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  Elementary 
  Species 
  

  

  among 
  existing 
  forms, 
  but 
  numerous 
  types 
  are 
  

   crowded 
  together 
  in 
  the 
  southern 
  part 
  of 
  central 
  

   Europe 
  and 
  more 
  thinly 
  scattered 
  elsewhere, 
  

   even 
  as 
  far 
  as 
  western 
  Asia. 
  There 
  can 
  be 
  lit- 
  

   tle 
  doubt 
  that 
  their 
  common 
  origin 
  is 
  to 
  be 
  

   sought 
  in 
  the 
  center 
  of 
  their 
  geographic 
  dis- 
  

   tribution. 
  

  

  Numerous 
  other 
  cases 
  exhibit 
  smaller 
  num- 
  

   bers 
  of 
  elementary 
  units 
  within 
  a 
  systematic 
  

   species 
  ; 
  in 
  fact 
  purely 
  uniform 
  species 
  seem 
  

   to 
  be 
  relatively 
  rare. 
  But 
  with 
  small 
  num- 
  

   bers 
  there 
  are 
  of 
  course 
  no 
  indications 
  to 
  

   be 
  expected 
  concerning 
  their 
  common 
  origin 
  or 
  

   the 
  starting 
  point 
  of 
  their 
  distribution. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  manifest 
  that 
  these 
  experiences 
  with 
  wild 
  

   species 
  must 
  find 
  a 
  parallel 
  among 
  cultivated 
  

   plants. 
  Of 
  course 
  cultivated 
  plants 
  were 
  origi- 
  

   nally 
  wild 
  and 
  must 
  have 
  come 
  under 
  the 
  gen- 
  

   eral 
  law. 
  Hence 
  we 
  may 
  conclude 
  that 
  when 
  

   first 
  observed 
  and 
  taken 
  up 
  by 
  man, 
  they 
  must 
  

   already 
  have 
  consisted 
  of 
  sundry 
  elementary 
  

   subspecies. 
  And 
  we 
  may 
  confidently 
  assert 
  

   that 
  some 
  must 
  have 
  been 
  rich 
  and 
  others 
  poor 
  

   in 
  such 
  types. 
  

  

  Granting 
  this 
  state 
  of 
  things 
  as 
  the 
  only 
  prob- 
  

   able 
  one, 
  we 
  can 
  easily 
  imagine 
  what 
  must 
  have 
  

   been 
  the 
  consequences. 
  If 
  a 
  wild 
  species 
  had 
  

   been 
  taken 
  into 
  cultivation 
  only 
  once, 
  the 
  culti- 
  

   vated 
  form 
  would 
  have 
  been 
  a 
  single 
  element- 
  

  

  