In the Alps generally there is no definitely intermediate population;
nor I believe, is any such population met with in the north where
the arctic _bryoniae_ meets _napi_, but as to this I have no precise
information. One curious fact, however, must be mentioned, namely that
there is a population that can probably be so described with fairness
established at Mödling near Vienna. This is not in any sense an Alpine
locality, and does not, as I am told, differ in any obvious way from
the other suburbs of Vienna. Dr. H. Przibram was so good as to send me
a set taken at this place, representing a second brood, and they were
decidedly heterogeneous, ranging from an intermediate form such as
_bryoniae_ fertilised by _napi_ usually produces, to a light yellowish
second-brood type with little dark pigment. There are also two actual
_bryoniae_. Whether true _napi_ also occur there I do not know, but I
have no doubt they do. It would be well worth while to investigate the
Mödling population statistically, and to breed from the intermediates
which might not impossibly prove to be heterozygotes. There are also
records of such intermediates being occasionally found in some parts
of Ireland, in the north of Scotland, and in south Wales,[19] but I do
not know of any regular colony of these forms. We can scarcely avoid
the inference that one or more of the factors which make up _bryoniae_
may be carried by these intermediates. It is not clear why their
interbreeding does not produce actual _bryoniae_ occasionally. If this
occurred, the probability is that the fact would be known to collectors,
at least in the British localities. The absence of true _bryoniae_ must,
I think, be taken to mean that some essential factor is absent from
these intermediates.
To sum up the evidence, the facts that are clear may be thus enumerated:
1. _Napi_ and _bryoniae_, or in the Italian Alps,
_napaeae_ and _bryoniae_ frequently meet each other.
2. They cross without difficulty, producing fertile offspring.
3. But in the levels at which they overlap there is no
intermediate population, and only occasional intermediate
individuals.
4. In certain parts of the distribution of _napi_ similar
intermediates sometimes occur, and at one place (Mödling) they
are so frequent as apparently to constitute a colony.
5. As to the genetic relations of the two forms there is no
complete certainty. Indications of segregation have been observed
in some cases, but there are several factors concerned and they
are liable to some disintegration.
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