468 On the Latent Capacity for Mutation. 



only sprung from a few individuals, the conclusion that 

 they may have been lost seems to me very probable. 



It is hardly possible to discover whether single plants 

 in my cultures may sometimes lose the power of giving 

 rise to particular mutations. The negative results of 

 the experiments do not enable us to decide. Far more 

 extensive cultures would be necessary to answer this 

 question definitely by experiment. 



Meanwhile I incline to the view that the separate 

 latent characters, which become visible by mutation, may 

 be lost sooner or later. 



§ 30. THE LATENT INHERITANCE OF OTHER CHAR- 

 ACTERS IN OENOTHERA LAMARCKIANA. 



The foregoing argument has led us to regard the 

 capacity for producing mutations as a latent heritable 

 property. The characters of the new species exist po- 

 tentially in the parent species but remain invisible until 

 they are called into active existence by definite external 

 causes.^ 



That this hypothesis bears strongly on the theory of 

 mutation and on our whole conception of the nature of 

 heritable characters is evident.^ 



For this reason, I have been trying for many years 

 to render the inheritance of latent characters accessible 

 to experimental study, not only in Oenothera but else- 

 where. The best material for this work seemed to be 

 afforded by monstrosities or teratological phenomena, 

 which used to be looked upon as something fortuitous 



'Variabilite et Mutabilite, Rapport du Congres international de 

 botanique, Oct. 1900, Paris, p.i. 



^ See Intracellulare Pangenesis, p. 16, and the second volume of 

 this work. 



