VARIATIONS, DDE TO REVERSION. 5t 



is with the whole seed in many fruits; thus near As- 

 trakhan there is a grape with mere traces of seeds, ' so 

 small and lying so near the stalk that they are not per- 

 ceived in eating the grape.' In certain varieties of the 

 gourd, the tendrils, according to Naudin, are repre- 

 sented by the rudiments, or by various monstrous 

 growths. In the broccoli and cauliflower, the greater 

 number of the flowers are incapable of expansion, and 

 include rudimentary organs. In the Feather hyacinth 

 (Muscari comosuiti) the upper and central flowers are 

 brightly colored, but rudimentary ; under cultivation, 

 the tendency to abortion, travels downwards and out- 

 wards, and all the flowers become rudimentary; but 

 the abortive stamens and pistils are not so small in the 

 lower, as in the upper flowers. In the Viburnum opulus 

 on the other hand, the outer flowers naturally have their 

 organs of fructification in a rudimentary state, and the 

 corolla is of large size; under cultivation, the change 

 spreads to the centre, and all the flowers become rudi- 

 mentary ; thus, the well-known Snow-ball bush is pro- 

 duced. * * * In these several cases We have a 

 natural tendency (!) in certain parts, to become rudi- 

 mentary, and this under culture spreads either to, or 

 from, the axis of the plant." 



Would it not be manifestly fallacious, if, when these 

 rudimentary parts became re-developed (which Darwin 

 asserts they are ever competent so to become) any one 

 were to take such re-growth, and use it as the basis 

 of a calculation of indefinite, or unlimited growth ? If 

 a person had cut his little finger, and then, observing 

 the reparative power displayed, had estimated, from the 

 degree of- repair which had occurred, within a week, 

 that, in a year's time, the finger would attain to the 

 thickness of his thumb, he would not commit an ab- 

 6 



