54 Latent and Sciiii-Laicnt Characters. 



be practically iKMliffercnce between the several iiitlivicluals 

 in each gronp, I calculated th.e mean fur the two sets in 

 percentages. 



Number of leaflets per leaf 3 



From seeds from garden soil 14 



" sandy soil 39 



Difference —25 



The effect of the treatment in the previous year is now 

 perfectly plain. The curves for both groups ha\e jjccome 

 unilateral but in the case of the better nourished ones 

 the apex is at seven, and for the others at three leaflets 

 per leaf. 



Conversely we may conclude that, in the experiment 

 described on page 47 and graphically exhibited in Fig. 6, 

 the atavists were produced by poorl}- nourished and the 

 maximal variants by highly nourished seeds. And the 

 following generalization about anomalies seems to be 

 justified: that the nutrition of the seed on the parent 

 plant is the most important factor influencing the devel- 

 opment of the anomaly (Vol. I, pp. 521-522). 



Let us now briefly summarize the results of this 

 experiment. I began by finding in the field two plants 

 belonging to a five-leaved race, which however as the 

 result of indifferent nutrition for several generations 

 only developed tetra-pentamerous and no 6-7-foliate 

 leaves. By better cultivation and by the continued selec- 

 tion of the most abnormal individuals, no doubt those 

 which happened. to have been best fed, a race was evolved 

 in the course of a few generations with a number of leaf- 

 lets per leaf varying between 4 and 7 round a mean of 

 five. After this selection had been repeated four or five 

 times maximal variants were produced the majority of 



