194] COPELAND—VARIATION OF CALIFORNIA PLANTS 423 
freak fern Ihave ever seen. From its occurrence in compact patches 
Tam sure it is as near as nature comes to a mutation in DE VRIEs’S 
ee And yet, examining hundreds of specimens, I have found a 
very complete series of steps connecting it with typical plants. Does 
= as that thorough search fills the series class this freak outside of 
discontinuous variations,where it would unhesitatingly be placed if 
Thad done less hunting? What fern in the series is just aberrant 
enough so that if found alone it would constitute a mutation? An 
answer should be possible if mutations and variations are distinct. 
Polypodium calijornicum with its veins all free exhibits variation 
not merely beyond the limits of the species, but beyond those of the 
Subgenus. That would be a mutation surely; but I have fiesta at 
e a and others with some anastomosing veins from the same 
- Zome; fronds with anastomosing veins on one side of the rachis and 
a. the other; and fronds with the two forms of venation variously 
7 eo among the segments. Among the fungi I have a ae 
~ but the : ag extra-generic variations, as the genera are now limited ; 
no cert oundaries are so artificial or dubious that most of panne: 
ain Interest at present. In a dozen or so American species 0 
a i spor es of the Uromyces type are common or at least ser 
ma “chons of Lenzites from a single log, I have specimens wit 
ny Connected lamellae, and others with all of them free, which by 
Shy would unhesitatingly be referred to Agaricaceae, and still 
This aed Suggestive of Irpex. Cars 
ions and 7 worth while to rehearse more instances . Ww sagas 
to me to ordinary variations cannot be distinguished; t = ge 
Vatiatio Prove the case as well as more would doit. If ~ : cae 
an nS were fundamentally different, it would be possible S 
Y one of these peculiar ferns that it belongs in one or the other cate 
eS the more copious the material the easier it would be to ia! 
. Classification; if it were but natural. But the more thoroughly 
‘ Collected and examined them, the more evident it has become 
. slight and extreme variations differ only in degree. ‘ ee : 
"ate that this evidence is not of the same kind as DE VRIES’S, = 
“S @ value in the study of heredity which mine absolutely lacks. 
*Goniophlebium was regarded as a distinct genus by BLUME, and is just now 
Testor, g 
*d to that rank by UNDERWOOD. : 
