252 



Non-Isolablc Races. 



generation there were no flowers with more than 14 

 petals. Now there are 38, distributed as follows : 



Petals 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 31 



Number of flowers 18 8 5 2 1 1 1 1 1 



It should be noted, however, that they were found 

 amongst a group of 4425, and therefore only amount to 

 about 1% (0.86%). But as not a single one w^as found 

 in 1891 amongst 243 flowers, a genuine, although only 

 a slight, advance has taken place. 



The great majority of the 295 plants which were 

 flowering in August and formed the 1892 culture, had 



5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 



Fg. 52. Ranunculus hulhosus semiplenus. Composition of 

 the fifth generation in 1892. A, the curve of some "ata- 

 vists" ; M, the curve of intermediate individuals ; V, the 

 group of extreme variants. The figures refer to the 

 number of petals per flower. 



individual curves whose maximum was at 9. But amongst 

 their number were variants and extreme variants also. 

 On the one hand there were *'atavists" with a maximum 

 on the ordinate of five petals, i. e,, with a one-sided curve, 

 as in those from the original locality ; on the other hand 

 there were variants on the plus side which bore on the 

 average eleven petals per flow^er. In one case even a mean 

 of 13 petals was reached. These curves were two-sided, 

 and not, as in the five-leaved race of the red clover, in- 



