Tri folium Incarnatinn Ouadrifoliuiu. 22>7 



llie plant with nine 4- or 5-foliate leaves did not give 

 rise to a single anomaly amongst 300 seedlings. 



Amongst breeders of animals it is generally recog- 

 nized that the visible characters of an animal are of very 

 little use as an indication of its value for breeding. The 

 offspring which the animal has already produced afford 

 a much more reliable indication. 



On the basis of the choice of the seedlings, the 14 

 abnormal offspring of the seed-parent with 4% were 

 planted out in the beds in June 1897, together with the 

 seven next best plants. The latter produced very few 

 4- to 5-foliate leaves per plant, the first and 1 in eleven 

 cases, but 9, 9 and 4 in three cases. There was there- 

 fore no marked advance on the previous year in this 

 respect. 



The progress was just as inconsiderable in the harvest 

 of that year. The percentage of abnormal individuals 

 amongst the seedlings ranged in 1898 between 1 and 4% 

 and in one case reached 6%. On the other hand all the 

 (19) seed-parents investigated had at least one and usu- 

 ally two or more seedlings with a divided primary leaf. 

 But here again no relation was manifested between the 

 number of abnormal seedlings and the number of 4- 

 or 5-foliate leaves on the seed-parents which produced 

 them. 



227 seedlings were planted out, most of which were 

 perfectly normal at the time of flowering. I obtained 

 the following half-curve (1898) : 



Number of multifoliate leaves per plant: 12 3 4 5 

 Individuals: 188 29 7 1 1 1 



That is to say, about 20% of individuals with the 

 inherited anomaly in from 1 to 5 of the whole number 



