FRUITFUL HYBRIDS. AL 
peculiar variety—or if you will have ,it, into a “good 
species ”—which is distinguished by a peculiar colour, a rat- 
like shape, small size, nocturnal life, and extraordinary wild- 
ness. The most important fact, however, is that this new 
species, which I call Lepus Hualey2, no longer pairs with its 
European parent rabbit, and no longer produces bastards 
with it. 
On the other hand, we now know of numerous examples 
of fruitful genuine bastards; that is, of mixings that have 
proceeded from the crossing of two entirely different species, 
and yet propagate themselves with one another as well as 
with one of their parent species. A number of such bastard 
species (species Hybridze) have long been known to botanists ; 
for example, among the genera of the thistle (Cirsium), the 
laburnum (Cytisus), the bramble (Rubus), etc. Among 
animals also they are by no means rare, perhaps even very 
frequent. We know of fruitful bastards which have arisen 
from the crossing of two different species of a genus, as 
among several genera of butterflies (Zygeena, Saturnia), the 
family of carps, finches, poultry, dogs, cats, ete. One of the 
most interesting is the hare-rabbit (Lepus Darwinii), the 
bastard of our indigenous hare and rabbit, many genera- 
tions of which have been bred in France, since 1850, for 
gastronomic purposes. I myself possess such hybrids, the 
products of pure in-breeding, that is, both parents of which 
are themselves hybrids by a hare-father and a rabbit-mother. 
T possess them through the kindness of Professor Conrad, 
who has repeatedly made these experiments in breeding on 
his estate. The half-blood hybrid thus bred, which I name 
in honour of Darwin, appears to propagate itself through 
many generations by pure in-breeding, just as well as any 
