18 Mutual Independence of Hereditary Characters 



duction of staminate and pistillate branches in monoecious 

 plants are therefore due to a kind of splitting. The po- 

 tentialities, united in the young plant, separate from each 

 other in order to be able to unfold. And the grouping 

 of the hereditary characters in the separate branches and 

 organs shows a very great agreement with the combina- 

 tion of such characters to form the various specific marks 

 of related organisms. 



j. The Similarity Betzveen Secondary Sexual Characters 

 and Specific Attributes 



Continuing in a similar manner as in the previous 

 paragraph we will now take into consideration the sec- 

 ondary sexual characters, for they lead to exactly the 

 same conception of a specific character. 



This is most clearly seen in those cases where the two 

 sexes of one species, upon being first discovered have been 

 described as different species. 6 But otherwise, too, the 

 secondary differences between the individuals of both 

 sexes are of the same order as the differences between the 

 various species in the same and in allied genera. 



It is the same with those plants which bear flowers on 

 various individuals, the sex-organs of which exhibit con- 

 stant differences, the so-called cases of heterostyly. In 

 the Primulaceae we distinguish one form with long and 

 another with short style; in some species of flax there 

 occur three different forms of flowers in different indi- 

 viduals. 



Although here the individuals belonging to two or 

 three different groups of the same species are different 



6 Catasetum tridentatum has three different forms of flowers, 

 which were formerly considered to belong to three different genera : 

 Catasetum, Monachanthus and Myanthus. de V., 1909. 



