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It is somewhat less than a mouse in size and has a tail like an emu's feather, its skin being of a dark brown. Fasciated Kangaroo. One only of this animal was seen on the plains of the interior. It is peculiar in its habits, in that it lies in open ground and springs from its form like a hare, running with extreme velocity, and doubling short round upon its pursuers to avoid them.
Respecting the hereditary tendencies these rich varieties with flattened stems may be put in the same category with the twisted races. Two points however, seem to be of especial interest and to deserve a separate treatment. The common cockscomb or Celosia cristata, one of the oldest and most widely cultivated fasciated varieties may be used to illustrate the first point.
I took for my experiment the rough hawksbeard. In the summer of 1895 I isolated some atavists of the fifth generation of my race, which, by ordinary selection, gave in the average from 20-40% of fasciated stems. My isolated atavists bore abundant fruit, and from these I had the next year a set of some 350 plants, out of which about 20% had broadened and linear rosettes.
In the next year this line becomes the base from which the stem grows. In such cases the fasciated stems are broadened and flattened from the very beginning, and often retain the incipient breadth throughout their further development. Some of these are so rare as to be considered as poor races, and in cultural trials do not produce the anomaly except in a very few instances.
"Wung-go-bah" describes the noisy pitta; "Wee-loo" the stone plover; "Coo-roo" the tranquil dove; "Piln-piln" the large-billed shore plover; "Kim-bum-broo" the fasciated honey-eater; "Calloo-calloo" the manucode; "Go-bidger-roo" the varied honey-eater, and so on. But it is of graceful form, and soft of flight as a falling leaf; the eyes are large and singularly tender and expressive.
If we compare these results with the effects of selection in twisted and fasciated races, we observe a marked contrast. Here they reached their height at 30-40%, and no number of generations had the power of making any further improvement. The tricotyls come up in two generations to a proportion of about 54%, which shows itself to correspond to the average type.
In unfavorable years a whole generation of a fasciated race may exhibit exclusively normal plants, without transmitting a trace of this deficiency to the following generation. As soon as the suitable conditions return, the monstrosity reassumes its full development.
Many monstrosities, such as fasciated branches, pitchers, split leaves, peloric flowers, and others constitute such ever-sporting varieties, repeating their anomalies year by year and generation after generation, changing as much as possible, but remaining absolutely true within their limits as long as the variety exists.
The cockscomb is the most widely known, but many white or double flowered varieties were already cultivated at that time. The striped Jalappa, the crested Sedum, the fasciated crown-imperial, white strawberries, red gooseberries and many others were known to Munting.
Obviously every gardener would select the seeds of the brightest crests, but with care the full crests may be recovered, even from the worst reversionists in two or three generations. It is a double race of quite the same constitution as the twisted teasels. My second point is a direct proof of this assertion, but made with a fasciated variety of a wild species.
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