16 LUTHER BURBAXK 



On this bai»i& alone I selected th. ir 



flower, put it in a plot by itself, gii t v 



encouragement, and determined that its pr 

 should live and perpetuate the particular straui 

 it represented; whereas but for this single 

 feature of vanstion. that individual plant would 

 in all probability have been destroired along 

 with hundreds of others. 



The development of the fragrant calls, then. 

 through artiflcial selection based on the recog- 

 nition of the value of fragrance as '"> «'?Hitioii 

 to the attractiveness of this flower sents 



in a small way and in epitome the histor\' of 

 the development of numberless races in nature 

 through the operation of natural selection. 



In this particular case, natural selection prob- 

 ably would not have resulted in the prodiK t. n 

 of a race of fragrant callas, because, as already 

 pointed out, fragrance of this character has no 

 value for this particular flower. It might cvrn 

 chance that the fragrance which to our scnscb 

 is exquisite would prove unattractive or even 

 repellent to the flies that normally frequent the 

 spathe of the calla and aid it in perpetuating its 

 species. 



In that case natural selection would certainly 

 insure the early destniction of the race of fra- 

 grant callas. It may well have been through such 



