138 ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 



others living in a great variety of stations and countries — I have seen 

 no real tendency of H. linariifolium to pass into H. humifusum, still less 

 into H. perforatum. 



On the other hand, a very good example of really intermediate forms, 

 erroneously (in my opinion) considered as constituting a distinct spe- 

 cies, is afforded by the Daisy. In my early botanical days I was fami- 

 liar with the two extreme forms— .the large-flowered, long-leaved Bellis 

 sylvestris of the south of Prance, of which I dried rather largely, select- 

 ing (as is usual with collectors), the most characteristic specimens, and 

 our common, much smaller-flowered, and broader-leaved B. perennis, 

 which I never particularly examined, and which is reckoned too com- 

 mon a plant to be frequently preserved in herbaria beyond a single spe- 

 cimen. The difference between the two was striking ; and I adopted, 

 without hesitation or consideration, their established specific distinctness. 

 I subsequently received from Prof. Gussone his B. intermedia, which I 

 laid in, on his authority, as. a distinct species, the single specimen being 

 quite insufficient to enable me to form any independent opinion on the 

 subject. But when, in the autumn of 1846, I saw the neighbourhood 

 of Constantinople abounding in daisies of various sizes, usually fully as 

 large as the Montpelier ones, but sometimes much more like our 

 northern ones, and equally variable in the form of their leaves, I felt 

 much puzzled as to which species I should refer them to. In the fol- 

 lowing spring, in my Sicilian herborisations in Gussone' s own country, 

 I paid particular attention to these plants. The three supposed species 

 there appeared to me to pass most gradually the one into the other, the 

 intermediates being more abundant than either of the extremes ; and 

 since that time, in other parts of Europe, I have observed that where 

 either of the extremes grows alone, its distinctive characters are not 

 nearly so constant as they are supposed to be. I have thus been irresis- 

 tibly led to the conviction that Bellis intermedia and sylvestris are mere 

 varieties of B. perennis. 



In the above instances, the evidences of specific diversityjn the two 

 first, and of identity in the third, are to my mind conclusive ; and, as 

 further examples of cases where a conviction of specific identity has, 

 as it were, been forced upon me in opposition either to the views I had 

 at first entertained, or to those of a large number of modern botanists, 

 I would refer to Fumaria officinalis, Cerastium vulgatum, Rubus frutico- 

 sus, &c, which have all been the subject of long-contined observation, 

 and endeavours to maintain as distinct species forms which I have, in 

 my Handbook, reunited under the above names. There are, however, a 

 number of cases where the evidences, as hitherto collected, are so insuffi- 

 cient or so conflicting, as to render any satisfactory decision hopeless, until 

 carefully conducted experiments and observations shall have made us 

 better acquainted with the hereditary permanence of certain apparently 

 positive, but minute and unimportant characters. 



It may be observed, in the first place, that there are frequently two 

 nearly allied forms, of nearly the same geographical range, which are 

 found more or less in company with each other, retaining over the 



