336 HETEKOMOKniV. 



wings. The fruit whilst young is pear-shaped, yellow, 

 longitudinally striated and sweet; but, as it ripens, 

 it becomes spherical, of a reddish-yellow, and bitter." 



Sports or bud variations. These curious departures from 

 the normal form can only be mentioned incidentally in 

 this place, as they pertain more to variation than to 

 malformation. 



The occasional production of slioots bearing leaves, 

 flowers, or fruits of a different character from those 

 found on the normal plant, is a fact of which gardeners 

 have largely availed themselves in the cultivation of 

 new varieties. The productions in question have been 

 attributed to various causes, such as cross-breeding, 

 grafting, budding, dissociation of hybrid characters, or 

 reversion to some ancestral form, all of which expla- 

 nations may be true in certain cases, but none of them 

 supply the clue to the reason why one particular branch 

 should be so affected, and the rest not; Or why the 

 same plant, at the same time, as often happens in 

 Pelargoniums, should produce two, three, or more 

 " sports " of a different character. 



These bud variations may be perpetuated by grafts 

 or by cuttings, sometimes even by seed. AVith refer- 

 ence to cuttings a curious circumstance has been 

 observed, viz., that if taken from the lower part of 

 the stem, near the root, the peculiarity is not trans- 

 mitted, but the young plant reverts to the characters 

 of the typical form (Carriere). This circumstance, 

 however, is not of universal occurrence. 



For ftirther particulars on this . interesting subject 

 the reader is referred to Darwin's * Variation of Ani- 

 mals and Plants,' i, p. 373, where numerous references 

 are given, and wherein certain well-known and highly 

 remarkable instances, such as the Cytisus Adami, the 

 trifacial orange, &c., are discussed. 



