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hybrid by this term, but in this case it is not the same as „lhea bohea", 

 as Watt asserts. I am not personally acquainted with the views of tea 

 planters in India '); but if indeed what tiiey call „hybrid tea" is a mode- 

 rately large, vigorous bush, with leaves of average size and 10-14 pairs 

 of veins, as Watt describes it, then surely it is not ihe c\ass\c T. bohea^). 

 On the other hand, the herbarium samples quoted by Watt, are actually 

 genuine T. bohea but not hybrid, nor do they grovv on large shrubs etc. 

 but on low bushes with small leaves and less than 10 veins. So I présume 

 that Watt has composed one diagnose for two différent forms, one of 

 which has a Chinese, the other a hybrid oiigin. 



Ad 3.— Doubtlessly it will make a great différence whether a hybrid 

 between large- and small-leaved teas has dark- or light-coloured parents. 

 But 1 doubt if we do not enter too much into particulars by asserting 

 that the hybrid teas of the southern districts descend from Manipur X 

 China. We ought not to lose sight of the fact that we hâve no expéri- 

 mental data at al! about such crossings, and that morphological comparison 

 is no use hère. For instance, in the light of modem genetics it would 

 not be inconceivable that a dark-coloured hybrid resulted from a blending 

 of light-co\oureL\ Assam type X a Chinese race. Hence we shall remain on 

 the safest side if we clothe such hypothèses in the most gênerai terms. 



Hypothèses indeed ! for as l stated before, the above spéculations are 

 mère suppositions and guesses. For so long as positive facts are absent — 

 I will show in the sélection division of my paper that they are not easily 

 procurable — we may content ourselves with spéculation. We may as well, 

 perhaps we had even better, content ourselves without it. 



I will conclude this chapter with a spécial référence to the appendix, 

 where sub B an enumeration of ail the tea spécimens and their labels in 

 the herbariums of Kew, Berlin, Buitenzorg and Singapore, and sub A 

 a synoptical table of the varieties according to von Siebold, Miquel, 

 Hayne, Loureiro, Pierre, Kochs, Watt and Netscher & Holle^) will 

 be found. 



') In Java by „hybrid' or „Ceylon-type'' we desigiiate a form that in habit présents 

 the greatest likeness with the Assam races; the shrub is more vigorous and the leaf 

 is larger than in the Chinese teas; on the other hand, it flowers very profusely and 

 early, and in the aopearance of the leaf, which is smooth, rigid, faintly nerved and' 

 often curied upwards, the relationship with China type is revealed. As to the leaf 

 dimensions, TiCHOMiROW (1892, p. 290) gives the foUowing figures: length 100-140 

 mM., breadth 40-50; or 100-120 by 45; or 160 by 45 mM. 



-) Probably the hybrid that Watt „saw" being produced out of the cross viridis 

 X stricta, was such a spurious ..hybrid tea." But in this case it was not bohea. 

 Mark: Watt himseif says: ,. which in my opinion is bohea. or something very near 

 „that condition". 



^) Messrs. Netscher & Holle (1903) were sent to India by the „Cultuurmaatschappij 

 Parakan Salak", Java, in order to study tea culture and manufacture. In Calcutta they 

 applied to Sir D. Prain, director of the Bot. Gardens for information on the varieties 

 of tea. The characteristics given by him and published by thèse gentlemen are used 

 hère to supplément Sir Watt's ample diagnoses in some détails. 



