414 V)e Vries* — On Bias trep sis in its 
eventually become possible thus artificially to grow them as 
annuals, and perhaps in time to establish an annual variety 
by selection. 
Sowing of September 17, 1892. The seed was harvested 
and sown on the same day : it was obtained from a plant the 
seeds of which gave 20 per cent, of twisted stems when 
cultivated in the ordinary way. Germination and the early 
stages of growth were quickly and satisfactorily gone through. 
The water-bath was heated until the middle of November; 
subsequently only the greenhouse was heated. At the end 
of January, 1893, the plants were put out into a cold frame, 
where they proceeded to form new leaves, those which had 
been formed in the greenhouse now dying off. In the middle 
of March they were planted out, and after the middle of April 
they were no longer protected by glass. 
At the beginning of June there were nineteen plants with 
vigorous shoots 50-75 cm. in height, and twenty-two rosettes. 
At the end of June the nineteen shoots were nearly two 
metres in height, and were as vigorous as average plants of 
my breed. The examination of these shoots showed (1) 
that eight of the plants had normal decussate phyllotaxis ; 
(2) that there were seven plants which, although their phyllo- 
taxis was decussate, had each a four-leaved whorl owing to 
the suppression of an internode ; (3) that there were four 
plants with slight and local twisting in the shoots which were 
otherwise straight. One of these showed well- marked twist- 
ing in one of the lateral branches. Hence only four plants 
out of nineteen (about 20 per cent.) showed slight and local 
twisting of the stem ; that is, just the same proportion as 
that of typically twisted stems occurring in a control-experi- 
ment h These four plants flowered in isolation and ripened 
seed before September 15, 1893 ; that is, within a year from 
the time of sowing. 
1 It should be remarked that in the control-experiments only the entirely, or 
almost entirely, twisted stems are counted : no attempt was made to ascertain 
whether or not slight local twisting of the stem would develop in the other plants, 
for most of these were dug up before they had completed their growth. 
