A REMARKABLE DAISY 323 



least observant. Many people, however, are 

 unaware of the wide range of variation shown 

 among wild species. 



It is sometimes assumed that color variation is 

 due to the cultivation of plants; and, of course 

 it is true that cultivation has resulted in develop- 

 ing races of flowers of diversified colors. But 

 it is not to be supposed that these colors could 

 have been developed in the short period 

 during which the plants have been under culti- 

 vation had not the materials for color varia- 

 tion been present in the various hereditary 

 strains. 



And it requires but the briefest search among 

 wild flowers to show that color variation is by no 

 means exceptional, but is, on the other hand, 

 quite the rule here, even as among cultivated 

 species. With a wild species, to be sure, there is 

 usually preponderance of one color or another, 

 because natural selection tends constantly to fix 

 or accentuate one character and to minimize or 

 eliminate another. In some respects the guide 

 marks on the flower seem as important as the 

 color itself. 



But that even under natural conditions it may 

 not make a vast difference to the plant whether 

 its advertising floral envelope, to attract the 

 attention of insects, is of one color or another, is 



