612 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
and the complexity teers: is, therefore, 
infinite. To these elem riation mu 
also be added those — * our theme, e 
which at any moment may introduce a ne 
8 altogether, which oannot possibly be 
mputed to ancestral influence. In short, every 
individual, whether it be man, beast, fish, plant, 
or insect, will be found, if only closely enough 
studied, to have its own peculiarities, none 
being absolutely identical in every r 
Nevertheless, the principle of 
heredity is undoubted, so far as general resem- 
blance is concerned, and the probabilities are 
all in favour of the reproduction in the offspring 
of all the main characters of the parents, any 
marked peculiarity not simply accidental being 
almost 5 transmitted with greater or less 
distinctness, 
It is aen to this fact that when we leave the 
human race, which has an insuperable objection 
to allow its love affairs to be regulated by rule 
te these pecu- 
liarities generation after generation, to such an 
extent that in time two individuals of the same 
species, the products of selection on different 
gether unlooked-for new deol ti, i.e., the “ special 
formations” of our We e, appear, and form new 
lines of departure, of which the breeder other- 
wise would never have dreamt. 
ake as a common example the dog, where a 
on wolf or fox-like progenitor has been 
moulded mainly by constant careful selection of 
special points on divergent lines for countless 
generations, poima at last we possess such utterly 
differen the Newfoundland and the 
tiniest ra as er mere size, and the bull - 
dog and greyhound as extremes of dissimilar 
form. Among the dogs, howe sg there are 
strong probabilities that Nature's “jumps” have 
materially helped the breeder in attaining such 
intending results, Both the bull-dog, and the 
Dachshund a Turnspit presumably started as 
sudden “ 
No totaal r record, indeed, establishes this as 
a fact, but where we find identical types 
„ in other quadrupeds, 
this ee with. ne 
ewes, were not of intermediate 
to this, a true breed of 
the otter or ancon sheep called 
legs ented from i 
and this was deemed an adva antage worth per- 
petuating. As regards oye bull-dog, the pre- 
sumption of sudden origin is based on Precisely 
analogous data, since, — no date of origin 
exists, the Niata 
nated with the Amerioan Ind 
sion of the bull-dog, ost 
assuredly would not have bred up to i selection 
indeed, since, although a use has 
been found ‘for the ball-dog, and his points, 
therefore, are an advantage to him, the cattle 
are precluded by the form . Pad jaw from 
browsing on twigs and rushes as ordinary cattle 
do in times of drought, and hence unless arti- 
ficially fed at such periods the breed would be- 
come extinct, A very peculiar circumstance it 
is that the jaw should be so greatly modified 
in precisely the same way in both a ruminant 
and a carnivore, two so extremely opposed 
animals, 
Take as another familiar example, fancy 
pigeons. In these a dozen types could be brought 
together which if found wild in different parts 
of the world, no scientist would rank as belong- 
ing even to jhe same family, so diverse are they 
in every point. Yet every one of these is a form 
of the common blue-rock pigeon modifie 
continuous selection of differences, generally 
pecial crea- 
Strange to say, although this 
selective breeding has been carried on for ages, 
it still occasionally happens that eggs of even the 
most exaggerated types yield common blue-rocks 
when hatched, while partial reversions are so 
frequent that the breeder has constantly to be 
on the alert, not merely to improve his birds but 
simply to keep them true. There is little doubt 
indeed that were these highly modified animals, 
dogs, pigeons, or what not, turned out to shift 
for themselves, and deprived at once of the 
selective and protective care of man, natural 
selection would immediately commence to undo 
his work, and by reversing his process speedily 
restore them to their original types. Many un- 
doubtedly 
to survive in the general struggle for exiatenoe ; ; 
of the survivors, those nearest the wild forms 
wolf, fox, or blue-rock, would obviously — 
the best o ohance—henoe, Nature would favour 
every point of reversion, and these would, of 
course, go on accumulating until the fidrthal 
type was re-established, and all traces of human 
selection obliterated. Chas. T. Druery, F. L. S. 
(To be continued.) 
————_—_. 
NEW OR NOTEWORTHY PLANTS, 
IRIS PARKOR x, Di Ai inter. I. a 
feminam, et I. rolkowi masculam, arte 
genita). 
Prorsssor Foster has obligingly sent us 1 
of a lovely bearded Iris, raised by him out of 
paradoxa by I. Korolkowi. 
The prevailing tints of the falls are rich 
brownish - purple al blac ins bro 
purple on a translucent pale violet ground, 
are of thinner substance, and hay 
ee purple veins on a thin translucent violet 
It is impossible to convey an adequate notion of 
~ sn se of the flowers by any verbal eacripti 8 
or of comparison, 
de a is therefore appended in the f foot- 
From I, 3 the hybrid differs y its blunter 
sepals and nee. That species, n Gardeners’ 
ronicle, ay . pew T ais cream- 
sg i D I. paradoxa has deep lilac or 
purple flowers, with the falls ag ah 
are orter than the 
Iris Parkor x, Foster. —Perianth-tube slen 
der, 25 
long. Sepals reflexed, somewhat 1 oblong Foner 
P rounded, pale rosy-lilas; claw broad with median — 
eep purple, densely-crowded nes dise vel 
— onic ssa ve rety rich brownish- 
ng horizontally, 
— E ppor ones radiating, b broad, deep purple, fork. 
— x — Serect,5 by 22 cent., 
binner i b — | oblong dhiireia. zi 
violet, veins radiating, lowest brownish upper parola. —— 
op — —— ary veins tomosing, som ending in 
ts glabrous, hi urple, 
3 mill. long, Anther 15 mill. long, violet vane — 
emarginate, with a broad white 
3 pent, long 3-sided te connective. Ovary glabrous, 
* loam, leaf- mould, and sand. 
major is a a hardy pa for a pocket of the 
ROCK PLANTS AND 0 5 
Tue rockery here is a feature of the place z 8 
notice. 
under trees, in fact war will adapt themselves 4 
i teinia fragarioides is a god 
rockery subject, and 2 present our plants is a may 
of golden-yellow flowers ; 
e 
apien · 
lant for covering ledges of rocks 
or planting in crevices, being one of the best that I 
know of for 
and keep them moist at the roots during the 
I have counted as many as thirty-six flowering: 
stems on one small tuft of S. Burseriana during the 
early part of March. It is the earliest flowering 
variety that I know of, Primula villosa and P, 
marginata are interesting plants for the bie w 
grow them in good sandy loam ; and P, rosea 
gem if treated Ararati, and it is one of the vata 
to flower a will produ uce upwards of 
rease, divide two- 
the plants vrs 
ground-level, espeeilly if the climate be moist, lity 
house is a mass of flower perhaps in a 
balearica. 
which could be named for the “a 
I can well recommend the a following ve a 
and others of that 
either a8 oo : 
erium argen“ 
