Hcspcris Matronalis. 139 



tion is so continuous that it is almost impossil)le to ex- 

 press it in numl)ers. I have tried to arrange the plants in 

 groups and to count the numbers of each group. And 

 I give the numbers obtained in this way, only with the 

 object of conveying to the reader the general impression 

 which a bed makes on the observer, for it is inevitable 

 that the limits between the groups should be somewhat 

 arl)itrarv. Nevertheless I trust that I have succeeded 

 in keeping fairly well the same limits between the groups 

 during the successive years of my experiment, and this is 

 the most important point. 



For the purposes of these color valuations I picked a 

 flowering cluster, if possible the terminal one, from each 

 of the plants on a bed, brought them to my house and 

 sorted them there. I made out the following more or 

 less clearly defined groups : 



W. Whitish, always without stripes. 



VVi. Almost white ; buds and withering petals 



almost white. 

 W2. White suffused with lilac, not darker when 



withering. 

 [F3. Very pale lilac; buds lilac; only slightly 

 darker when withered. 

 L. Lilac, sometimes striped or spotted. 



L\. Definitely lilac, although pale; darker than 



Lo. Lilac; half as dark as V. 

 V. Violet, the color of the typical species. 



I shall now give the composition of the culture of 

 1898 which was raised from the seeds of plants with 

 whitish flowers. On July 14, I sorted 250 individuals 

 bv the method described and found : 



