517 



Aegilops weie expressed niany years ago by Palisol de 

 BeaiMois Editor of Gardn. Cliron.] 

 IV. 



(Gardeners' Chronicle, S. October 1853.) 



Major Munro prodiiced. in oiie of tlie meelings of 

 tlie Britisli Association for tlie Advancement of Science, 

 a series of spccimens of Aegilops, to sliow ihe gra- 

 diial transilion of Ae. ovata into Ae. Iriarislata aml 

 triticoides, and stated that the Gardeners' Chronicle liad 

 recently delaiied the particulars of an experiiiient ex- 

 lending over several years, and carefully carried on by 

 M. Esprit Fabre, froni the results of wliich it was evi- 

 dent thal he had siicceded in Converting the wild Sici- 

 lian worthless Grass into good nsefiil Pelanicile Wbeal. 

 Indeed to sndden was the change, that M. Fabre pu- 

 blished in the „Comptes ßendus," of 1839, one of the 

 first years of the experiment, a shorl account stating 

 that he had sncceded in producing \Vlieat froni Aegi- 

 lops triticoides Req. Some persons have argued' that 

 this facl indicates the nonexislence of genera , and 

 niany even now have resunied the belief that \Vheat 

 can be changed into Barley, and Oats into Rye, and it 

 would be as well that the niinds of these persous 

 should be disabused of such notions. A genus is diffi- 

 cult of definition, bnt is a good terrn to apply to one 

 of those divisions or groups of plants within the wide 

 ränge of which species can wander, bul beyond vvbicli 

 they cannot go. The opporinnity of seeing a large 

 number of speciniens of any particular fainily, such as 

 Major Munro stated he had recently enjoyed with Gras- 

 ses, convinced bim that it was possible, withoiit the 

 aid of powerfnll glasses , to place with \ery sliglit 

 exaniinalion the greater number of Grasses at once in 

 their proper genera. Sonietimes it would be dillicnlt 

 to dehne in words the exact differences, bul the eye 

 distinguished theni at once. The author tben explained 

 with diagranis the dilference between the genera Hor- 

 deum, Seeale, Triticum, and Avena. and conlended that 

 no one genus of these lornis could be converted into 

 either of the others. 



On the contrary, it had long been suspected by 

 botanists that Triticum and Aegilops were identical; 

 and l'al. de Beauvois, in 1812, in bis valuable illnslra- 

 tions of the genera of Grasses, and witb ralber a ten- 

 dency to subdivide genera said that he could discover 

 no dilference between Triticum and Aegilops. There* 

 is no real dilference and therefore the change above 

 mentioned, although curious, is not contrary to the 

 laws of genera. Wheat itself varies wonderfully, the 

 smooth red kiud being externally nnlike the long 

 bearded variely. now cullivated for its very great pro- 

 duce in niany parts. The author also stated as a guide 

 in Coming to conclusions on the sulijecl, thal, in all 

 the nunierous instances of abnormal strnctures that hail 

 come under his Observation, on at least 30 dilTerent ge- 

 nera of Grasses, the universal tendency in the spiUlet was 

 to elongate its axis, and to increase its number of 

 flowers; and never in one solitary instance observed lo 

 become fewer llowered tban in the normal state. — 

 Ur. Arnott obser\ed, that several botanists. and liim- 

 self aniong ihe number, were not yet convinced of the 

 actual transmulation of Aegilops ovata into Triticiini. 



--?- 



(Gardeners' Cbronicie, ts. Deceraber 1852.) Ü 



The foUowing passage has been pointed out by a 

 friend, in the works of Sir Thomas Brown, vol. 1, book. 

 3, eh. IT, p. 306; BohiTs edilion, 1852. „Bul in plants, 

 wherein there is no distinction of sex, these trans- 

 plantations are conceived niore obvious tban any; as 

 those of Barley into Oats, of \Vheat into Darnel; and 

 those grains which gradually arise among other com, 

 as Cockle, Aracus, Aegilops, and other degenerations, 

 which coine up in unexpected shapes, when they want 

 the Support an maiulenance of the primary and master 

 foruis.'' 



Is there positive proof of the origin of Wheat 

 from a Grass belonging to a difFerent genus? 



Br L. 0. I'reviranus. 

 (Gardeners" Chronicle, li. April 1834.) 



The question where those objects of cultivation ori- 

 ginated which are so indispensable to man in a State 

 of civilisation does not. when taken by itself, admit of 

 any general answer; bot considered in a wider extent, 

 can only be answered conditionally. For either the 

 answer is inseparable from the general question as to 

 the development of the human race, and so far lies out 

 of the ränge of experience, or we must assume that 

 these objects were foiiiul by man in a State of nature, 

 and in the condition in which they were found applied 

 lo his uses; or, finally, that they at firsl existed in a 

 certain form which bas been modilied by the agency 

 of man, so that the original State is no longer extant, 

 or if so, in such a condition as not to exhibit the 

 transilion from the cullivated plant to the parent from 

 which it was derived. The firsl melhud of reply holds 

 the question as in itself unanswerable, and in some 

 measure coincides with those views which regard the 

 objects of cultivation, such as the Laurel, the Myrtle, 

 the Vine, ibe dilferent kinds of corn, etc., as the gifts 

 of the Gods, that is, of beings who introduced culti- 

 vation into the earth from their nnknown habitations. 

 The second answer to Ihe question must have been 

 received unconditionally as Ihe right one, were it clear 

 that our cullivated forms have ever been found wild, or 

 still are found so; that is, whether they have ever 

 lived or still live in any specific locality independenlly 

 of the agency of man. Bul the necessary proofs are 

 allogether wanting. 



When Dureaii de la Malle would make it probable 

 from hisloric dates thal the pari of Palestine and Syria 

 which borders on Arabia is the parent country of corn, 

 namely, of Wheat and Barley (Ann. de Sc. Nat. ix. 

 61); when Heinzelmann would consider Wheat as grow- 

 ing wild in the country of the Baschkirs, and A. 

 Jlichaux Spelt in the mounlains in Ihe north of Hama- 

 dan in Persia (Lamarck, Encyc. Bot. ii. 458), we must 

 bear in mind that, as regards the first, we can place 

 very utile reliance upon the accounts of the occurrence 

 of species by persous who were little acquainted with 

 objects of natural history, or upon their description or 

 pictorial illustralions; and thal, in respect of the other 

 instances, a far longer residenco ihan falls to the lot 

 of travellers in general in the countries where Ihey 



