40 Latent and Semi-Latent Characters, 



very best of all, 36% of its leaves being composed of more 

 than 3 leaflets. 



In the spring of 1892 I sowed the seed in pans in the 

 greenhouse attached to my laboratory instead of in the 

 beds as before. The advantages of this were (1) that 

 more seeds germinated and (2) that the examination of 

 the seedlings was greatly facilitated. They stayed in the 

 pans until the unfolding of the third leaf, were then 

 looked through, and the best ones transplanted into pots 

 with manured garden soil. Amongst the several hundred 

 seedlings there were 18 in which the quadruplicity was 

 already manifest among the first leaves. Only these 

 specimens were planted out; during the summer they 

 bore a large number of tetra- and pentamerous leaves; 

 and some 6- and 7- foliate ones, which appeared now for 

 the first time in considerable numbers. 



With this, the isolation of the five-leaved race of clo- 

 ver was brought to an end. The elaboration of the ordi- 

 narily latent or semi-latent character had been fully ac- 

 complished. The race could, like any other, be improved 

 by selection but it could not be expected to change its 

 character any further in the process. 



Of course I did not omit to effect this further im- 

 provement. But there was no point in paying further 

 attention to the characters of the adult plants, since dif- 

 ferences could now only be found in them by a statistical 

 examination of all their leaves. And it was found to be 

 practically impossible to carry out this scrutiny w^ith the 

 necessary detail, for the plants soon become too big to 

 be grown in pots. Therefore in order to make curves 

 it is necessary to defoliate the plants, and this can not 

 be done until after the choice of the seed-parents, whose 



