416 Ever-sporting Varieties 



a number of questions about heredity, period- 

 icity, dependency on nourishment and other life- 

 conditions, and even about hybridizing, which 

 may be answered by this new method. 



Seed-leaves show many deviations from the 

 ordinary shape, especially in dicotyledonous 

 plants. A very common aberration is the multi- 

 plication of their number, and three seed-leaves 

 in a whorl are not rarely met with. The whorl 

 may even consist of four, and in rare cases of 

 five or more cotyledons. Cleft cotyledons are 

 also to be met with, and the fissure may extend 

 varying distances from the tips. Often all these 

 deviations may be seen among the seedlings 

 of one lot, and then it is obvious that together 

 they constitute a scale of cleavages, the ternate 

 and quaternate whorls being only cases where 

 the cleaving has reached its greatest develop- 

 ment. All in all it is manifest that here we are 

 met by one type of monstrosity, but that this 

 type allows of a wide range of fluctuating varia- 

 bility. For brevity's sake all these cleft and 

 ternate, double cleft and quaternate cotyledons 

 and even the higher grades are combined under 

 one common name and indicated as tricotyls. 



A second aberration of young seed-plants is 

 exactly opposite to this. It consists of the 

 union of the two seed-leaves into a single 

 organ. This ordinarily betrays its origin by 



