348 Origin of Each Species Considered Separately. 



least so far back as 1896, had ancestors of no other type. 

 This ohlonga belonged to the 9th generation of the fam- 

 ily. It was biennial ; was self-fertilized and gave rise to 

 297 seedlings. Amongst these I found a single 0. albida ; 

 all the rest were 0. ohlonga. 



The third plant belonged to a lateral branch of the 

 Lamarckiana-family. In the pedigree on p. 224 five lata 

 plants will be found for 1888. One of them which had 

 a fine ascidia flowered in 1889; but its seeds were not 

 sown till 1894. This second generation was annual and 

 left to be pollinated by insects. In 1895 I raised from its 

 seeds 128 Lainarckiana, 18 lata, 3 nanella and 10 oh- 

 longa. Of the latter one plant flowered in its second 

 year, i. e., in 1896, in a parchment bag. Of its seeds 

 91 germinated and gave rise solely to ohlonga plants. 



These experiments show that the constancy of O. 

 ohlonga, when it arises as a mutant, is independent of 

 the character of its ancestors. These may ht Lamarckiana, 

 laevifolia, rnhrinervis, nanella, pure or hybrid, but the 

 ohlonga which arises from them is always pure from the 

 first generation; except, of course, that it has inherited 

 the mutability of its parent and has the capacity for 

 giving rise to other types (alhida, rnhrinervis). 



The total number of plants recorded in the experi- 

 ments of this year is 1747+16 + 297 + 91=2151. 

 I have sown seeds of the same mother plants in subse- 

 quent years, in 1899 and 1900 and always with the same 

 result. I have so far not harvested any seed of the 

 second generation because although the plants flowered 

 freely they were all annual and so produced only imper- 

 fect fruits. 



