The
cause of the rare appearance of the oxlip in certain districts may be the rarity
of some moth, which in other districts habitually visits both the primrose and
cowslip.
Finally, as the cowslip and primrose differ in the various characters above
specified,--as they are in a high degree sterile when intercrossed,--as there is
no trustworthy evidence that either species, when uncrossed, has ever given
birth to the other species or to any intermediate form,--and as the intermediate
forms which are often found in a state of nature have been shown to be more or
less sterile hybrids of the first or second generation,--we must for the future
look at the cowslip and primrose as good and true species.
Primula elatior, Jacq., or the Bardfield Oxlip, is found in England only in two
or three of the eastern counties. On the Continent it has a somewhat different
range from that of the cowslip and primrose; and it inhabits some districts
where neither of these species live. (2/14. For England, see Hewett C. Watson
'Cybele Britannica' volume 2 1849 page 292. For the Continent, see Lecoq
'Geograph. Botanique de l'Europe' tome 8 1858 page 142. For the Alps see 'Annals
and Magazine of Natural History' volume 9 1842 pages 156 and 515.) In general
appearance it differs so much from the common oxlip, that no one accustomed to
see both forms in the living state could afterwards confound them; but there is
scarcely more than a single character by which they can be distinctly defined,
namely, their linear-oblong capsules equalling the calyx in length.
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