Abstract
As the author of the “Theory of Evolution by Means of Hybridisation,” I am naturally much interested in the recent papers by Dr. Harrison and Miss Blackburn, which proved beyond any reasonable doubt that most British rose-species are of hybrid origin, though this was not suspected. The authors based their conclusion that hybridity is one of the prime factors in the evolution of species, if not the only one, on their cytological results, which agree with those of Tackholm on a much larger number of rose-species from all parts of the world. The reviewer of their papers in NATURE of September 15, p. 99, does full justice to the importance of these results, and directs attention to Jeffrey's work tending to show that the presence of “bad pollen” is proof of a hybrid origin—a view much strengthened by Brainerd and Petersen's study of the New England Rubi (Vermont Agric. Expt. Sta. Bull. No. 217), in the course of which they find much hybridisation and no forms with entirely good pollen.
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LOTSY, J. Hybridity and the Evolution of Species. Nature 108, 274 (1921). https://doi.org/10.1038/108274a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/108274a0
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