OF FIRST CROSSES AND OF HYBRIDS. ;>o 



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the sterility of crossed species mast be due to some princi- 

 ple, quite iiideijendeiit of natural selection. Botli Giirtner 

 and Kolreuter have proved that in genera includin;,Miuiner- 

 ous species, a series can be formed from species which wheu 

 crossed yield fewer and fewer seeds, to species wliich never 

 produce a single seed, but yet are affected by the pollen of 

 certain other species, for the germen swells. It is here 

 manifestly impossible to select the more sterile individuals, 

 which have already ceased to yield seeds; so that this acme 

 of sterility, when the germen alone is effected, cannot have 

 been gained through selection; and from the laws govern- 

 ing the various grades of sterility being so uniform through- 

 out the animal and vegetable kingdoms, we may infer that 

 the cause, whatever it may be^ is the same or nearly the 

 same in all cases. 



"We will now look a little closer at the probable nature 

 of the differences between species which induce sterility in 

 first crosses and in hybrids. In the case of first crosses, 

 the greater or less difficulty in effecting an union and in 

 obtaining offspring apparently depends on several distinct 

 causes. There must sometimes be a physical impossibility 

 in the male element reaching the ovule, as would be the 

 case with a plant having a pistil too long for the pollen- 

 tubes to reach the ovarium. It has also been observed tliat 

 when the pollen of one species is placed on the stigma of a 

 distantly allied species, though the pollen-tubes protrude, 

 they do not penetrate the stigmatic surface. Again, the 

 male element may reach the female element, but be inca- 

 pable of causing an embryo to be developed, as seems to 

 have been the case with some of Thuret's experiments on 

 Fuci. No explanation can be given of these facts, any 

 more than why certain trees can not be grafted on others. 

 Lastly, an embryo may be developed, and then perish at 

 an early period. This latter alternative has not been suf- 

 ficiently attended to; but I believe, from observations com- 

 municated to me by Mr. Hewitt, who has had great ex- 

 perience in hybridizing pheasants and fowls, that the early 

 death of the embryo is a very frequent cause of sterility in 

 first crosses. Mr. Salter has recently given the results of 

 an examination of about 500 eggs produced from various 

 crosses between three species of Callus and their hybrids; 



