ell 



ell 



a 



) 



^ 

 \ 



1 i 



Ch. XXXIV.] 



TBANSMUTATION OF SPECIES. 



249 



transformed 



a new and distinct species.'^ 



TI1US5 for example^ if tlie seeds of a grass^ or any other 



m 



some 



hill^ where the soil^ although at a greater elevation^ is damp 

 enongh to allow the plant to live ; and if^ after havino- lived 

 there^ and having been several times regenerated^ it reaches 

 by degrees the drier and almost arid soil of a mountain 

 declivity, it will then, if it succeeds in growing, and per- 

 petuates itself for a series of generations, be so changed that 



with it will regard it as a particular 



meet 



species 



^ 



climate 



of nourishment, exposure to the winds, and other causes, 

 give rise to a stunted and dwarfish race, with some organ 

 more developed than others, and having proportions often 

 quite peculiar. 



. What nature brings about in a erreat lapse of time, we 



circum 



accustomed 



All are aware that 



vegetables taken from their birthplace, and cultivated in 



gardens, undergo 



changes which render them 



no longer 



same 



Many 



number 



as were creepers and trailed along the ground, rear their 



stalks and grow erect. Others lose their thorns or asperities; 



'om 



stem in the hot climates 



amonPT them, some 



In 



mere 



So well do botanists know 



circum 



averse to describe species from garden specimens, unless 



they are sure that they have been cultivated for a very short 

 period. 



'Is not the cultivated wheat' (Triticum sativum), asks 

 Lamarck, ^a vegetable brought by 



which we now see it? Let anyone tell me m what country 

 a similar plant grows wild, unless where it has escaped from 



■^ Phil. Zool. torn. i. p. 63. 



man 



