192 PRESENT-DAY RATIONALISM 



Let us now take a case of a suddenly "acquired size" 

 in a native plant. M. Hugo de Vries collected seed from 

 semi-wild plants of (Rnothera Lamarckiana and sowed them in 

 the Botanic Garden of Amsterdam in 1887. In 1888 a new 

 and dwarf form appeared among them. "Ces nains m'ont 

 donn^ de leurs grains une race que j'ai cultivee jusqu'en 1894." 

 He named it nanella. 



Similarly, in 1895, a new variety appeared which he called 

 gigas. By self-fertilisation he secured 450 plants in 1897, which 

 "sans aucune exception, avaientles caracteres decrits . . . pour 

 r (E not her a gigas. ... La nouvelle espece etait done constante 

 des la premiere generation, sans trace d'atavisme." 



He regards nanella as a " variety," but gigas and five others 

 he names "mutantes," as being of a higher character and equiva- 

 lent to new " species ". " On appelle ces nouvelles productions 

 des mutantes, comme on appelle des variantes les individus 

 differant du type moyen sous le rapport de la variabilite in- 

 dividuelle. Les mutantes sont les produits directs des muta- 

 tions, elles proviennent d'une autre espece et n'ont eu, parmi 

 leurs aieux, autant qu'on connait leur histoire, aucun qui ait 

 eu la meme forme." 



In M. Hugo de Vries' experiments ^ here quoted, he found 

 that actually new species — according to his opinion — appeared 

 suddenly (such was Qinothera gigas, a robust plant) and re- 

 mained fixed from the very date of their appearance. Darwin 

 had a somewhat similar experience with a tall white-flowered 

 Mimulus luteus, which came up in the third year, among his 

 sowings. It was so prolific by self-fertilisation that it com- 

 pletely outstripped the intercrossed plants in the proportion of 

 147 capsules to 100 of the latter.'^ 



The first and important observation is that selection had 

 nothing to do with either the appearance or continuance of 

 these forms. 



1 " Recherclies Expdrimentales sur I'Origine des Especes," Revue 

 Generale de Botanique, vol. xiii., p. 5 (Jan. igoi). 

 "^ Cross and Self-fertilisation of Plants, pp. 79, 348, 



