THE WHITE BLACKBERRY 343 



ogy something like this: The big, luscious, 

 black Lawton blackberry proved prepotent when 

 crossed with the small brownish "Crystal White," 

 and the offspring were therefore all large lus- 

 cious black berries closely similar to the pre- 

 potent parent. But the qualities of the other 

 parent were latent in these oiFspring, and — the 

 tendency to variation having been stimulated by 

 the hybridizing of these different forms — the off- 

 spring of the second generation showed great 

 diversity, and a tendency to reversion to the traits 

 of the more obscure or less prepotent of the two 

 grandparents. 



In the still later generations, the conflict of 

 hereditary tendencies continuing, an even more 

 striking reversion, according to the principle of 

 atavism, took place in the case of a few of the 

 many progeny, bringing to light the pure white 

 berry, a heritage from its brownish ancestor. 



The Mendelian Explanation 



Now this, as I say, would fairly explain the 

 case of the white blackberry in such terms as 

 were universally employed at the time when this 

 interesting fruit was developed. 



But the evolutionist of to-day, considering the 

 same facts, would be likely to offer an explana- 

 tion in Mendelian terms that would have the 



