47G ON SPECIEB 
long leaved stirps, what a different thing we should have 
had. I do think habit a perfect snare with many people ; 
we stereot^^pe an ideal habit and refer everything to it. Of 
the many people ready to swear and declare that they can 
never mistake an Oak, Beech, &c., &c., by habit, how many 
can prove their words ? 
You say that we are not to pronounce species the same 
because they are united apparently by certain forms of each 
— I grant this fully, but how are we to act upon it and deny 
local Botanists specific value to their small fish ? This is no 
good argument ; a better one is, that we do not know which 
is the originally created state that j^ou call the t3^pe, or that 
I call the connecting form. E.G., You may say Cedar and 
Deodar are distinct though apparently united by a few 
exceptional forms of each. I say no, the exceptional inter- 
mediate forms present no new character different from 
either. The original type cedar was intermediate in character, 
but is extinct, one extreme form is retained, driven to the 
top of Mount Libanus, and hence called Libani. Another 
extreme form is retained in the humid Himalaya. We 
cultivate the Libanus stirps which retain to a certain degree 
its rigid character, but often lose it. We also cultivate 
the Deodar stirps, and because beautiful we propagate by 
cuttings from the states most typical of Deodar, i.e. most 
extremely unhke Cedar, and propagate the error by artificial 
means. 
Kew : March 24, 1854. 
Deak Gray, — Very many thanks for your capital long 
letter, which begins by agreeing with me that, ' the subject 
does not admit of close reasoning ' ; and goes on with as 
pretty a specimen of admirable close, clear, and accurate 
reasoning as I ever wish to peruse. I only wish you had 
taken up the subject instead of me, for you throw out your 
grapnels with a judgment and precision that put my loose 
ratiocination (is that the word ?) to shame. You must 
(probably do) know that I am one of those cross grained 
fellows who, after building up a tall tottering castle, get 
sick of it and can't bear a kind friend coming to prop it up ; 
neither do I like an enemy to knock it down ; so there is 
no pleasing me but by praising my castle in the abstract, 
whether it stands or falls. 
