SECTION III: G. SCHOTTII 209 



Accordingly there would seem nothing to be surprised at, in reversions 

 (or recessive manifestations) being more frequent than variations 

 and sports. But to return to the ohm cotton. The bulk of the 

 Upland American stock of present day cultivation might be described, 

 and accurately so, as consisting of forms of G. mexicanum. We read 

 that repeated fresh supplies of seed have been procured direct from 

 Mexico. It would thus be no great stretch of imagination to assume 

 the possibility of hybridisation of the cultivated stock of Mexico with 

 the Yucatan G. Schottii or some other allied form. Hence it is quite 

 probable that King's Improved may itself be a hybrid of this nature, 

 the split-leaved plant which appeared as if a saltatory variation Recessive 

 being a recessive manifestation of the G. Schottii characteristics. a ti n. 

 It is equally possible, however, that the fresh seed, imported from 

 Mexico, may have been mixed and that the split-leaved plant had 

 survived in the States for some years (and even got hybridised there), 

 before its presence was recognised, just as the ' Hindi weed cotton ' 

 of Egypt is reproduced year after year. In fact it might be possible 

 to be a cultivated state of G. Schottii in which no hybridisation 

 existed whatever, a weed of not sufficient importance to attract 

 attention, which once mixed, the seeds could not very readily be 

 picked out from the supply reserved for future sowings. 



I take the liberty of reproducing photographically the sample of Cultivated 

 this interesting split-leaved cotton (See Plate No. 35) since it can 

 fairly well be accepted as a cultivated state of G. Schottii a plant 

 collected originally in Yucatan, some forty years prior to this reference 

 to its existence as a cultivated species. (Cf. with the remarks below 

 on Uplands p. 233.) 



But the interest in this split-leaved cotton is not confined to the 

 present instance. Todaro, it will be recollected, indicated two species 

 of ? wild cottons, namely G. fruticulosum and G. lanceolatum, found 

 by roadsides in Mexico. These plants, and the two additional forms The fuzzy 

 here described, constitute a closely allied group of Central American 

 cottons, with free bracteoles, and fuzzy seeds, that maintains to the 

 more highly prized New World staples an exactly parallel relationship 

 with the Asiatic and African groups, having united bracteoles and 

 fuzzy seeds. Lastly Todaro's G. microcarpum (of which mention 

 has already been made) is perhaps the earliest known cultivated 

 state which with safety can be spoken of as possibly derived in 

 part from this assemblage and which has assumed commercial 

 importance. 



