152 Retrograde Varieties 



Many dark flowers have an intermediate bright 

 hued form besides the white variety, as in the 

 case of roses, asters, Nicandra and so on. 



Intermediate forms with respect to stature 

 may also be seen. The opium-poppy, the snap- 

 dragon, peas, the Nicandra, and many other 

 garden-plants have not only dwarf varieties, 

 but also some of intermediate height. These, 

 though they are intermediate between the tall 

 and dwarf types, cannot be considered as transi- 

 tions, as between them and the extremes, inter- 

 mediates are, as a rule wholly lacking. In- 

 stances of the same occurrence of three types 

 may be seen in the seeds of maize (^' Cuzco," 

 '^ Horse-dent " and ^^Gracillima") of beans and 

 some other plants. The Xanthium Wootoni, 

 above referred to, with only part of the prickles 

 of Xanthium commune is also a very curious in- 

 stance of the demonstration of the compound 

 nature of a character. 



Summarizing the conclusions that may be 

 drawn from the evidence given in this lecture, 

 we have seen that varieties differ from elemen- 

 tary species in that they do not possess anything 

 really new. They originate for the greater part 

 in a negative way, by the apparent loss of some 

 quality, and rarely in a positive manner by ac- 

 quiring a character, already seen in allied spe- 

 cies. These characters are not of the nature of 



