316 Miscellaneous. 



Might it not be the same with JEgilops triticoides when it is fer- 

 tile? Dr. Godron was desirous of making certain of this by the 

 experimental method ; and for this purpose it was necessary to pro- 

 duce this JEgilops anew at Nancy, as he had previously done at 

 Montpellier. He obtained several plants of it, some of which were 

 fecundated with wheat in the summer of 1857. This new fecunda- 

 tion by the male type afforded nine seeds, which germinated per- 

 fectly. They were sown in autumn, and protected from excessive 

 cold in a frame. These plants flowered, and produced JEgilops spel- 

 tceformis, resembling that which Dr. Godron had cultivated for four 

 years, and which was derived from seed from the Paris Garden. 

 Dr. Godron compared the two plants in a fresh state : they were 

 sown at the same time, but separately ; they flowered in the same 

 week, and he could not detect any difference between them. Finally, 

 he adds that the ovaries of this JEgilops speltceformis obtained arti- 

 ficially have already (June 29th) acquired their normal size, and 

 appear well developed : he has reason to think that they will furnish 

 fertile seeds, like the JEgilops speltceformis cultivated by M. Fabre. 



JEgilops speltceformis is, then, a new hybrid plant resulting from 

 the fecundation of JEgilops triticoides by Triticum vulgare ; it is a 

 true quadroon, if we may use here a term by which is designated 

 one of the degrees of crossing between the Negro and the Caucasian 

 race. 



The author anxiously invites botanists interested in this question 

 to repeat his new experiments ; and they will be convinced. This 

 same year, however, experiments similar to the above, the results of 

 which are as yet unknown to him, will serve to check the author's. 

 They have been made by MM. Vilmorin and Greenland. Lastly, 

 M. J. Gay brought from Beziers last year a seed of the wild JEgilops 

 triticoides, which has germinated. This learned botanist will doubt- 

 less make known the result which it will produce. — Comptes Rendus, 

 July 19, 1858. 



On a new species of Platyrhynchus from the Rio Napo, in the 

 Republic of Ecuador. By Philip Lutley Sclater, M.A. 



Platyrhynchus coronatus, Verreaux, MS. 

 Brunnescenti-olivaceus, alis caudaque fuscis, pilei cristati parte 

 mediali favissima later ali utrinque castanea ; linea superciliari 

 et altera a rictu descendente nigris ; loris et corpore subtus 

 cum tectricibus subalaribus sordide favicantibus ; rostro supe- 

 rior e nigro, inferior e albicante ; pedibus pallide fuscis. 

 Long, tota 3*8, alee 2*4, caudae 1*2, rostri a rictu '^, tarsi # 55. 

 This is a typical species of the genus Platyrhynchus with the 

 bill nearly of the same breadth and shape as in P. cancroma, and 

 of the general size and form of that species ; but it is easily re- 

 cognizable by its bright yellow crest being broadly margined with 

 deep chestnut, and by the shorter and more slender tarsi. These 

 two birds and Platyrhynchus rostratvs are the only members of the 

 group wiih which 1 am acquainted. — Proe. Zool, Soo. Jan. 26, IS5S. 



