172 LOTSY AND KUIPER, A PRELIM. STATEMENT OF THE RESULTS OF MR. 
„As I have emphasised in the course of narration of this species, the 
constant interchange of blood, the continued crossing of the wild red 
junglefowl with native birds, has brought an amount of variation in 
both habits and coloration which is unique among pheasants.” 
But BEEBE’s statements are not always so cautious as toenforceimpli- 
cit faith. On another place he says that all four species will cross with one 
another and that the hybrids are more or less fertile among themselves. 
Asa fact there is very little known about species-crosses within the ge- 
nus Gallus and nothing of lafayetti with either of the other species, 
nor of sonnerati with varius. 
It is very curious that BEEBE, who ascribes practically all variation 
of Gallus bankiva (see Genetica V p. 29) to crossing with domestic fowl 
and who says that all species of Gallus will cross with one another, 
still insists that all our domestic poultry has descended from G. ban- 
kiva and G. bankiva only, thus assuming an enormous variability of 
that species. 
A priori it is very unlikely, considering the very different localities 
from which for instance both barred and unbarred hens in the British 
Museum are represented, that at all those places crossing with domestic 
poultry should have occurred to such an extent, that practically the 
whole wild bankiva-stock had become affected. 
There is another reason to doubt this. All intercourse which 
BEEBE describes is by bankiva-cocks mating with domestic hens. The 
hybrid-chicks will consequently be nursed by the domestic hen and are 
not very likely to take to the jungle when adult and there infect the 
wild population, but will probably stay at home. We know that this is 
the case with the hybrids between domestic hens and varius-cocks in 
Java, so that, while it cannot be denied that visits of Junglecocks may 
introduce bankiva-blood into the domestic poultry of the native villa- 
ges, there is but little chance that the reverse shall take place to any 
considerable extent. 
Gallus bankiva, like any other Linnean species, evidently embraces 
a number of forms, among which, to mention peculiarities which are of 
importance in connection with this paper, cocks with a violet and such 
with a green gloss on tail or wing, cocks with a black and without a 
black median stripe on the hackles, and hens with and without cross- 
bars on the wing. Doubtless there are other differences within the limits 
of Gallus bankiva, so that the answer to the question put at the head 
