Such, however, was not the
case. No propensity to vary in any definite direction could be observed.
Quite on the contrary, an average condition was quickly reached, and
then remained constant, strongly counteracting all selection.
Such experiences clearly show that the same anomaly may occur in
different species, and no doubt in strains of the same species from
different localities, according to at least two different standards. The
one is to be called the poor, and the other the rich variety. The first
always produces relatively few instances of the deviation, the last is
apt to give as many of them as desired. The first is only half-way a
variety, and therefore would deserve the name of a half-race; the second
is not yet a full constant variety, but always fluctuates to and fro
between the varietal and the specific mark, ever-sporting in both
directions. It holds a middle position between a half-race and a
variety, and therefore might be called a "middle-race." But the term
ever-sporting variety seems more adequate to convey a right idea of the
nature of this curious type of inheritance.
From this discussion it will be seen that the behavior of the crimson
clover is not to be considered [359] as an exception, but as a widely
occurring type of phenomenon, occurring perhaps in all sorts of
teratologic deviations, and in wide ranges of species and genera.
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