628 Mutations 



culture from the seed of the dwarf variety 

 " Jules Chretien." The seeds were taken from 

 introduced plants in my garden, and as the 

 sport has no ornamental value it is uncertain 

 whether this was the first instance or whether 

 it had previously occurred in the nursery at 

 Lyons, from whence the bulbs were secured. 

 Afterwards it proved true from seed, but was 

 very variable, exhibiting rather the features of 

 an ever-sporting variety. 



Another novelty was seen the first time in 

 several individuals. It was a pink sport of the 

 European cranesbill, Geranium pratense. It 

 arose quite unexpectedly in the summer of 1902 

 from a striped variety of the blue species. It 

 was seen in seven specimens out of a lot of about 

 a hundred plants. This strain was introduced 

 into my garden in 1897, when I bought two 

 plants under the name of Geranium pratense 

 album, which however proved to belong to the 

 striped variety. From their seeds I sowed in 

 1898 a first generation, of which a hundred 

 plants flowered the next year, and from their 

 seeds I sowed in 1900 the lot which produced 

 the sport. Neither the introduced plants nor 

 their offspring had exhibited the least sign of a 

 color-variation, besides the blue and white 

 stripes. Hence it is very probable that my nov- 

 elty was a true first mutation, the more prob- 



