16 
INTRODUCTION. 
characters. I refer to these authors for exam- 
ples so often met in gardens ; but I have chief- 
ly attended to this in the woods and fields 
where quite spontaneous. 
The process is by the seedlings being some- 
what different from the parents, and thus evinc- 
ing a deviation of typical mould, that may be, 
or may not be, propagated again. If it is, this 
soon assumes a permanence, becoming a per- 
manent variety if the deviation is slight, such 
as mere color of flowers, size of stem, leaves, 
See.; but becoming a New Species! if at last 
several deviations are permanently combined. 
A tendency to such deviations is sometimes met 
even in the various annual shoots of the peren- 
nial plants, or shrubs and trees, that are not al- 
ways alike to those of the preceding years. 
The specific deviations which I could men- 
tion are numberless, this work will be full of 
them, as all new species are in fact such per- 
manent deviations of growth, unless they are 
widely different from all former species. The 
oldest type of the species may probably be 
found in the most common with most numerous 
individuals, while those called rare or with few 
individuals as yet must be the newest in order 
of time. 
Generic deviations are more rarely observed 
or noticed, because less evident and very slow- 
ly produced, or not so easily propagated ; but I 
shall mention here some very striking instances 
of them ; while many more are to be met with 
in all the Genera, where the characters are 
polymorphous, expressed by SO . . . OR SO, 
3-5 fidis, 4-5 andris, 3-4 stylis, Capsule with 
4 or 5 valves, one or many seeds, & c. 
1. I have seen in a garden a Tulip with 5 
