they appear to be of rather ambiguous character. Rossi’s
observation of the coupling, of can thaids melanura, with the
female, of the^ elater niger, though cited by Treviranus and
Rudolphi, has been received with the doubt which. ; bèlongs
to a very improbable relation,* and the i conjunction!! of different
coccinellae, which are ; testified by FahrieiutÿEldo not
afford an unequivocal example of the union of different
species', since, according to the opinion of Illiger, -accidental
varieties of the coccinella have been frequently mistaken for
distinct kinds.'f* b
Hybrid productions _ are reported . by naturalists, • i among
fishés; Rudolphi declares that he has seen a cara of a
mule breed, and Bloch has cited various writers who have
brought forward instances of a similar, kind.ÿ Thé principal
examples of mufeffshes upon record have*occurred, as it seems,
from the intermixture of different sjMiâsëdof the cyprinus.
Défay mentions a hybrid be tween;p th© barbus »and carpio ;
and Bloch- a similar production, intermediate between the
cyprinus blicca and brama.
Among birds similar productions are more frequent* and
of more various kinds. Bechstein mentions piufesdroucrthe
canary-bird with the goldfinch, the» siskin, the bramble-^
finch, the greenfinch, the greater linnet, the bullfinch, the
lesser linnet, and the chaffinch.^ The same writer says
that the tétras urogallüs, or cock of the wood, will breed with
the T. tetrix, as well as with the domestic fowl, and with the
turkey. Treviranus has collected many other instances
a bastard progeny between the anas glaucion and the anas
querquedula is described by M. Geoffroy?St.-Hilaire,^f and
one between the goose and the Swan, by M. Frederic
Cuvier.** *
§* Rossi, Memorie di Verona, T. viii. Meckel, TraitéGen. d’Anatomie comparée,
See Treviranus, Biologie, T h. Ri. vin. 416. , Rudolphi’s Beytraege,- p. 160.
+ Fabricii Systems Eleutherator. T. i. Rudolphi ubi supra.
% Bloch’s Naturgeschichte der Fische Deutschlands, T. i. Rudolphi ubi supra.
§ Gemeinnützige Naturgeschichte der Vögel Deutschlands, B. i. Leipz. 1807»
Rudolphi, p. 161.
Jj Treviranus Biologie, Th. iii.
% Annales du Muséum, T. v ii,.
** Ibid. T. xii. p, 122.
With respect to mammifers, it is well known, as M. Ru-
dolphi COhtënds, rnofeo^y* that* hybrid productions are very
numerous;! butj that they »atennot» unprolifie. Mules, properly
so. termed, are not always birrên jl at fact which was known to
Aristotle?:, the instances of fthèir ihvfeêdihg>are; supposed to be
n o t1 Unfreqkepfeiii’ï warm ,Seve#ab examples* are
uponir^tord' in whi'etóasses and zebBaabave^bre’dtitogëther. j,
b The mixed'offspring between! the wolf and the dog has: frequently*
been described,* and $j|'e4pybgeriy of the-dog and the
foxf/and^theidogiJaud théi. jackal is well known;. In all-of
these mixed productions the hybrid animal has been*! found
^toI be „capable -qf procreation.
Sparrmanh- declares,' that the .offspring'of {the;,. Ethiopian
hogiand'jthe^Qmmon -swine is proliftei^r;*q The bisons óf Ame-
»rica^and tho^feuof' India, are said to breedifreadily with the
home(i$ba!tfcft| of Europe; and thei lumps oft thé bisons *to disV
appear in'the?-®óursè:1è£iS,éveraïigeneratioti‘s4^ 1 What appe'ars
igtjll mo'Bè^rekhurkable - is', that sheep and ghats - are assertëd
hj. many! authors to. producie> an*.offspring which is^dapabl^of
breeding;»again with .either, of its parent stock that in
many ^p^batipns;éhe-effect of -this intermixture is klost, arid
the < progeny- will-become; completely sheeplbrj ^.oats iaceordin g
as-ithe^pib’pUgabión’is; continued with either kind; Ru ddlph i
even fdboterbsV^' the authority of Hellehilis^ whom hebarte-
sïders as- a witness -fully deserving Of.-credit,- that a female
Sardinian rbteibecame pregnant b y a ram, andproduced»young
ones which.resembled the father in form,, but. the mother in
colour. These hybrid animals Were afterwards made to breed
for; two ’ successive- generations with 1 common Finnish ram s;
* Maschim Naturfdricher, S t 15. In this’ instance the hybrid was prolific. Hunter
in Philos. Tr. 1787—$ 9 . Geoff. -St.-Hilaire. ~Atiïi‘.!du Muséum, tom. iv.
Rudolphi’s Beytrage.
t Pallas (N. -Nord, Beytrage) gives from Pennant two instances of generation
between the dog and wolf, and one between the dog and the fox, in which last the
offspring, a female, afterwards produced yo;ung by a dog. Rudolphi uhi supra.
Î Sparrmann’s Voyage to the Cape.
§ De la Nux.—Zimmerman’s Zoolpg. Geograph.
H j Buffon. Hist, ;J^at.--:Cogita,tiones quædam de an. hybrid.—Abose, 1798.—
Rudolphi’s Beytrage, p. 165.