RELATIONSHIPS OF HtNt>T AND KGYPTfAN COTTONS. 39 



were very short and subtended by a small leaf, usually with one 

 stipule very much enlarged and often toothed, somowhnt like an in- 

 volucial bract. 



One of the most striking peculiarities in which tlie Xiam-Xiam 

 cotton agrees with the Egyptian is the tendency to enlargement of 

 one of the stipules of the leaves of the fruiting branches. It has 

 been noticed in Arizona that abnormally large strong-growing plants 

 of EgN'ptian cotton often have this tendency very pronounced, a fact 

 suggestive of the possibility that such plants may represent reversions 

 toward an ancestral form similar to the Niam-Xiam cotton. The 

 uiu'(iuai development of the stipules has been considered in relation 

 to Hindi hybrids, but such a tendency does not seem to be as i)r()- 

 nounced in the Hindi hybrids as in the Egyptian cotton and in this 

 African relative. Enlarged stipules are especially likely to be found 

 in Egyptian cotton on leaves of short branches produced from the 

 fruiting branches and may be connected with the tejulency of such 

 branches to prochice organs intermediate between the ordinary leaves 

 and the involucral bracts. 



^Yhi\e the Xiam-Xiam cotton must certainly be considered in the 

 study of the relationships of the Egyptian cotton, it seems more likely 

 to prove a collateral relative than a direct ancestor. It is very difficult 

 to believe that the Eg\'ptian cotton descended from a kidney-seeded 

 ancestor or from one that had the fruiting branches so shortened and 

 specialized as the Xiam-Xiam cotton. 



The most significant thing regarding these cottons from Mesopo- 

 tamia and central Africa is that they may add something to the evi- 

 dence of the existence of genuine Old World varieties of the Upland 

 type of cottons. The Upland variety from Cochin China recently 

 brought forward by Mr. Fletcher as an ancestor for our American 

 Upland cottons is also very interesting from this standpoint." 



As seen growing at Gizeh the Cochin China cotton shows a remark- 

 able resemblance to some of the Central American varieties and 

 especially to two types from the Central Plateau and the Pacific slope 

 of Guatemala, those that have been described as Pachon and Rabinal. 

 The Guatemalan Upland cottons and other related types from south- 

 ern Mexico show very close agreements with the Hindi cotton in 

 so many of the characters that a rather close relationship nnist 

 be supposed to exist. This renders the close resemblance of the 

 Cochin China cotton to the Centi-al American varieties all the more 

 interesting. 



The Cochin China cotton shows in Egypt the same bushy habit of 

 growth with many upright vegetative branches as the Central Ameri- 



" Fletcher, F. The Orighi of P^gyptian Cotton, Cairo Scientific .Tournal, vol. 2, 

 no. 26, November, 1908. 

 210 



