3 2 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. VII, No. 2, 
must conclude that new species are produced sideways by other 
forms, and that this change affects only the produced and not 
the producer”. The Verbena mutant is an example exactly to 
the point. But in using the term “mutant,” I do not wish to 
be understood as necessarily accepting de Vries’ notions of the 
hereditary apparatus wihch produces mutants. 
The color of this mutant is probably a unit character with 
Mendelian dominance or recessiveness and for this reason the 
new race remains pure though growing together with the old. 
If the character is not Mendelian there must be some physiolog¬ 
ical peculiarity which prevents cross-fertilization as cross¬ 
pollination must certainly take place. Many generations must 
have preceded the present progeny and a considerable number of 
years must have passed since the origin of the first mutant. 
This mutant is not of hybrid origin. Hybrids between cer¬ 
tain species of Verbena are common but are easily recognized 
from morphological characters. No hybrids were found in the 
locality. A careful search was made in all directions from the 
mutant section but no other individuals were found except the 
one individual noted above. This could easily have been 
transported from the original locality. Whether the same 
mutation has occurred at other times or in other localities, I 
have at present no means of knowing. But it is not unlikely 
that it has appeared in other places also. 
Some have claimed that mutations have been observed 
mostly among domestic forms. This is true, because these are 
far more accessible for ordinary observation than wild species. 
But with proper investigation mutants may turn out to be as 
abundant in the field as in the garden. One must live in the 
field and be thoroughly familiar with the plants of the locality 
before he is likely to notice even the more striking mutations, 
should he be so fortunate as to pass by their isolated habitat. 
DeVries’ Oenothera lamarckiana was introduced into Europe 
from America. The species had thus undergone a great change 
of environment and objections have been made to some con¬ 
clusions based on the mutants of this species, yet it seems to 
me without reason. I have myself observed types of Oenothera 
biennis in Kansas which agreed with no descriptions given in the 
manuals. Moreover, the question as to what conditions are 
favorable to or cause mutation is not directly involved in the 
question of the fact of mutation. We have in nature most of 
the peculiarities of environment which we can produce arti¬ 
ficially and primarily it makes no difference as to the fact of 
evolution by mutation whether the elementary species arises on 
a virgin prairie from an indigenous species like the Verbena 
stricta mutant, or from an exotic plant cultivated in a highly 
artificial garden. Many of the most important principles and 
