198 THE BIOCOSMOS PARTICULARIZED. 



the same species are just alike, each has its 

 own individuality. Also each asserts itself 

 against the other, hence arises that struggle 

 of the individual, Plant or Animal, to exist 

 and to propagate itself the struggle for ex- 

 istence throughout living Nature, which has 

 been made so famous by Darwin. Every indi- 

 vidual Plant, therefore, differs from the rest, 

 varying in form; and this variation may be 

 its fate or its fortune, the pivot on which 

 turns its sweep to death, or to the continu- 

 ance of life as individual or as species. So 

 the Plant-form has specially in recent times 

 become very important not only in Botany 

 but in Natural Science, its problem being: 

 Can it preserve and propagate itself not only 

 as type but as peculiar individual? 



In this connection comes up the remarkable 

 experience of DeVries with his Evening 

 Primrose which he happened to find in a 

 potato field, seemingly a runaway from culti- 

 vation. In its freedom it was playing all 

 sorts of antics with its transmitted Form, of 

 which nearly every organ was varying from 

 what it ought to be by tradition ; in fact, new 

 organs seemed to be breaking out, especially 

 in the shape of fasciae and pitchers, though 

 these might be called malformations. This 

 variability sported even with the length of 

 life; ordinarily the plant was a biennial, but 



