350 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [MAY 
and space in the garden. The line of work chosen by DAvis seems 
to me to be necessarily without any chance of success. 
Besides his experimental work, Davis has made some historical 
researches to discover the origin of O. Lamarckiana.™ Unfortu- 
nately, he has neglected to visit the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle 
at Paris, where the herbarium of LAMARCK is preserved, and where 
other valuable documents concerning the first appearance of our 
species are to be found. For myself I visited these collections in 
1895 and reported on the results of my investigations in my Muta- 
tion theory (vol. I. pp. 437-444 of the English edition). In Octo- 
ber 1913 I repeated my visit and compared the authentic specimens 
with the remarks made upon them by Davis. I regret to say that, 
through his ignorance of the available evidence, Davis has been 
led to conclusions which are fully contradicted by the herbarium 
material, both of the “Herbier de Lamarck” and of the “Herbier 
général” of the Museum. As we shall see, the origin of O. Lamarck- 
tana is the same as I have pointed out in my book. 
In the herbarium of Lamarck, O. grandiflora (Lam.), which 
later was renamed by SERINGE and called O. Lamarckiana, the 
name it still bears, is represented by two large flowering specimens. 
When I studied them in 1895, they were loose on their sheets and 
bore together the no. 12, indicating that they corresponded with 
no. 12 O. grandiflora of the Encyclopédie méthodique, Botanique, by 
Lamarck.” About 1900 they were fastened on new sheets and 
the numbers have been lost.% For convenience, I shall call these 
specimens A and B, the former being represented by our pl. XVI, 
while a photograph of B has been published by Davis.“ 
= Davis, B. M., Was Lamarcx’s evening primrose (Oenothera Lamarckiana 
Seringe) a form of Oenothera grandiflora Solander? Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 39:519- 
533- pls. 37-39. 1912; A much desired Oenothera. Plant World 16:145-153- 19%3) 
The problem of the origin of Oenothera Lamarckiana. New. Phytol. 12:233-241- 
1913. 
™ The Mutation Theory 1:442. rgor. 
* The herbarium of Lamarck was acquired by the Museum d’Histoire Natarell 
in 1886. Vergl. Bonnet, Ep., L’herbier de Lamarck, son histoire, ses V! 
son état actuel. Jour. Botanique 16:129-138. 1902. 
4 Davis, B. M., Was Lawarcx’s evening pri (Oenothera _Lamarckion? 
Seringe) a form of Oenothera grandiflora Solander ? - Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 39:519-53>" 
1912. See pl. 37. 
