RECORD: Anon. 1868. [Review of Variation]. Mr. Darwin's recent researches. Popular Science Review, vol. 7: 422.
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe. 7.2021. RN1
[page]422
Mr. Darwin has sent us two pamphlets, reprints from the Linnean Society's Journal, which show that he is continually adding to the vast store of botanical facts recorded in his work on Animals and Plants under Domestication. These memoirs are of too great length, and embrace too many important details, to admit of our giving a satisfactory abstract of them here. We therefore briefly record some of the conclusions of their author, and refer our readers to the Linnean Society's Journal (Botany, vol. x.) for further information. In one of the papers –"On the specific Difference between Primula veris, P. vulgaris, and P. elatior, and on the hybrid Nature of the common Oxlip" –Mr. Darwin proves, as we think satisfactorily, that the three first forms are specifically distinct, and that the oxlip is merely a hybrid. The results of the different "crossing" experiments are so lucidly tabulated, that the evidence in favour of the author's opinion may be seen at a glance. Mr. Darwin regards the oxlip as a hybrid between the cowslip (P. veris, Brit. Fl.) and the primrose (P. vulgaris, Brit. Fl.), as has been surmised by various botanists. He thinks it probable that the oxlips may be produced either from the cowslip or the primrose as seed-bearer, but oftenest from the latter, as he judges from the nature of the stations in which oxlips are generally found, and from the primrose, when crossed by the cowslip, being more fertile than the cowslip by the primrose. Mr. Darwin also demonstrates the specificity of Primula elatior. The title of Mr. Darwin's second memoir is sufficient to indicate the mass of valuable facts the paper contains, and the painstaking and laborious inquiries which have been undertaken by the author. It is "On the Character and hybrid-like Nature of the Offspring from the illegitimate Unions of dimorphic and trimorphic Plants." The plants dealt with here are Lythrum Salicaria, Oxalis rosea, Primula sinensis, P. auricila, P. vulgaris, P. veris, and Pulmonaria. The general conclusion which the author draws is one of the highest interest, for it in part solves one of the most serious objections (that of the sterility of species) raised against the theory of the origin of species by natural selection. This conclusion is. partially expressed in saying that the illegitimate offspring from an illegitimate union are hybrids formed within the limits of one and the same species. In proof of the importance of recognising the infertility existing between certain sexual forms of dimorphic and trimorphic plants, Mr. Darwin says: "If any one were to cross two varieties of the same form of Lythrum or Primula, for the sake of ascertaining whether they were specifically distinct, and he found that they and their offspring were extremely sterile, and that they resembled in a whole series of relations crossed species and their hybrid offspring, he would maintain that his varieties had been proved to be good and true species; but he would be completely deceived."Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
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