THE SNAP-DRAGON FAMILY 379 



further precautions against error, such, tor exanrple, as the 

 artificial pollination of the plants employed. 



Such a variable species as this is likely to give evidence of 

 some value for or against de Vries's Mutation theory 

 {v. p. 370), and it also throws some light on the wonderful range 

 of forms of Veronica sometimes found in a single locality. So 



Fig. 1'26. Veronica Tvaversii (j nat. size). 



numerous are these, and so difficult of discrimination, that 

 Baron Muller once proposed to solve all difliculties, hy lumping 

 together nearly twenty distinct types under one specific name ! 



Veronica monticola (Tlic Monntain-loviiuj Veronica). 



Leaves close-set, more or less overlapping, 3 in.-l in. long, J in.-.;, in. broad, 

 narrowed into .1 short, thick petiole, slightly concave above, but not keeled 

 beneath. Racemes 1 in.-li in. long, dense-flowered. Flowers white, J in. 

 across. Jlountain districts from Nelson to Otago. PI. Dec. -Feb. 



