IMPORTANCE OF MUTATIONS RECOGNIZED 523 



Importance of mutations recognized. — That some variations 

 are discontinuous has long been recognized. Charles Darwin, 

 noted for his theory of evolution, recognizedmutations, orsports 

 as he called them, more than a half century ago, but he did not 

 consider that they had a very important place in the origin of 

 new types or species of either plants or animals. In the latter 

 part of the last century, Bateson, an English botanist, and Hugo 

 De Vries, a Dutch botanist connected with the Botanical Garden 

 of Amsterdam, got the idea that mutations may have much to 

 do with the origin of new forms. De Vries {Fig. 471), through his 



Fig. 471. — Hugo De Vries, noted for his work on variations and other 

 biological problems. 



(Taken by permission from "Recent Progress in the Study of Variation, Heredity and Evo- 

 lution," by R. H. Locl£, published by E. P. Dutton & Co.) 



long and careful experimental investigations, has done most to 

 establish the idea that mutations are important in the origin of 

 new forms, and his work is so remarkable in methods and results 

 that it should be given special attention. 



De Vries conceived the idea that through careful observations 

 and experimental work one should be able to find species in the 

 process of forming, and by a study of them get some idea as to 

 how new species arise. He made a careful study of many species 



