194 



The Origin of Species by Mutation. 



In the nursery gardens the same novehy often appears 

 simultaneously in different places; as for example Age- 

 ratiim mexicaniim naniim luteum which arose about 1892 

 in both Paris and Erfurt.^ 



There is a series of varieties on the market, of the 

 most diverse botanical species, of which it can be said 

 that it would be practically impossible for them to grow 

 wild. They have often been brought forward as evidence 



Fig. 39. a, Alnus gliitinosa lacl- 

 niata with fruits ; b, leaf of 

 Alnus slutinosa. 



Fig. 40. Rammculus acris pcia- 

 lomana, a form which has be- 

 come completely sterile by 

 profuse petal formation. 



From a plant found in a 

 meadow. 



for the view that varieties arise suddenly in cultivation 

 by so-called spontaneous variation or mutation. I recall 

 those fruits which cannot dehisce as Papaver somni- 

 feruni inapertmn and Linum usitatissinium (L. crepitans 

 is the only subspecies which open its fruits so as to scatter 

 the seeds). Then there are the large and heavy seeds of 

 cereals and some Legwninosae but especially of maize 



^ I was told this by Mr. Otto Putz., a nurseryman in Erfurt. 



