8 WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



Fuzz and fleece (the fuzz) and an outer coat, the wool proper or ftoss. In still 

 a third there is no fuzz, but a distinct floss. Of the first series, so far 

 as my knowledge goes, there are no cultivated examples. Of the 

 second, the fuzzy-seeded cottons, as a rule, necessitate the use of saw- 

 gins before the floss can be torn from the seed. Of the third, the floss 

 separates readily, and the seed is then spoken of as naked. (Cf. p. 27.) 

 These peculiarities are, I believe, almost sub-generic in value, 

 and there exist several purely wild cottons of each assemblage, as 

 well as many cultivated representatives. 



Cultivated Characteristics of the Cultivated Cottons. The first and most con- 

 venient eye-mark of cultivation is accordingly the production of a long 

 white floss in both the fuzzy-seeded and naked-seeded forms. Next, 

 the mixing of both these properties, a result which, so far as I can 

 discover, can alone have been attained by crossing or hybridising. 

 It is unknown in the wild state. This view, moreover, receives much 

 confirmation by geographical considerations. Wild naked-seeded 

 forms rarely exist in countries that possess wild fuzzy-seeded 

 species. The sporting or rather variability of a fuzzy-seeded into 

 a naked-seeded form, or vice versa, becomes accordingly an almost 

 certain proof of hybridisation is of necessity a case of ' reversion.' 



These are facts which it will be found I elaborate and emphasise 

 again and again, because they seem to me to demand careful con- 

 sideration. Ignorance of their value has been the stumbling-block 

 of many past investigators, due directly to having omitted to study the 

 wild species before they attempted to master the cultivated ones. 



