n the other hand--and there
cannot be a more capable judge--advances what he considers sufficient
evidence of the orange (he doubts whether the bitter and sweet kinds
are specifically distinct), the lemon, and citron, having been found
wild, and consequently that they are distinct. He mentions two other
forms cultivated in Japan and Java, which he ranks as undoubted
species; he speaks rather more doubtfully about the shaddock, which
varies much, and has not been found wild; and finally he considers some
forms, such as Adam's apple and the bergamotte, as probably hybrids.

I have briefly abstracted these opinions for the sake of showing those
who have never attended to such subjects, how perplexed with doubt they
are. It would, therefore, be useless for my purpose to give a sketch of
the conspicuous differences between the several forms. Besides the
ever-recurrent difficulty of determining whether forms found wild are
truly aboriginal or are escaped seedlings, many of the forms, which
must be ranked as varieties, transmit their characters almost perfectly
by seed. Sweet and bitter oranges differ in no important respect except
in the flavour of their fruit, but Gallesio[628] is most emphatic that
both kinds can be propagated by seed with absolute certainty.
Consequently, in accordance with his simple rule, he classes them as
distinct species; as he does sweet and bitter almonds, the peach and
nectarine, &c. He admits, however, that the soft-shelled pine-tree
produces not only soft-shelled but some hard-shelled seedlings, so that
a little greater force in the power of inheritance would, according to
this rule, raise the soft-shelled pine-tree into the dignity of an
aboriginally created species. The positive assertion made by
Macfayden[629] that the pips of sweet oranges produce in Jamaica,
according to the nature of the soil in which they are sown, either
sweet or bitter oranges, is probably an error; for M. Alph. De Candolle
informs me that since the publication of his great work he has received
accounts from Guiana, the Antilles, and Mauritius, that in these
countries sweet oranges faithfully transmit their character. Gallesio
found that the willow-leafed and the Little China oranges reproduced
their proper leaves and fruit; but the seedlings were not quite equal
in merit to their parents.