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Ch. XXXVI.] 



European 



THE IIYBEIDISATION OF PLANTS. 



305 



'/ 



the other from the Indian 8us 



Indica. These varieties or si3ecies seem not yet to have been 

 distinctly recognised in a feral state, and the feral pigs of S. 

 America, Jamaica, and New Granada have each some pecu- 

 liarities.^ Under new climatal and other conditions they vary, 

 but they can only stand their ground by reacquiring many 

 lost characters which belonged to the original wild species. 



It is very commonly believed that when the seeds of fruit- 

 trees and garden vegetables spring up in uncultivated soils, the 

 plants revert to the likeness of the original wild stock ; but Dr. 

 Hooker observes that this is not strictly true. ' They degene- 

 rate and sometimes die out -, sometimes they become stunted, 

 and so far resemble their wild progenitors, but they do not re- 

 vert to the original type. Thus the Scotch kail and Brussels 

 sprouts, if neglected, become as unlike the wild Brassica Ole- 

 racea as they are unlike one another ; and our finer kind of 

 apples, if grown from seed, degenerate and become crabs but 

 m so doing, they become crab states of the varieties to which 

 they belong, and do not revert to the original wild crab-apple • 

 and the same is true to a great extent of cultivated roses' 

 and of the raspberry, strawberry, and most garden fruits ' f 

 This experienced botanist therefore concludes that the cha 

 racters of a variety are never so entirely obliterated that it 



claim 



How far do domestic races differ from wild species in th 

 cyac^ty to interlreed-Byhridisation of animals and plants 

 It IS now time to return to a question which was mooted at 

 tiie commencement of this chapter, namely, the freedom with 

 which al artificially produced races breed together, and how 



most 



tliem 



There are no less than 288 wild s-nppip« n-P +1.^ • 



:nily (C„«*) ., t ,et, although «!:" .f.l^lf =^°f 



very near to others in their characters, they will not Tfaras 

 experiments have Yet hepn +,-;o.1 • i A ' 



in this rps,i».t , , ' P™ together, presenting 



m this respect a marted contrast to those domestic races 



which, as hefore stated (p. 289), wonld, if found wUd, W 



* Darwin ' On Variation,' chap. iii. 

 t Hooker, ' Flora of Australia,' p. ix. 

 VOL. II. 



X C. L. Bonaparte, cited by Darwin 

 On\ariation,'p. 133. 



X 



