The Laws of Mutation. 247 



It now remains to give a short description of the spe- 

 cific character of this form. 



Scintillans cannot be recognized until quite late :^ as 

 a rule they could not be identified before the rosettes had 

 quite a considerable number of leaves about 10 cm. long. 

 The leaves are small, narrow and with long petioles ; 

 with shiny surface (whence the name), dark green, and 

 with hardly any trace of crumpling. The veins are 

 white and often broad. The ends of the leaves turn 

 down, so that the leaf makes an arch over the ground. 

 The stems never attain a great size ; they are thin and 

 l)ear short leaves; they produce flowers early, forming- 

 long spikes. The annual forms are usually only feebly 

 branched ; the biennial ones more profusely. The flow- 

 ers are small ; a little smaller or about the same size as 

 those of 0. biennis. As in O. Lamar ckiana, the stigmas 

 project beyond the anthers. The fruits are small, the 

 quantity of seed in annual plants is also small ; and many 

 of the plants begin to flower too late to set any seed 

 at all. 



The dark green color and shiny surface occurs on tlic 

 stem leaves as well, and gives the plant a peculiar a])- 

 pearance quite different from that of 0. Lamarckiana. 



§ 4. THE LAWS OF MUTATION. 



I propose now to recapitulate the conclusions which 

 I have drawn from my experiments. The various ele- 

 mentary species we have dealt with behave in essentially 

 the same way; so also does a secondary branch of the 



whose proportion in the first generation is unfortunately unknown, 

 seems also to point to some susceptibility of this proportion to factors 

 we do not yet understand. 



* Since writing this, I haA^e succeeded in recognizing them as 

 young seedlings, with only 2-4 leaves (Note of 1908). 



