1 70 LOCK : 



The behaviour of the seedling plants derived from Lena-batu- 

 pengiri is fully consistent witli the vie\^- that tiiis plant is a 

 hybrid between Maha-pcngiri and Cymhopogon conferiifioruf<. 

 In view of the fact that tiie pollination was uncontrolled, 

 it is not necessary to lay much stress upon the numerical 

 proportions of the characters observed in the .supposed 

 hybrid progeny (F2). The number of plants available (30) 

 is also scarcely sufficient to afford a basis for quantitative 

 conclusions. Nevertheless, tlie actual results are of consider- 

 able interest : and when the difficulty of distinguishing the 

 several characters is borne in mind, together with the fact 

 that these distinctions were drawn by an observer quite 

 unbiased by any special theory of inheritance, it seems well 

 worth while to place on record a succinct statement of the 

 characteristics of these seedling plants. 



The results are here summed up in language based upon 

 the supposition that Lena-batu is an actual hybrid between 

 Maha-pengiri and Cymhopogon confertiflonts. On this sup- 

 position the beiiaviour of the characters, presence, and absence 

 of awns shows some approximation to that of a simple pair 

 of Mendeliaii allelomorphs. Awns are present in C. conjerti- 

 florus. They are always absent in Maha-pengiri, but 

 exceptionally present in Lena-batu. In accordance with the 

 supposition that absence of awns is a dominant character, we 

 find in F2. ;"> awned plants to 23 awnloss : whilst on 3 plants, 

 both awned or sligiitly awned and awnless spikelets were 

 found — a phenomenon which rarel}^ if ever, occurs in Lena- 

 batu. 



The proportion found renders it not unlikely that the 

 majority of the flowers of Lena-batu from whicli tliese seedlings 

 were derived were fertilized by their own pollen or by that 

 of sister plants. 



The niuoronatc character of (ilumes II.. IIL, and IV. also 

 shows (evidence of segregation. On the assumption already 

 made, the mucronate character of .Malia-pengiri is dominant 

 over the non-mucronate character of (\ confoii/lorns in the 

 case of ail three glumes. Without further evidence one 

 might hav(! been inclined to hazard a guess that the cliaracter 

 of all three glumes would prove to be influenced by a common 



