Artificial and Natural Selection 819 



strositieS constitute double races, consisting of 

 monstrous and of normal individuals. At first 

 sight one might be induced to surmise that the 

 monstrous ones are the true representatives of 

 the race, and that their seeds should be ex- 

 clusively sown, in order to keep the strain up 

 to its normal standard. One might even sup- 

 pose that the normal individuals, or the so-called 

 atavists, had really reverted to the original 

 type of the species and that their progeny would 

 remain true to this. 



My experiments, however, have shown that 

 quite the contrary is the case. No doubt, the 

 seeds of the monstrous specimens are trust- 

 worthy, but the seeds of the atavists are not 

 less so. Fasciated hawkweeds and twist- 

 ed teasels gave the same average constitu- 

 tion of the offspring from highly monstrous, 

 and from apparently wholly normal indi- 

 viduals. In other words the fullest devel- 

 opment of the visible characteristic was not 

 in the slightest degree an indication of better 

 hereditary tendencies. In unfavorable years a 

 whole generation of a fasciated race may exhibit 

 exclusively normal plants, without transmitting 

 a trace of this deficiency to the following genera- 

 tion. As soon as the suitable conditions return, 

 the monstrosity reassumes its full development. 



The accordance of these facts with the ex- 



