e and malignant attack.

LETTER 99. TO MAXWELL MASTERS. Down, April 13th [1860].

I thank you very sincerely for your two kind notes. The next time you
write to your father I beg you to give him from me my best thanks, but I
am sorry that he should have had the trouble of writing when ill. I have
been much interested by the facts given by him. If you think he would
in the least care to hear the result of an artificial cross of two sweet
peas, you can send the enclosed; if it will only trouble him, tear it
up. There seems to be so much parallelism in the kind of variation from
my experiment, which was certainly a cross, and what Mr. Masters has
observed, that I cannot help suspecting that his peas were crossed by
bees, which I have seen well dusted with the pollen of the sweet pea;
but then I wish this, and how hard it is to prevent one's wish biassing
one's judgment!

I was struck with your remark about the Compositae, etc. I do not see
that it bears much against me, and whether it does or not is of
course of not the slightest importance. Although I fully agree that
no definition can be drawn between monstrosities and slight variations
(such as my theory requires), yet I suspect there is some distinction.
Some facts lead me to think that monstrosities supervene generally at
an early age; and after attending to the subject I have great doubts
whether species in a state of nature ever become modified by such sudden
jumps as would result from the Natural Selection of monstrosities. You
cannot do me a greater service than by pointing out errors. I sincerely
hope that your work on monstrosities (99/1. "Vegetable Teratology,"
London, 1869 (Ray Soc.).) will soon appear, for I am sure it will be
highly instructive.

Now for your notes, for which let me again thank you.

1. Your conclusion about parts developed (99/2. See "Origin of Species,"
Edition I., page 153, on the variability of parts "developed in an
extraordinary manner in any one species, compared with the other species
of the same genus." See "Life and Letters," II., pages 97, 98, also
Letter 33.) not being extra variable agrees with Hooker's. You will see
that I have stated that the rule apparently does not hold with plants,
though it ought, if true, to hold good with them.

2. I cannot now remember in what work I saw the statement about Peloria
affecting the axis, but I know it was one which I thought might be
trusted. I consulted also Dr. Falconer, and I th