650 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLV 



posites, especially Cosmos and Coreopsis. Some of my 

 earliest experiments, undertaken to study the effect of 

 selection on such deviations, yielded negative results. 

 De Vries 23 describes and illustrates a fistulosa variety 

 of Dahlia variabilis which appeared among his cultures. 

 Among chrysanthemums such "quilled" forms are not 

 rare. "Enterprise" is a variety which illustrates this 

 type and which not infrequently is met with at chrysan- 

 themum exhibitions. 



Next to gardens, cultivated fields, i. e., places where 

 a large number of individuals of the same species or 

 variety are grown, offer the best opportunity for the 

 discovery of new or aberrant forms. One only has to be 

 reminded of the case of the beardless Anderbeck oats. 24 

 In a similar manner there was found, among the numer- 

 ous alfalfa plants which occupy a large portion of the 

 acreage of the garden, a white-flowered specimen, the 

 flowers of which, on fading, became almost yellow. Since 

 then there were found in a neighboring field, a group of 

 such white-flowered plants. 



Color varieties are among the deviations most fre- 

 quently noted, perhaps because the resulting change is 

 particularly easy of observation. They occur both as to 

 flowers, as for instance in Lobelia syphilitica alba, Tri- 

 folium pratense album, etc., and as to fruits, as instanced 

 by Gaylussacia resinosa leucocarpa, 25 Vaccinium penn- 

 sylvauicum leucocarpum, V. corymbosum atrococcum f. 

 leucococcum, V. canadense chiococcum. 2 * "White straw- 

 berries of course are well known. Yellow-fruited vari- 

 eties exist of Ilex myrtifolia 21 as well as of Ilex opaca 

 and 7. verticillata. The Californian holly, Eeteromeles 

 arbutifolia, also has a yellow-berried variety. 28 Calli- 



23 De Vries, H., " Mutationstheorie, " 1: 480, fig. 134. 

 " De Vries, H., loc. ext., 59. 



25 Porter, Thos. C, "Additions to our Native Flora," Bull. Torr. Bot. 

 CI., 16: 21, 1889. 



"Deane, W., "Albino Fruits of Vacciniums in New England," Bhodora, 

 3: 263, 1901. 



* Harper, E., ' ' Ilex myrtifolia with Yellow Fruit ' ' Torreya, 2 : 43, 

 1902. 



™The American Botanist, 15: 49, 1909. 



