[140 & 141]

July 31st 1878 to Aug. 1 4˚ P.m

very old & sick Leaf

Mimosa pudica (z)

[Figure]

[141v]

together; but the families themselves have been arranged not in any natural order, but in that which seemed was the most convenient for my purpose.

The experiments have been fully given, as the results seem appear to me of sufficient value to justify the details. Plants bearing hermaphrodite, flowers can be interbred more closely than is possible with bisexual animals, and are therefore well fitted to throw light on the whole subject of nature and extent of the good effects of crossing, and on the evil effects of close interbreeding or self-fertilisation. The most important conclusion at which I have arrived is that the mere act of crossing by itself does no good; the good depending wholly  on the individuals which are crossed differing slightly in constitution from their progenitors having been subjected during several generations to slightly different conditions, or to what we call in our ignorance spontaneous variability.