THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 29 
O. Laiiiarckiana but has a more robust stem, denser foliage, a 
broader crown of large, widely opening flowers and stouter flow- 
ering-buds. The fruits attain but one-half the length of those of 
plants of the mother species, and consequently contain fewer seeds. 
But the individual seeds on the other hand, are rounder fuller and 
heavier. Thi$ type originated in my cultures of 1895 as a soli- 
tary specimen, wdiich at first was overlooked. At that time I de- 
sired to hibernate some plants, and in the latter part of the au- 
tumn chose for that purpose twelve of the strongest and best de- 
veloped. It was only in the following summer, when the plants 
began tO' flower, that I noticed that one plant showed differences, 
the importance of which I did not fully realize until the fruits, 
on ripening, became much shorter and stouter than ordinarily 
was the case. It was only then that I placed the raceme in a bag 
so as to prevent fertilization w4th other pollen. Afterwards thi^ 
seed was collected separately and in the spring of 1897 sown in 
a flower bed between other beds sown with seeds of the normal 
Oenothera Lamarckiana. Immediately subsequent to germina- 
tion no difference was apparent, but when the third and fourth 
leaves unfolded it suddenly became evident that a new species had 
originated. All plants differed from their neighbors, were more 
robust and bore broader, darker leaves. Though two tO' three 
hundred in number, all evidently belonged to one distinct type. 
Not having at the time, paid special attention to the mother plant, 
I was unfortunately unable to compare the latter with the type at 
this age. But when, during the summer, first the stems and 
afterwards the flowers and the fruits, made their appearance, the 
agreement became perfect. All specimens closely resembled the 
mother, and together they formed the new species, Oenothera 
gigas. This species therefore was at once constant, even though 
it found its origin in but a single specimen. Evolved with a sud- 
den leap from the mother species, differing from it in general ap- 
pearance as well as in the character of its various organs, it re- 
mained unchanged. It was no rough cast which selection had to 
correct and polish before it coukl represent a distinct form; the 
neW type was at once perfect and needed no smoothing, no cor- 
rection. 
