Chap. XXII. 



CAUSES OF VARIABILITY. 



2G5 



that new characters actually arise. But we must not forget the 

 facts advanced in the thirteenth chapter, which clearly prove that 

 the act of crossing often leads to the reappearance or reversion 

 of long-lost characters ; and in most cases it would be impossible 

 to distinguish between the reappearance of ancient characters 

 and the first appearance of new characters. Practically, whether 

 new or old, they would be new to the breed in which they 

 reappeared. 



Gartner declares/ 4 and his experience is of the highest value on such a 

 point, that, when he crossed native plants which had not been cultivated, 

 he never once saw in the offspring any new character ; but that from the 

 odd manner in which the characters derived from the parents were com- 

 bined, they sometimes appeared as if new. When, on the other hand, he 

 crossed cultivated plants, he admits that new characters occasionally 

 appeared, but he is strongly inclined to attribute their appearance to 

 ordinary variability, not in any way to the cross. An opposite conclusion, 

 however, appears to me the more probable. According to Kolreuter, 

 hybrids in the genus Mirabilis vary almost infinitely, and he describes new 

 and singular characters in the form of the seeds, in the colour of the anthers, 

 in the cotyledons being of immense size, in new and highly peculiar odours, 

 in the flowers expanding early in the season, and in their closing at night. 

 With respect to one lot of these hybrids, he remarks that they presented 

 characters exactly the reverse of what might have been expected from their 

 parentage. 35 



Prof. Lecoq 36 speaks strongly to the same effect in regard to this same 

 genus, and asserts that many of the hybrids from Mirabilis jalapa and 

 multiflora might easily be mistaken for distinct species, and adds that they 

 differed in a greater degree, than the other species of the genus, from M. 

 julapa. Herbert, also, has described 37 the offspring from a hybrid Eho- 

 dodendron as being " as unlike all others in foliage, as if they had been a 

 " separate species." The common experience of floriculturists proves that 

 the crossing and recrossing of distinct but allied plants, such as the 

 species of Petunia, Calceolaria, Fuchsia, Verbena, &c, induces excessive 

 variability ; hence the appearance of quite new characters is probable M 

 Carriere 38 has lately discussed this subject: he states that Erytlirina cris- 

 tagalli had been multiplied by seed for many years, but had not yielded 

 any varieties : it was then crossed with the allied E. herbacea, and " the 

 " resistance was now overcome, and varieties were produced with flowers 

 " of extremely different size, form, and colour." 



From the general and apparently well-founded belief that the crossing 



34 ' Bastarderzeugung,' s. 249, 255, 

 295. 



35 ' Nova Acta, St. Petersburg,' 1794, 

 p. 378 ; 1795, pp. 307, 313, 316 ; 1787, 

 p. 407. 



36 'De la Fecondation,' 1862, p. 311. 



37 ' Amaryllidacese,' 1837, p. 362. 



33 Abstracted in < Gard. Chronicle 

 1860, p. 1081. " ' 



