338 MONSTERS AND 



amount to monstrosities, the changes are never out 

 of the species. Several shoots of the pine often 

 come united together, so that two will be united 

 their whole length, and two pairs of these for half 

 the length, and they will curl outwards at the tips, 

 like the horns of a ram, or the sign (^ ) of the con- 

 stellation Aries upon the globe. Sometimes the 

 inosculation will extend to the pith of the two por- 

 tions ; and sometimes it will be only external ; but, 

 in all cases, the substance is the genuine product of 

 the pine. Cultivated plants are all more or less 

 monsters; the additional petals in double flowers 

 are the parts of fructification changed from their 

 proper forms, and their functions are changed along 

 with them. In some cases, the petals which are 

 formed out of the parts of fructification, remain of 

 smaller size than the others, as in anemones, and in 

 some varieties of dahlia, where there is a row of 

 large petals in the margin, and all those in the centre 

 are small. The anthers of roses not only change 

 *o petals, but in some instances they change into 

 leaves, or into the sepals of a calyx ; and there have 

 been instances in which an anther has changed into 

 an imperfect calyx, and displayed a small badly- 

 formed rose in the centre of the large one. A 

 growth from the stem of a potato will sometimes 

 change to a sort of tuber, even above ground ; and 

 if a plant of that species has proper room in good 

 soil, it may be made to put out successive crops of 

 tubers from the stem. 



The parts of animals also sometimes undergo 

 changes. Additional horns appear on sheep; and 

 callosities, resembling horns, are sometimes found 

 on the human body ; colours change ; and even the 

 shape alters, we sometimes cannot even guess why. 

 But in all these cases, the change, however mon- 

 strous it is, is never out of the species. The addi- 

 tional horns on sheep are still genuine sheep's horns, 

 whatever may be their position or shape ; and the 



