Tramformation of j3Egilops into Wheat. 107 



triticoides in the autumn of 1852. The seeds germinated per- 

 fectly ; but although the plants flowered they yielded no seeds, 

 yet several other species of j^gilops sown in the same place 

 fructified very well. 



Another circumstance, which must not be overlooked, is this : 

 the same spike oi j^f/ilops gives birth at the same time to plants 

 oi JEgilops ovata and oi jEf/ilops triticoides ; that is to say, to two 

 plants, so distinct and so well characterised that, hitherto, no 

 one has hesitated to consider them legitimate species. But this 

 spike does not ever give birth to anything else : it has never pro- 

 duced forms intermediate between the two plants. Hence, Ave 

 should have here a transformation always sudden, always equally 

 striking. This pretended metamorphosis is never made by 

 degrees, and does not require for its completion the long period 

 of time which the declared partizans of the variability of species 

 suppose to be an indispensable condition. Cultivation, so power- 

 ful a modifier, has never been seen to develope in plants changes 

 so important, and, above all, so rapid. Therefore, we cannot 

 admit that there is here a simple transformation of one species 

 into another. 



But science is now rich in facts similar to that discovered by 

 M. Fabre : it furnishes us with a very simple explanation of the 

 origin of Allgilops triticoides, and of the modifications through 

 which it subsequently passes in approaching and becoming 

 almost confounded with wheat. JEgilops triticoides presents all 

 the characters of hybrid plants : sudden production oi a plant 

 which is linked by its character at the same time to two distinct 

 species ; influence of varieties and races upon the intermediate 

 product ; accidental origin here and there among the parents ; 

 fecundating action very little developed in the plant, and rever- 

 sion of the fertile individuals towards the male type after a few 

 generations. Not one of these characters is deficient ; and it 

 appears to us evident that u^gi/ops triticoides is nothing else than 

 a liybrid, resulting from the accidental fertilisation of u^gilops 

 ovata by Triticum vulgarc. 



Although the facts above indicated seem strictly to justify 

 the conclusion I have deduced from them, I felt it requisite, in 

 the face of a different opinion, pronounced by one who is an 

 authority in science, to have recourse to direct experiment, and 

 in this way to give to that conclusion the character of a com- 

 plete demonstration. I have attempted, therefore, to reproduce 

 j3l!f/ilops triticoides by the artificial fertilization of JEgilops by 

 Triticum, and it merely remains to make known these experi- 

 ments and the results they have produced. 



I have adopted three modes of proceeding. In the first expe- 

 riment 1 sought to effect the artificial fertilization without muti- 



