256 The Pedigree Fain Hies. 



O. gigas, O. scintillans, 0. ohlonga tend to become 

 biennial more than O. Lamarckiana ; and O. lata tends 

 to become less so; whilst O. nanella cultivated in the 

 usual way scarcely ever runs into a second year. 



This list could easily be extended, but for the present 

 it may suffice. 



To regard the new forms from another point of view, 

 some of them are fitter, some unfitter than the parent 

 form, and others neither the one nor the other. Until 

 experiments have been made with the new forms sown in 

 the field it is obvious that no definite conclusion on this 

 point can be arrived at : nor do the observations which 

 have so far been made on the plants growing in the field 

 at Hilversum throw any light on the subject. 



Nevertheless it is evident that the female 0. lata is 

 at a great disadvantage; and that 0. albida with its nar- 

 row leaves is, at any rate in its early stages, far too deli- 

 cate. O. rubrinerz'is looks quite robust but is very brittle 

 and liable to be broken. Annual plants of O. ohlonga 

 bear hardly any seeds, whilst O. nanella is very small and 

 its petioles are often brittle. All these forms appear to 

 me to be less fit as compared with O. Lamarckiana. 



On the other hand 0. laevifolia seems to be at least 

 a match for its parent; and O. gigas in many respects 

 superior to it : all its organs are larger and stronger and 

 apparently better adapted to perform their functions; 

 the whole plant is stouter. Sowings of this species in 

 the open should give favorable results. 



The forms which have not yet been described (0. 

 spathulata, suhovata, etc.) are hampered in the struggle 

 for existence by their almost complete sterility. O. sub- 

 linearis with its slender grass-like leaves is much too 

 weak in its early stages — and so forth. 



