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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLVIII 



Unfortunately, after the seed had been collected, the plants 

 were destroyed, ha ving I ost their climax leaves. An attempt 

 to group them later with the aid of photographs failed, be- 

 cause photographs of all plants were taken during the 

 earlier stages only, i. e., before the appearance of the cli- 

 max leaves. Another classification, for which climax leaves 

 are not essential, and which is based upon the relative 

 width of the first six or eight leaves, yields for 54 plants 

 the proportion: "wide" 31, "narrow" 16, "linear" 7, the 

 ideal proportion, as since worked out, being 33:16:16. 

 The fact that the number for "linear," which represents 

 the form araclntoidea, is too small by 9, may be ascribed 

 to various circumstances, among others the fact that the 

 last row in the flat did not appear in the photograph upon 

 which the count was based. It is in the last row of a flat 

 one ordinarily meets with the smaller or at least less vig- 

 orous individuals and it is very probable that in this last 

 row occurred a large percentage of individuals belonging 

 to arachnoidea. Furthermore, not all the seedlings, but 

 only sixty, were taken in each case. Almost unconsciously 

 one selects the largest individuals when transplanting 

 from seedpan to flat. It is probable that in this process 

 there were eliminated a greater percentage of seedlings 

 of the linear form than of any of the others. Hence no 

 great weight can be attached to the proportion obtained. 



The collection of seed brought the work for 1910 to a 

 close. As far as I was aware, no forms similar to arach- 

 noidal had been either noted or described by any one who 

 had devoted his time to culture experiments with Cap- 

 sella. Neither Khull in America, nor Almquist in Swe- 

 den, nor Lotsy in Holland, has made mention of such 

 forms in their publications. The fact that no seed was 

 produced by the aberrant form seemed to hold out little 

 hope for the continuation of the cultures, and the sole 

 trace left by this new form, if taxonomic form it was, 

 threatened to consist of but a few photographs and some 

 alcohol specimens. A single possibility presented itself. 



o Lotsy, J. P., "VoriesuBgeil fiber Deszendenitheorien, ' ' 1: 180, Jena, 

 1906. 



