HISTORICAL 5 



Egyptian cotton in external appearance — for even when 

 grown side by side tliey are scarcely distinguishable — 

 is the natural result of their origin from two related stocks. 

 This absence of differentiating characters, excepting for 

 the lint itself, has been responsible for a fund of fatalistic 

 ideas about deterioration, which, though possibly 

 appropriate to the near Bast, are nevertheless untenable. 

 The " running-out " of varieties, miscalled inevitable, need 

 no longer be the bogey of the cultivator. A recognition 

 of the incontrovertible fact that the nominal varieties are 

 more or less heterogeneous complexes of heterozygotes, 

 even when first introduced to commerce, should enable us 

 in the future to dictate the history of Egyptian cotton 

 with greater definition than Mohammed AH could ensure. 



Systematy. — In this brief summary of the few 

 available historical facts, it has seemed advisable to evade 

 systematy, and the pitfalls thereof, by referring to 

 G. vitifolium (Cav.) as the " Peruvian type," and to 

 G. herbaceum annuum as the " Asiatic type." For 

 further details the reader should consult Mr. Fletcher's 

 article* and Sir George Watt's monograph. Though 

 opinions may differ as to the real importance of some of 

 these classifications, the latter book nevertheless forms 

 a standard and permanent record of specimens and 

 synonyms. 



The three main phyla of Gossypium are all represented 

 in the Nile Valley, for the weed " Hindi " cotton now 

 found in the fields is certainly on the same phylogenetic 

 line as the " American Upland stock," or G. hirsutum. 

 The author's inclination is to believe it to be a smooth- 

 seeded sport from G. hirsutum, since parallel cases are 

 well known in both the other phyla.t In any case, the 

 Egyptian " Hindi " is not homogeneous, but consists of at 

 least two forms, one hirsute, the other glabrous. 



* Fletcher (2). f Allard, H. A. (i), Fyson, P. F. 



