By a reciprocal cross between two species, I mean the case, for instance,
of a female-ass being first crossed by a stallion, and then a mare by a
male-ass: these two species may then be said to have been reciprocally
crossed. There is often the widest possible difference in the facility of
making reciprocal crosses. Such cases are highly important, for they prove
that the capacity in any two species to cross is often completely
independent of their systematic affinity, that is of any difference in
their structure or constitution, excepting in their reproductive systems.
The diversity of the result in reciprocal crosses between the same two
species was long ago observed by Kolreuter. To give an instance:
Mirabilis jalapa can easily be fertilised by the pollen of M. longiflora,
and the hybrids thus produced are sufficiently fertile; but Kolreuter tried
more than two hundred times, during eight following years, to fertilise
reciprocally M. longiflora with the pollen of M. jalapa, and utterly
failed. Several other equally striking cases could be given. Thuret has
observed the same fact with certain sea-weeds or Fuci. Gartner, moreover,
found that this difference of facility in making reciprocal crosses is
extremely common in a lesser degree. He has observed it even between
closely related forms (as Matthiola annua and glabra) which many botanists
rank only as varieties.
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