Gradual, Change, and by Guppy s Method of Differentiation. 621 
generic or specific. All this has been so long well known that it has become 
a truism, which people have accepted as an inexplicable fact, and ceased to 
think about. And, as in the case of other truisms, it is worth further 
investigation. 
Thus, for example, in many families the fact that the ovary is superior 
or inferior is a character of the highest value, constant throughout the 
family, yet in at least 32 families, viz.: 
Amaryllidaceae 
Anacardiaceae 
Araliaceae 
Aristolochiaceae 
Bromeliaceae 
Bruniaceae 
Campanulaceae 
Chloranthaceae 
Cunoniaceae 
Ericaceae 
Flacourtiaceae 
Gesneriaceae 
Goodeniaceae 
Haemodoraceae 
Hamamelidaceae 
Lauraceae 
Lecythidaceae 
Liliaceae 
Loasaceae 
Melastomaceae 
Moraceae 
Nymphaeaceae 
Pedal iaceae 
Phytolaccaceae 
Rhizophoraceae 
Rosaceae 
Rubiaceae 
Santalaceae 
Saururaceae 
Saxifragaceae 
Styracaceae 
Vochysiaceae 
there are exceptions to the rule, plants occurring with inferior ovaries in 
families that in general have superior, or vice versa. And in a few genera 
like Saxifraga one may find some species with superior, some with inferior 
ovary. 
It is at once noticeable in this list that these families are in general 
targe families, in which one would be inclined to expect, upon the 
Darwinian theory, more uniformity with respect to such a character. If it 
was settled by the early ancestors of Amaryllidaceae that an inferior ovary 
was the best, why did Lophiola in Atlantic North America, and Tribonanthes 
in South-west Australia, adopt a superior ovary ? And one may ask such 
questions over and over again. 
Or take, again, the presence or absence of endosperm, usually considered 
as one of the most important characters of all. It varies in at least the 
following 42 families: 
Acanthaceae 
Anacardiaceae 
Apocynaceae 
Araceae 
Cactaceae 
Celastraceae 
Chenopodiaceae 
Connaraceae 
Crassulaceae 
Elatinaceae 
Erythroxylaceae 
Flacourtiaceae 
Gesneriaceae 
Gramineae 
Icacinaceae 
Labiatae 
Leguminosae 
Loasaceae 
Meliaceae 
Menispermaceae 
Moraceae 
Nymphaeaceae 
Ochnaceae 
Oleaceae 
Onagraceae 
Plumbaginaceae 
Polygalaceae 
Rhamnaceae 
Rhizophoraceae 
Rosaceae 
Rubiaceae 
Rutaceae 
Sapotaceae 
Sterculiaceae 
Tamaricaceae 
Thymelaeaceae 
Tiliaceae 
Ulmaceae 
Urticaceae 
Verbenaceae 
Violaceae 
Zygophyllaceae 
Again these are, it will be observed, large and well-known families, with few 
exceptions. And in such genera as Erythroxylum one may find species 
placed side by side by the most recent taxonomists, one possessing endo¬ 
sperm, the other not. 
