APPAEENTLY PECULIAE SPECIES 443 



was genuine pinnatifida, he gave it a new name taking for 

 granted it was a new species. So as 8. pinnat. does not at 

 Valparaiso vary into big pods I am more persuaded that 

 yours is a representative species of W. coast of N. America. 

 That neutral territory of representative species you ask 

 about is just what I want to work out, but it needs great 

 materials. 



Ever yours most truly, 



J. D. HOOKER. 



The following comes between Darwin's letters given in 

 M.L. i. 411 and 414, of which the latter is dated April 10, 1846. 



One of the great objects I had in view in my notion 

 above alluded to [of the distrib. of Galapagos plants] was 

 to group the plants according to their derivation, and I have 

 a class in reserve for ' apparently peculiar species, possibly the 

 altered forms of introduced plants.' It is quite true that in 

 most islands there is a lot of very dubious species, by no 

 means to be confounded with their countrymen, and not 

 polymorphous in the said island, but wofully near certain 

 continental congeners. Thus I would divide the Galapagos 

 plants into 4 groups : 1. Ubiquitous, e.g. Avicennia. 

 2. Of nearest continent, as Baccharis. 3. Possibly altered 

 state [illegible]. 4. Original creations, as Pleuropetalum 

 or Scalesia. The third group may not be a large one in the 

 Galapagos (according to my notions) but its acknowledged 

 existence is a matter of some importance. In the cases of 

 Madeira, the Canaries and Azores, said group 3 must be very 

 considerable. Such however is the difference of opinion 

 amongst Botanists as to what should or should not be a 

 species, that the question in any shape will be a troublesome 

 one, though not on that account to be dismissed unconsidered. 



I stumbled on a splendid fact the other day, that the 

 Lycopodium cernuum is only found in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of the hot springs in the Azores. When alluding 

 to its distribution at p. 114 of my Flora I dared not mention 

 that it was not known to be an inhabitant of Madeira or the 

 Canaries, as I thought it must turn up there ; now however 

 I do not expect it and feel sure that the presence of this 

 torrid plant in the Azores is due to the hot springs. What 

 I am most pleased at is the apparent proof of the universal 



