376 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [NOVEMBER 
hybrid, but, on the other hand, we find a large number of prominent 
biologists who hold a different view. In an article by MEEHAN (24) 
I find the following reference to Linnarus: ‘The great father of 
botany does not seem to have much, if indeed any, idea of sterility 
in his comprehension of the term. He believed that a large number 
of plants which he regarded as true species and to which he gave 
specific rank and specific names originated as hybrids. Thus we 
have Trifolium hybridum, Trigonella hybrida, Campanula hybrida, 
etc., among a large number of similar Linnean names.” OLIVER 
(25) remarks that ‘‘natural hybrids have been known for a long 
time and we have every reason to believe that they have existed 
when and where conditions were favorable for their production.” 
Recently Gates (26), in an article upon Oenothera Lamarckiana, 
writes as follows: ‘‘ Crossing must have taken place in the ancestry 
of Oenothera Lamarckiana as well as in other flowers which are open 
pollinated. Among open pollinated plants (and the same is prob- 
ably true for animals) there is no such thing as a ‘pure’ species, but, 
rather, many interbreeding races, whose combinations vary from 
generation to generation, make up the population.” Upon the 
animal side views similar to this have been expressed. In an article 
recently published GERouLD (27) has shown how important a réle 
hybridization has shown in forming species, and its relation to 
mutation. 
I might cite other references (such as BATESON 22, JANCZEWSKI 
28, CasTLE, Bacot, Provt, etc.) to show how various biologists 
consider the term species. However, perhaps the foregoing will 
be sufficient to give some idea of the difference in opinion concerning 
the matter. Suppose we grant that two such ideas of a true species 
can exist together, then are the angiosperms, or at least many of 
them, species in the same sense as those which we find among the — 
gymnosperms? In other words, is not the greater abundance of 
angiosperms as compared with the number of gymnosperms to be 
accounted for, to a large extent, through the formation of natural 
hybrids which breed true and have characters distinct enough to 
make them good species when viewed from the systematic stand- 
point? Certain families like the Onagraceae, Violaceae, Solanaceae, 
Rosaceae, etc., have long presented great difficulties to botanists. 
