368 



Observations on Hybrids. 



being mules) between the Prunus Armeniaca, P. Cerasus, 

 and P. domestica : but I do not entertain much doubt of being 

 able to obtain an endless variety of perfect offspring between 

 the P. domestica, P. insititia, and P. spinosa ; and still less 

 doubt of obtaining an abundant variety of offspring from the 

 P. Armeniaca and P. Sibirica. The former, the common 

 Apricot,* is found, according to M. Regnier, (for a transla- 

 tion of whose account, we are indebted to Mr. Salisbury),^- 

 in a wild state in the Oases of Africa. It is there a rich and 

 sweet fruit, of a yellow colour. The fruit of the P. Sibirica, 

 seeds of which came to me last year from Dr. Fischer of 

 Gorinki, is, on the contrary, I understand, black, very acid, 

 and of small size : but nevertheless, if these apparently dis- 

 tinct species will breed together, and I confidently expect 

 they will, without giving existence to mule plants, I shall not 

 hesitate to pronounce these plants of one and the same spe- 

 cies; as I have done relatively to the Scarlet, the Pine, and 

 Chili Strawberries. Botanists may nevertheless, if they 

 please, continue to call these transmutable plants, Species ; 

 but if they do so, I think they should find some other term 

 for such species as are not transmutable; and which will 

 either not breed together at all, or which, breeding together, 



* The early period at which the Apricot unfolds its flowers leads me to be- 

 lieve it to be a native of a cold climate : and I suspect the French word Abricot, 

 the English Apricock, and the African Berrikokka, to have been alike derived 

 from the Latin word Prsecocia, which the Romans (there is every reason to be- 

 lieve) pronounced Praikokia, and which was the term applied to early varieties of 

 Peaches, which probably included the Apricot. The Greeks also wrote the 

 Latin word, as I suppose the Koreans to have pronounced it, UguxoKia. Hardouin's 

 Edition of Pliny, Lib. 15. Sec. xi. 



t See Horticultural Transactions, vol. hi. Appendix, page 23. 



