436 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 



[Vol. LIII 



species, a way of evolution which leads to the establish- 

 ment of dominant family types. 



The generic types appear to have their analogue in the natural family 

 types, and, since the origin of family types has occurred according to 

 certain laws, so will type-formation of hybrids, since it is not at 



forms in general are formed and have developed (p. 291). 



This brings Gartner to a further statement regarding 

 the possibility of recreating ancestral types, which is 

 especially interesting as a pre-Darwinian view upon evo- 

 lution. Referring to species of Lobelia, Lychnis, Dian- 

 tlius, etc., he says : 



type, or had become separated from one 'another through the subsequent 

 development of the one or the other individual, then it appears to be 

 highly improbable that they would not again unite in their ancestral 

 form through reciprocal crossing, or prove themselves to be analogous 

 types in hybrid breeding (p. 1G3). 



Gartner then arrives at one of the most striking con- 

 clusions in the older literature on the then so much 

 mooted species question, and which is the more interest- 

 ing because it takes the physiological rather than the 

 morphological point of view. He says : 



The essential nature of a species, therefore, consists in the definite 

 relation of its sexual forces to other species, which relationship, taken 

 together with the specific form, is a characteristic, individual and con- 

 stant one; for eveiy species, form and essence in this regard are one 

 (p. 163). 



Gartner frequently returns to a philosophical contem- 

 plation of the nature of the fertilization process in hy- 

 bridization, characteristically as follows : 



