The antagonism however, is not such in the exact meaning of
the word; it is rather a mutual exclusion, because one of the opponents
simply takes the place of the other when absent, or supplements [432] it
to the extent that it may be only imperfectly developed. This completion
ordinarily occurs in all possible degrees and thus causes the wide range
of the variability. Nevertheless it may be wanting, and in the case of
the double stocks only the two extremes are present.
It is rather difficult to get a clear conception of the substitution,
and it seems necessary to designate the peculiar relationship between
the two characters forming such a pair by a simple name. They might be
termed alternating, if only it were clearly understood that the
alternation may be complete, or incomplete in all degrees. Complete
alternation would result in the extremes, the incomplete condition in
the intermediate states. In some cases as with the stocks, the first
prevails, while in other cases, as with the poppies, the very extremes
are only rarely met with.
Taking such an alternation as a real character of the ever-sporting
varieties, a wide range of analogous cases is at once revealed among the
normal qualities of wild plants. Alternation is here almost universal.
It is the capacity of young organs to develop in two diverging
directions.
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