Chap. IX. WHEAT. 337 



and the spikelets stand out more horizontally, than in our 

 present forms." So again with barley, the most ancient and 

 most extensively cultivated kind, had small ears, and the 

 grains were " smaller, shorter, and nearer to each other, than 

 in that now grown ; without the husk they were 2^ lines long, 

 and scarcely 1^ broad, whilst those now grown have a length 

 of three lines, and almost the same in breadth." 49 These 

 small-grained varieties of wheat and barley are believed by 

 Heer to be the parent-forms of certain existing allied varieties, 

 which have supplanted their early progenitors. 



Heer gives an interesting account of the first appearance 

 and final disappearance of the several plants which were 

 cultivated in greater or less abundance in Switzerland 

 during former successive periods, and which generally differed 

 more or less from our existing varieties. The peculiar small- 

 eared and small-grained wheat, already alluded to, was the 

 commonest kind during the Stone period ; it lasted down to 

 the Helvetico-Roman age, and then became extinct. A second 

 kind was rare at first, but afterwards became more frequent. 

 A third, the Egyptian wheat (T. hirgidum), does not agree 

 exactly with any existing variety, and was rare during the 

 Stone period. A fourth kind (T. dicoccum) differs from all 

 known varieties of this form. A fifth kind (T. monococcuni) 

 is known to have existed during the Stone period only by 

 the presence of a single ear. A sixth kind, the common 

 T. spelta, was not introduced into Switzerland until the 

 Bronze age. Of barley, besides the short-eared and small- 

 grained kind, two others were cultivated, one of which was 

 very scarce, and resembled our present common H. distichum. 

 During the Bronze age rye and oats were introduced; the 

 oat-grains being somewhat smaller than those produced by 

 our existing varieties. The poppy was largely cultivated 

 during the Stone period, probably for its oil ; but the variety 

 which then existed is not now known. A peculiar pea with 

 small seeds lasted from the Stone to the Bronze age, and then 

 became extinct ; whilst a peculiar bean, likewise having small 

 seeds, came in at the Bronze period and lasted to the time 

 of the lvomans. These details sound like the descriptions 



49 Heer, as quoted by Carl Vogt, ' Lectures on Man,' Eng. translat. p. 355. 



