ACQUIRED CHARACTERS 69 



no way the same as germinal characters, for they fall 

 just as truly into the category of acquired variations 

 as do those which make their appearance in later life. 



8. WHAT VARIATIONS REAPPEAR? 



Returning now to Montgomery's question, "What 

 kinds of acquired characters are inherited?'* it is 

 apparent that only the "born" ones can be, which have 

 their roots in the germplasm whence the new individual 

 arises, and that "achievements" and "thrusts," in 

 order to reappear in the succeeding generation, can 

 do so only by first becoming incorporated in the germ- 

 plasm. 



Any character that is not acquired must have been 

 present in the germplasm from which the organism 

 arose, as there is no transfer of characters between 

 organisms except through the germ-cells. Thus it is 

 evident that the only inherited acquisitions are those 

 which, either primarily or .secondarily, bring about 

 variation in the germplasm. Such temporary acquisi- 

 tions as a coat of tan or a display of freckles do not 

 impress the germplasm, for when the cause that incites 

 their appearance is removed, they soon vanish. 



9. How MAY GERMPLASM ACQUIRE NEW CHARACTERS? 



In addition to mutation considered in the last chap- 

 ter, various sorts of rearrangement in the germplasm 

 may present something different. 



First may be mentioned the "amphimixis" of Weis- 

 mann, that is, the mixture of two nearly related strains 



