84 LINN&US AS AN EVOLUTIONIST 



of two species only: One the Beta mantima, 

 indigenous to Old World seashores, a wild 

 plant altogether, and never under cultivation, 

 and, in this wild condition not given to varia- 

 tion, but always one and the same thing. The 

 second species is Beta vulgaris, one not known 

 as a wild plant anywhere, but existing from 

 immemorial ages in gardens and fields as 

 a cultivated plant, and that under many 

 marked varieties. Now the short and easy 

 method of dealing with a genus like this 

 a method many an indifferent systematist 

 would follow would be to make the guess 

 that, as only one wild species is known, all 

 the cultivated things of that genus are but 

 so many varieties of the one species. The 

 whole tendency of Linnseus's mind was in 

 this direction, that is, of reducing both genera 

 and species to a minimum. But there was 

 a difficulty here with these two members of 

 the genus Beta, the simple and unvarying 

 wild kind, and the extremely variable one of 

 cultivation. The cultivated plant was hardy; 

 often ran wild, as it were, by escape from 

 cultivation; but these reverts never were 

 found to be equivalent to Beta maritima or 

 anywhere near it. The Beta vulgaris self- 

 sown and run wild for years, and greatly 



