390 Origin of Each Species Considered Separately. 



whilst that of the other mutants (0. lata, 0. nanella, etc.) 

 remained at about 2 %. 



There is therefore in 0. scinfillans a highly fluctuating 

 degree of the hereditary capacity, if by this term we may 

 denote the different proportions in which 0. scintillans 

 is able to produce offspring like itself. 



The hereditary capacity can either be very small, or 

 about 35-40 %, or as much as 69 % ; the latter figure 

 being about twice as large as the formen In the case 

 of the former this capacity was essentially the same in 

 the second generation as it was in the first, and in the 

 case of the latter the difference was also very little. 



This is proved b}^ the result of the continuation of the 

 experiment we are dealing with (See p. 246). In 1898 

 about 30 plants were self-fertilized; they yielded a poor 

 harvest. The crop raised from 26 of them consisted of 

 about 2200 plants, i. e., about 90 per seed parent. The 

 hereditarv values for each of these are arrans^ed in the 

 following list in groups, as before. 



% SCINTILLANS NUMBER OF MOTHER PLANTS 



66—69 % 2 



71—74 % 2 



76—80 % 5 



81—85 % 6 



86—90 % 9 



92—93 % 2 



The average is 84 % and therefore even higher than 

 the 69 % of the previous generation. 



The average composition of the whole culture from 

 the 26 parent plants of 1898 was: 



