Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation Part 12

The existence of varietal colors in allied species obviously points to a common cause, and this cause can be no other than the latency of the pigment in the species that do not show it.

The conception of latency of characters as the common source of the origination of varieties, either in the positive or in the negative way, leads to some rules on variability, which are known under the names given to them by Darwin. They are the rules of repeated, h.o.m.ologous, parallel and a.n.a.logous variability. Each of them is quite general, and may be recognized in instances from the most widely distant families.

Each of them is quite evident and easily understood on the principle of latency.

By the term of repeated variability is meant the well-known phenomenon, that the same variety has sprung at different times and in different [243] countries from the same species. The repet.i.tion obviously indicates a common internal cause. The white varieties of blue- and red-flowered plants occur in the wild state so often, and in most of the instances in so few individuals that a common pedigree is absolutely improbable. In horticulture this tendency is widely and vexatiously known, since the repet.i.tion of an old variety does not bring any advantage to the breeder. The old name of "conquests," given by the breeders of hyacinths, tulips and other flower-bulbs to any novelty, in disregard of the common occurrence of repet.i.tions, is an indication of the same experience in the repeated appearance of certain varieties.

The rule of parallel variations demands that the same character occasionally makes its appearance in the several varieties or races, descended from the same species, and even in widely distinct species.

This is a rule, which is very important for the general conception of the meaning of the term variety as contrasted with elementary species.

For the recurrence of the same deviation always impresses us as a varietal mark. Laciniated leaves are perhaps the most beautiful instance, since they occur in so many trees and shrubs, as the walnut tree, the beech, the birch, the hazelnut, and even in [244] brambles and some garden-varieties of the turnip (_Bra.s.sica_).

In such cases of parallel variations the single instances obviously follow the same rules and are therefore to be designated as a.n.a.logous.

Pitchers or ascidia, formed by the union of the margins of a leaf, are perhaps the best proof. They were cla.s.sified by Morren under two heads, according to their formation from one or more leaves. Monophyllous pitchers obey the same law, viz.: that the upper side of the leaf has become the inner side of the pitcher. Only one exception to this rule is known to me. It is afforded by the pitchers of the banyan or holy fig-tree, _Ficus religiosus_, but it does not seem to belong to the same cla.s.s as other pitchers, since as far as it has been possible to ascertain the facts, these pitchers are not formed by a few leaves as in all other cases, but by all the leaves of the tree.

In some cases pitchers are only built up of part of the leaf-blade. Such partial malformations obey a rule, that is common to them and to other foliar enations, viz.: that the side of the leaf from which they emerge, is always their outer side. The inner surface of these enations corresponds to the opposite side of the leaf, both in color and in anatomical structure. The last of the four rules above mentioned is [245] that of the h.o.m.ologous variability. It a.s.serts that the same deviation may occur in different, but h.o.m.ologous parts of the same plant. We have already dealt with some instances, as the occurrence of the same pigment in the flowers and foliage, in the fruits and seeds of the same plant, as also ill.u.s.trated by the loss of the red or blue tinge by flowers and berries. Other instances are afforded by the curious fact that the division of the leaves into numerous and small segments is repeated by the petals, as in the common celandine and some sorts of brambles.

It would take too long to make a closer examination of the numerous cases which afford proof of these statements. Suffice it to say that everywhere the results of close inspection point to the general rule, that the failure of definite qualities both in species and in varieties must, in a great number of cases, be considered as only apparent. Hidden from view, occasionally reappearing, or only imperfectly concealed, the same character must be a.s.sumed to be present though latent.

In the case of negative or retrogressive varieties it is the transition from the active into a dormant state to which is due the origin of the variety. Positive varieties on the contrary owe their origin to the presence of some character [246] in the species in the latent state, and to the occasional re-energizing thereof.

Specific or varietal latency is not the same thing as the ordinary latency of characters that only await their period of activity, or the external influence which will awake them. They are permanently latent, and could well be designated by the word perlatent. They spring into activity only by some sudden leap, and then at once become independent of ordinary external stimulation.

[247]

LECTURE IX

CROSSES OF SPECIES AND VARIETIES

In the foregoing lectures I have tried to show that there is a real difference between elementary species and varieties. The first are of equal rank, and together const.i.tute the collective or systematic species. The latter are usually derived from real and still existing types. Elementary species are in a sense independent of each other, while varieties are of a derivative nature.

Furthermore I have tried to show that the ways in which elementary or minor species must have originated from their common ancestor must be quite different from the mode of origin of the varieties. We have a.s.sumed that the first come into existence by the production of something new, by the acquirement of a character hitherto unnoticed in the line of their ancestors. On the contrary, varieties, in most cases, evidently owe their origin to the loss of an already existing character, or in other less frequent cases, to the re-a.s.sumption of a quality [248]

formerly lost. Some may originate in a negative, others in a positive manner, but in both cases nothing really new is acquired.

This distinction holds good for all cases in which the relations.h.i.+p between the forms in question is well known. It seems entirely justifiable therefore to apply it also to cases in which the systematic affinity is doubtful, as well as to instances in which it is impossible to arrive at any taxonomic conclusions. The extreme application of the principle would no doubt disturb the limits between many species and varieties as now recognized. It is not to be forgotten however that all taxonomic distinctions, which have not been confirmed by physiologic tests are only provisional, a view acknowledged by the best systematists. Of course the description of newly discovered forms can not await the results of physiologic inquiries; but it is absolutely impossible to reach definite conclusions on purely morphologic evidence.

This is well ill.u.s.trated by the numerous discords of opinion of different authors on the systematic worth of many forms.

a.s.suming the above mentioned principle as established, and disregarding doubtful cases as indicated, the term progressive evolution is used to designate the method in which elementary species must have originated.

It is the [249] manner in which all advance in the animal and vegetable kingdoms must have taken place, continuously adding new characters to the already existing number. Contrasted with this method of growing differentiation, are the retrogressive modifications, which simply retrace a step, and the degressive changes in which a backward step is retraced and old characters revived. No doubt both of these methods have been operative on a large scale, but they are evidently not in the line of general advancement.

In all of these directions we see that the differentiating marks show more or less clearly that they are built up of units. Allied forms are separated from each other without intermediates. Transitions are wholly wanting, although fallaciously apparent in some instances owing to the wide range of fluctuating variability of the forms concerned, or to the occurrence of hybrids and subvarieties.

These physiologic units, which in the end must be the basis for the distinction of the systematic units, may best be designated by the term of "unit-characters." Their internal nature is as yet unknown to us, and we will not now look into the theories, which have been propounded as to the probable material basis underlying them. For our present purpose the empirical evidence of the general occurrence of [250] sharp limits between nearly related characters must suffice. As Bateson has put it, species are discontinuous, and we must a.s.sume that their characters are discontinuous also.

Moreover there is as yet no reason for trying to make a complete a.n.a.lysis of all the characters of a plant. No doubt, if attained, such an a.n.a.lysis would give us a deep insight into the real internal construction of the intricate properties of organisms in general. But taxonomic studies in this direction are only in their infancy and do not give us the material required for such an a.n.a.lysis. Quite on the contrary, they compel us to confine our study to the most recently acquired, or youngest characters, which const.i.tute the differentiating marks between nearly allied forms.

Obviously this is especially the case in the realm of the hybrids, since only nearly related forms are able to give hybrid offspring. In dealing with this subject we must leave aside all questions concerning more remote relations.h.i.+ps.

It is not my purpose to treat of the doctrine of hybridization at any length. Experience is so rapidly increasing both in a practical and in a purely scientific direction that it would take an entire volume to give only a brief survey of the facts and of all the proposed theories.

[251] For our present purposes we are to deal with hybrids only in so far as they afford the means of a still better distinction between elementary species and varieties. I will try to show that these two contrasting groups behave in quite a different manner, when subjected to crossing experiments, and that the hope is justified that some day crosses may become the means of deciding in any given instance, what is to be called a species, and what a variety, on physiologic grounds. It is readily granted that the labor required for such experiments, is perhaps too great for the results to be attained, but then it may be possible to deduce rules from a small series of experiments, which may lead us to a decision in wider ranges of cases.

To reach such a point of view it is necessary to compare the evidence given by hybrids, with the conclusions already attained by the comparison of the differentiating characteristics of allied forms.

On this ground we first have to inquire what may be expected respecting the internal nature and the outcome of the process of crossing in the various cases cited in our former discussion.

We must always distinguish the qualities, which are the same in both parents, from those that const.i.tute the differentiating marks in every single cross. In respect to the first [252] group the cross is not at all distinguished from a normal fertilization, and ordinarily these characters are simply left out of consideration. But it should never be forgotten that they const.i.tute the enormous majority, amounting to hundreds and thousands, whereas the differentiating marks in each case are only one or two or a few at most. The whole discussion is to be limited to these last-named exceptions. We must consider first what would be the nature of a cross when species are symmetrically combined, and what must be the case when varieties are subjected to the same treatment. In so doing, I intend to limit the discussion to the most typical cases. We may take the crosses between elementary species of the same or of very narrowly allied systematic species on the one side, and on the other, limit treatment to the crossing of varieties with the species, from which they are supposed to have sprung by a retrograde modification. Crosses of different varieties of the same species with one another obviously const.i.tute a derivative case, and should only be discussed secondarily. And crosses of varieties with positive or depressive characters have as yet so rarely been made that we may well disregard them.

Elementary species differ from their nearest allies by progressive changes, that is by the acquirement [253] of some new character. The derivative species has one unit more than the parent. All other qualities are the same as in the parent. Whenever such a derivative is combined with its parent the result for these qualities will be exactly as in a normal fertilization. In such ordinary cases it is obvious that each character of the pollen-parent is combined with the same character of the pistil-parent. There may be slight individual differences, but each unit character will become opposed to, and united with, the same unit-character in the other parent. In the offspring the units will thus be paired, each pair consisting of two equivalent units. As to their character the units of each single pair are the same, only they may exhibit slight differences as to the degree of development of this character.

Now we may apply this conception to the s.e.xual combination of two different elementary species, a.s.suming one to be the derivative of the other. The differentiating mark is only present in one of the parents and wanting in the other. While all other units are paired in the hybrid, this one is not. It meets with no mate, and must therefore remain unpaired. The hybrid of two such elementary species is in some way incomplete and unnatural. In the ordinary course of things all individuals derive [254] their qualities from both parents; for each single mark they possess at least two units. Practically but not absolutely equal, these two opponents always work together and give to the offspring a likeness to both parents. No unpaired qualities occur in normal offspring; these const.i.tute the essential features of the hybrids of species and are at the same time the cause of their wide deviations from the ordinary rules.

Turning now to the varieties, we likewise need discuss their differentiating marks only. In the negative types, these consist of the apparent loss of some quality which was active in the species. But it was pointed out in our last lecture that such a change is an apparent loss. On a closer inquiry we are led to the a.s.sumption of a latent or dormant state. The presumably lost characters have not absolutely, or at least not permanently disappeared. They show their presence by some slight indication of the quality they represent, or by occasional reversions. They are not wanting, but only latent.

Basing our discussion concerning the process of crossing on this conception, and still limiting the discussion to one differentiating mark, we come to the inference, that this mark is present and active in the species, and present but dormant in the variety. Thus it is present in both, and as all other characters not differentiating [255] find their mates in the cross, so these two will also meet one another. They will unite just as well as though they were both active or both dormant.

For essentially they are the same, only differing in their degree of activity. From this we can infer, that in the crossing of varieties, no unpaired remainder is left, all units combining in pairs exactly as in ordinary fertilization.

Setting aside the contrast between activity and latency in this single pair, the procedure in the inter-crossing of varieties is the same as in ordinary normal fertilization.

Summarizing this discussion we may conclude that in normal fertilization and in the inter-crossing of varieties all characters are paired, while in crosses between elementary species the differentiating marks are not mated.

In order to distinguish these two great types of fertilization we will use the term bis.e.xual for the one and unis.e.xual for the other. The term balanced crosses then conveys the idea of complete bis.e.xuality, all unit-characters combining in pairs. Unbalanced crosses are those in which one or more units do not find their mates and therefore remain unpaired. This distinction was proposed by Macfarlane when studying the minute structure of plant-hybrids in comparison with that of their parents (1892).

[256] In the first place it shows that a species hybrid may inherit the distinguis.h.i.+ng marks of both parents. In this way it may become intermediate between them, having some characters in common with the pollen-parent and others with the pistil-parent. As far as these characters do not interfere with each other, they may be fully developed side by side, and in the main this is the way in which hybrid characters are evolved. But in most cases our existing knowledge of the units is far too slender to give a complete a.n.a.lysis, even of these distinguis.h.i.+ng marks alone. We recognize the parental marks more or less clearly, but are not prepared for exact delimitations. Leaving these theoretical considerations, we will pa.s.s to the description of some ill.u.s.trative examples.

In the first place I will describe a hybrid between two species of _Oenothera_, which I made some years ago. The parents were the common evening-primrose or _Oenothera biennis_ and of its small-flowered congener, _Oenothera muricata_. These two forms were distinguished by Linnaeus as different species, but have been considered by subsequent writers as elementary species or so-called systematic varieties of one species designated with the name of the presumably older type, the _O.

biennis_. Varietal differences in a physiologic sense they [257] do not possess, and for this reason afford a pure instance of unbalanced union, though differing in more than one point.

I have made reciprocal crosses, taking at one time the small-flowered and at the other the common species as pistillate parent. These crosses do not lead to the same hybrid as is ordinarily observed in a.n.a.logous cases; quite on the contrary, the two types are different in most features, both resembling the pollen-parent far more than the pistil-parent. The same curious result was reached in sundry other reciprocal crosses between species of this genus. But I will limit myself here to one of the two hybrids.

In the summer of 1895 I castrated some flowers of _O. muricata_, and pollinated them with _O. biennis_, surrounding the flowers with paper bags so as to exclude the visits of insects. I sowed the seeds in 1896 and the hybrids were biennial and flowered abundantly the next year and were artificially fertilized with their own pollen, but gave only a very small harvest. Many capsules failed, and the remaining contained only some few ripe seeds.

From these I had in the following year the second hybrid generation, and in the same way I cultivated also the third and fourth. These were as imperfectly fertile as the first, and in [258] some years did not give any seed at all, so that the operation had to be repeated in order to continue the experiment. Last summer (1903) I had a nice lot of some 25 biennial specimens blooming abundantly. All in all I have grown some 500 hybrids, and of these about 150 specimens flowered.

These plants were all of the same type, resembling in most points the pollen-parent, and in some others the pistil-parent of the original cross. The most obvious characteristic marks are afforded by the flowers, which in _O. muricata_ are not half so large as in _biennis_, though borne by a calyx-tube of the same length. In this respect the hybrid is like the _biennis_ bearing the larger flowers. These may at times seem to deviate a little in the direction of the other parent, being somewhat smaller and of a slightly paler color. But it is very difficult to distinguish between them, and if _biennis_ and hybrid flowers were separated from the plants and thrown together, it is very doubtful whether one would succeed in separating them.

The next point is offered by the foliage. The leaves of _O. biennis_ are broad, those of _O. muricata_ narrow. The hybrid has the broad leaves of _O. biennis_ during most of its life and at the time of flowering. Yet small deviations in the [259] direction of the other parent are not wanting, and in winter the leaves of the hybrid rosettes are often much narrower than those of _O. biennis_, and easily distinguishable from both parents. A third distinction consists in the density of the spike.

The distance between the insertion of the flowers of _O. biennis_ is great when compared with that of _O. muricata_. Hence the flowers of the latter species are more crowded and those of _O. biennis_ more dispersed, the spikes of the first being densely crowned with flowers and flower-buds while those of _O. biennis_ are more elongated and slender. As a further consequence the _O. biennis_ opens on the same evening only one, two or three flowers on the same spike, whereas _O.

muricata_ bears often eight or ten or more flowers at a time. In this respect the hybrid is similar to the pistil-parent, and the crowding of the broad flowers at the top of the spikes causes the hybrids to be much more showy than either of the parent types.

Other distinguis.h.i.+ng marks are not recorded by the systematists, or are not so sharply separated as to allow of the corresponding qualities of the hybrids being compared with them.

This hybrid remains true to the description given. In some years I cultivated two generations [260] so as to be able to compare them with one another, but did not find any difference. The most interesting point however, is the likeness between the first generation, which obviously must combine in its internal structure the units of both parents, and the second and later generations which are only of a derivative nature.

Next to this stands the fact that in each generation all individuals are alike. No reversion to the parental forms either in the whole type or in the single characteristics has ever been observed, though the leaves of some hundreds, and the spikes and flowers of some 150 individual plants have been carefully examined. No segregation or splitting up takes place.

Here we have a clear, undoubted and relatively simple, case of a true and pure species hybrid. No occurrence of possible varietal characteristics obscures the result, and in this respect this hybrid stands out much more clearly than all those between garden-plants, where varietal marks nearly always play a most important part.

From the breeder's point of view our hybrid _Oenothera_ would be a distinct gain, were it not for the difficulty of its propagation. But to enlarge the range of the varieties this simple and stable form would need to be treated anew, by [261] crossing it with the parent-types.