64 Elementary Species 



among existing forms, but numerous types are 

 crowded together in the southern part of central 

 Europe and more thinly scattered elsewhere, 

 even as far as western Asia. There can be lit- 

 tle doubt that their common origin is to be 

 sought in the center of their geographic dis- 

 tribution. 



Numerous other cases exhibit smaller num- 

 bers of elementary units within a systematic 

 species; in fact purely uniform species seem 

 to be relatively rare. But with small num- 

 bers there are of course no indications to 

 be expected concerning their common origin or 

 the starting point of their distribution. 



It is manifest that these experiences with wild 

 species must find a parallel among cultivated 

 plants. Of course cultivated plants were origi- 

 nally wild and must have come under the gen- 

 eral law. Hence we may conclude that when 

 first observed and taken up by man, they must 

 already have consisted of sundry elementary 

 subspecies. And we may confidently assert 

 that some must have been rich and others poor 

 in such types. 



Granting this state of things as the only prob- 

 able one, we can easily imagine what must have 

 been the consequences. If a wild species had 

 been taken into cultivation only once, the culti- 

 vated form would have been a single element- 



