**Edit:** [BCnrd][1] gave a proof in the comments that this example works, so I've edited in that proof. ## A <del>possible</del> proven example <del>I suspect</del> There is no scheme which is "two $\mathbb A^1$'s glued together along their generic points" (or "$\mathbb A^1$ with every closed point doubled"). In other words, the coequalizer of the two inclusions $Spec(k(t))\rightrightarrows \mathbb A^1\sqcup \mathbb A^1$ does not exist in the category of schemes. Intuitively, this coequalizer should be "too non-separated" to be a scheme. <del>I don't have a proof, but I thought other people might have ideas if I posted this here.</del> If a coequalizer $P$ does exist, then no two closed points of $\mathbb A^1\sqcup \mathbb A^1$ map to the same point in $P$. To show this, it is enough to find functions from $\mathbb A^1\sqcup \mathbb A^1$ to other schemes which agree on the generic points but disagree on any other given pair of points. The obvious map $\mathbb A^1\sqcup \mathbb A^1\to \mathbb A^1$ separates most pairs of closed points. To see that a point on one $\mathbb A^1$ is not identified with "the same point on the other $\mathbb A^1$", consider the map from $\mathbb A^1\sqcup \mathbb A^1$ to $\mathbb A^1$ with the given point doubled. On the other hand, let $U$ be an affine open around the image of the generic point in $P$. $U$ has dense open preimages $V$ and $V'$ in both affine lines. Let $W=V\cap V'$ inside the affine line, so we have two maps from $W$ to the affine $U$ which coincide at the generic point of $W$, and hence are equal (as $U$ is affine). In particular, the two maps from affine line to categorical pushout $P$ coincide at each "common pair" of closed points of the two copies of $W$, contradicting the previous paragraph. --- **Edit:** The questions below are no longer relevant, but I'd like to leave them there for some reason. Here are some questions that might be helpful to answer: > If the coequalizer above *does* exist, must the map from $\mathbb A^1\sqcup \mathbb A^1$ be surjective? (see the related question [Can a coequalizer of schemes fail to be surjective?][2]) > Is the coequalizer of $Spec(k(t))\rightrightarrows \mathbb A^1\sqcup \mathbb A^1$ in the category of **separated** schemes equal to $\mathbb A^1$? (probably) > What are some ways to determine that a functor $Sch\to Set$ *is not* corepresented by a scheme? [1]: http://mathoverflow.net/users/3927/bcnrd [2]: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/63/can-a-coequalizer-of-schemes-fail-to-be-surjective