The Making of Species 



Green Pheasant (P. versicolor) has been very 

 slight. 



It is, of course, open to anyone to assert that 

 such crosses are not true hybrids, as the species 

 are not fully distinct, but mere colour-mutations. 



The fact of the intermingling, however, is a fatal 

 blow to the theory of recognition marks, since it 

 demonstrates that merely distinctive colouring is 

 not a preventative of cross-breeding. To this 

 matter we shall return later. 



FERTILE HYBRIDS AMONG AMPHIBIA 



Our Crested Newt (Molge cristata) and the 

 Continental Marbled Newt (M. marmorata] 

 interbreed in France, in the wild state, and the 

 resulting hybrid was at first described as a 

 distinct species, under the name of Molge blasii. 

 These two newts differ greatly in appearance. 

 In the Marbled Newt the colouration is brilliant 

 green and black above, and shows no orange 

 below, thus differing much from that of the 

 Crested Newt, which is black above and mottled 

 with orange beneath, while the crest of the 

 breeding-male of this species lacks the notches 

 which are so conspicuous in that of the Crested 

 Newt. 



INSECTS 



Among insects, M. de Quatrefages states that 

 the hybrid progeny of the silk-moths Bombyx 



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