Strawberries. 99 



genus Fragaria and the genus Potentilla will be far 

 greater than it is at the present day. We are lucky 

 enough at this moment to be able to trace the close 

 connection between one rather abnormal potentilla 

 (the barren strawberry) and the true strawberry itself. 

 But if the barren strawberry and the Himalayan kind 

 were to disappear we should have no link between 

 the yellow-flowered, five-leaved, dry- fruited cinquefoil 

 and the white-flowered, three-leaved, succulent-fruited 

 strawberry. In nature, as it now stands, the ' missing 

 link' is fortunately not yet missing. Though still 

 essentially a potentilla in all important points, it yet 

 approaches so nearly to the true strawberry that Only 

 rather close observation enables us to perceive their 

 differences in certain stages of their existence. What 

 thus happens now with the strawberry has doubtless 

 happened at one time or another with every new 

 species of plant or animal ; but the special interest 

 of this case consists in the fact that here, in all pro- 

 bability, we still have the parent type living on in a 

 degraded form side by side with its more advanced 

 and developed descendant 



