



