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[March, 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE FERTILITY OF HYBRIDS. 
To the Editor of The Journal of Science. 
Sir, — In a contemporary of yours a correspondent ventures upon 
the bold statement that “of the 20,000 species of animals ” no 
two species have been found to produce fertile hybrids. Passing 
over the fadts that the known species of animals approach 
200,000 much more nearly than 20,000, and that not in one case 
out of one hundred has the fertility or non-fertility of hybrids 
been fairly studied, I would refer this writer to Mr. J. A. Allen’s 
“ History of the American Bison,” published in the “ Ninth 
Annual Report of the United States Geological and Geographical 
Survey.” On page 585 he will read that the “ buffalo ” (bison) 
interbreeds freely with the domestic cow, and that the half-breeds 
are fertile. — I am, &c., 
Truth-Seeker. 
BAMBOOS. 
To the Editor of the Journal of Science. 
Sir, — In Wallace’s “ Tropical Nature ” (p. 53) we read as 
follows : — “ The gigantic grasses called bamboos can hardly be 
classed as typical plants of the tropical zone, because they appear 
to be absent from the entire African continent .” This assertion, 
when the name of Mr. Wallace is connected with it, appears 
most extraordinary. 
On the West coast of Africa, and far in the interior, the huts 
of the natives are composed of split bamboos. The dwellings 
of those in the British Settlements certainly are. In a journey 
I made into the interior I found both cane and clay dwellings ; 
the fences of the private enclosure were almost invariably, I may 
say, of interlaced split cane. In the forests Ifmet not only with 
