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Observations on Mr. MarshaWs Experiments with the Seeds of the 

 Cowslip and 0:vlip. By Hewett C. Watson, Esq., F.L.S. 



Will Mr. Marshall allow me to call upon him for some additional 

 explanation of his experiments in raising- cowslips and oxlips fiom 

 seeds, as recorded in the August number of the ' Phytologist' (Phytol. 

 ii. 285) } He apparently draws a " conclusion " from those experi- 

 ments, which is not supported by the facts stated. 



Mr. Marshall writes that he raised many plants from the seeds of 

 one wild cowslip, which had been transplanted into his garden ; the 

 result being, that " every individual of them was a mere cowslip, in 

 all respects like its parent, not one of the sixty individuals having 

 sported either in form or colour." If this is to be understood literally 

 as expressed, it is such a result as I have scarce ever met with in the 

 case of any species of plant. But if it means, as is more likely, that 

 the sixty plants differed only to the extent (not inconsiderable) to 

 which wild cowslips differ among themselves, then the result is close- 

 ly in accordance with those which have fallen under my own observa- 

 tions upon the seedlings of Primula veris. Still, I do not see how or 

 why the fact of a cowslip producing only cowslips, on one occasion, 

 should "lead to the conclusion, that there must have been ' a hitch ' 

 somewhere in the recorded experiments " . . " of Mr. Watson ; " 

 since my experiment was made with seeds of an oxlip-variety of the 

 Primula vulgaris, not with those of a cowslip. The tendency to vary 

 again, as far as my experience goes, is much greater with the progeny 

 of a variety, than with that of a typical example of a genus. 



Mr. Marshall afterwards mentions that he sowed " a few seeds of 

 the oxlip, with a similar result." Without knowing what oxlip is in- 

 tended, I cannot say whether this other experiment bears any more 

 closely upon that which I have recently recorded in the 'Phytologist' 

 (Phytol. ii. 217). Was it Jacquin's Primula elatior.? — or the large-flow- 

 ered and flat-limbed variety of Primula veris ? — or the common um- 

 bellate variety of Primula vulgaris .•' — or that cowslip-looking variety 

 of the last, which (for sake of distinction) I have usually designated 

 the " Claygate oxlip," and which is the Primula vulgaris, var. inter- 

 media of the London Catalogue. These various oxlips (except the 

 large- flowered P. veris) must now be familiar to many readers of the 

 ' Phy tologist,' by the specimens distributed through the Botanical So- 

 ciety of London. It has already been stated in the ' Phytologist,' 

 that Jacquin's Primula elatior comes up true from seeds sown in the 

 garden (Phytol. i. 975). But I should now be greatly surprised to find 

 Vol. II. 2 Q 



