370 



Ob sere at ions on Hybrids. 



the Almond and Peach tree. I therefore waited till I had 

 an opportunity of observing, in the last summer, the blos- 

 soms of a second generation, which proved in every respect, 

 as imperfect as those of the first tree, and like those, afforded 

 fruit and perfect seeds with the. pollen of an adjoining Nec- 

 tarine tree. This result, which I did not anticipate, appears 

 interesting: but I hesitate in drawing, at present, any infe- 

 rences from it.* 



The vegetable and animal worlds present so much simila- 

 rity in almost every thing which respects the generation of 

 offspring, that the extent to which mules are permitted to 

 exist in the animal world, might have been expected to point 

 out the utmost limits of their existence amongst plants ; for 

 every animal is driven by its instinctive feelings to seek its 

 proper mate, whilst an unrestrained and unlimited inter- 

 course between plants is carried on by the incidental opera- 

 tion of winds and insects. But if the fruit tree obtained 

 from the Almond and pollen of the Peach be a mule, nature 

 has already permitted it to propagate offspring to an extent 

 scarcely, if at all, known in the animal world. I have, how- 



* Since the foregoing observations were addressed to the Horticultural Society, 

 a tree which sprang from a seed of a Sweet Almond and pollen. of the early 

 Violet Nectarine, has produced a profusion of perfectly well organized blossoms, 

 with abundant pollen ; after having, in the three preceding years, afforded im- 

 perfect blossoms only. If such pollen prove efficient, which I see no reason to 

 doubt, either the specific identity of the Peach and Almond, or the transmutabi- 

 lity of the two species, will be proved. But if the Peach be an originally distinct 

 species, where could it have lain concealed from the creation to the reign of Clau- 



