Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
June,  1880.  j 
Call  say  a  Ledgeriana, 
It  must  be  well  understood  that  none  of  these  sorts  originated  '\n 
Java,  but  were  and  are  well  distinguished  as      best  "  and  'Hnferjor 
in  their  native  country. 
The  idea  of  any  of  them  originating  by  crossing  in  the  Java  planta- 
tions is  therefore  perfectly  illusory. 
If  asked  how  they  originated  in  their  native  forests,  the  answer  must 
be,  that  of  this  we  are  enitrely  ignorant.  We  approach  the  questioni 
so  well  investigated  by  Alexis  Jordan  as  to  the  varied  forms  of  Euro- 
pean flowers.  Although  I  have  described  the  Ledgeriana  as  a  variety 
of  the  Calisaya  vera^  it  is  only  as  conforming  to  the  present  state  of 
botanical  science  that  I  use  the  word.  It  is  as  consistent  with  com- 
mon sense  to  believe  that  by  fusing  together  a  half-crown  and  a  penny 
one  could  produce  a  sovereign,  as  to  believe  that  by  blending  inferior 
varieties  one  could  educe  the  Calisaya  Ledgeriana^  the  best,  by  far,  of 
all.  I  do  not  at  all  deny  that  hybridization  takes  place  in  the  planta- 
tions in  India,  nor  that  in  some  cases  good  results  may  follow.  The 
only  practical  inquiry  into  this  question  was  carried  on  by  Mclvor^ 
who  thought  he  had  attained  a  great  success  in  a  pubescent  hybrid,  from 
which  he  sent  me  some  good  bark  ;  but  when  afterwards,  with  much 
pains  and  care,  he  was  good  enough  to  send  me  a  section  of  the  tree^ 
it  was  quite  different,  and  a  correspondent  of  mine  in  the  Wynaad 
informs  me  that,  as  sent  to  him,  it  is  altogether  a  failure.  Specimens 
both  of  the  good  bark  and  of  the  tree  may  be  found  in  the  Museum. 
If  my  readers  will  take  a  map  of  South  America,  they  will  find  the 
distance  fjom  Coroico  (Calisaya  district)  to  Huanuco  (grey  bark)  is 
680  miles  ;  from  Huanuco  to  Loxa  (crown  bark)  is  500  miles  ;  from^ 
Loxa  to  Riobamba  (red  bark)  is  180  miles  ;  from  Coroico  (Calisaya)  to> 
Pasto  (Pitayo  bark)  is  1,400  miles  ;  and  from  Coroico  to  the  Lanci- 
folia  and  Cordifolia  district  is  1,500  miles.  We  need  not,  then,  sus- 
pect any  interference  of  the  pollen  at  these  distances.  In  fact,  all  that 
we  can  recognize  is  the  existence  of  permanent  allied  forms  ;  and  the 
difficulties  are  insuparable,  even  in  imagination,  in  conceiving  how  they 
could  have  diverged  from  one  centre.  It  is  like  the  attempt  to  find  a 
common  centre  for  several  intersecting  circles. 
It  is  no  doubt  very  inconvenient  to  the  systematic  botanist  to  admit 
this  ;  but  to  distort  facts  and  suppress  all  that  we  have  already  gained 
in  knowledge  of  nature  for  the  sake  of  system  is  simply  absurd. 
The  Calisaya  Ledgeriana  is,  then,  the  legitimate  descendant  of  the 
finest  sort  (or  sorts)  of  the  Bolivian  forests  ;  subsisting  even  there 
