The Mutations in the Lamarckiana-F amity. 229 



We may postpone further details of this case to a later 

 section and proceed to the following generalization as 

 being fully warranted by the evidence. 



A new elementary species can appear without any oh- 

 z'ious cause in a single individual and he absolutely con- 

 stant from the very outset. 



As I have already stated this form has appeared twice 

 again in my experiments. 



11. O. olbida. A pale green, rather brittle, and very 

 delicate form with narrow leaves; never attaining any- 

 thing like the height of 0. Lamarckiana and bearing 

 pale flowers and weak fruits which contain little seed. 



It appears every year in most of the cultures in larger 

 or smaller numbers ; as a young rosette it is immediately 

 recognizable. They are so weak that in the first gen- 

 erations I imagined them to be diseased and did not 

 record them ; that is the reason for the absence of any 

 mention of their occurrence in the years 1888 and 1890 

 in the table on page 224. 



In spite of their frequent appearance it was not till 

 1896 that I could get one of them to flower. I mention 

 this in order to allay any suspicion that crossing may 

 have been the cause of their repeated appearance, before 

 the 6th generation. 



All that remained of the 1895 crop in 1896 was a 

 single plant, which was consequently biennial. A few 

 isolated flowers appeared on it but they bore scarcely 

 any pollen and set no seed after I had fertilized them 

 with their own pollen and covered them with a paper 

 bag. 



In 1897 however I succeeded in getting five biennial 

 plants to flower; and in obtaining seed from them after 

 artificial fertilization. From these seeds I raised a 



