258 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



from other cultivated species in being perennial. It is 

 sometimes called the Siamese melon. The Bon Jardinier 

 says that it comes from China. Dr. Bretschneider does 

 not mention it in his letter of 1 SSI, in which he enu- 

 merates the pumpkins grown by the Chinese. 



Hitherto no botanist has found it wdld. I very much 

 doubt its Asiatic origin as all the kno"wn perennial species 

 of Cucurhita are from Mexico or California. 



Melon — Giicumis Melo, Linnaeus. 



The aspect of the question as to the origin of the 

 melon has completely changed since the experiments of 

 Naudin. The paper which he published in 1859, in the 

 Annales cles Sciences Naturelles, 4th series, vol. ii., on 

 the genus Cucuriiis, is as remarkable as that on the genus 

 Cucurhita. He gives an account of the observations and 

 experiments of several years on the variability of forms 

 and the crossed fecundation of a multitude of species, 

 breeds, or varieties coming from all parts of the world. I 

 have already spoken (p. 250) of the physiological principle 

 on which he believes it possible to distinguish those groups 

 of forms which he terms species, although certain excep- 

 tions have occurred wdiich render the criterion of fertili- 

 zation less absolute. In spite of these excej^tional cases, 

 it is evident that if nearly allied forms can be easily 

 crossed and produce fertile individuals, as we see, for 

 example, in the human species, they must be considered 

 as constituting a single species. 



In this sense Citciiinis Melo, according to the ex- 

 periments and observations made by Naudin upon about 

 two thousand living plants, constitutes a species which 

 comprehends an extraordinary number of varieties and 

 even of breeds ; that is to say, forms w^hich are pre- 

 served by heredity. These varieties or races can be ferti- 

 lized by each other, and yield varied and variable products. 

 They are classed by the author into ten groups, which he 

 calls cantelowps, melons hrodes, sucrins, melons d'hiver, 

 serpents y forme de concornbre, Chito, Dudaim, rouges de 

 Perse, and sauvages, each containing varieties or nearly 

 allied races. These have been named in twenty-five or 

 thirty different ways by botanists, who, without noticing 



