Transformation of j^gilops into Wheat. Ill 



Fabre. I was the more surprised at this from the fact that, 

 having; been previously consulted, I had assured him that, after 

 a rather larofe nuuiber of observations made in the environs of 

 A^de and Montpellier, I had remained perfectly convinced that 

 ^](jilops triticoides orij2:lnated from y^gilops ovata. Was tliis on 

 my part the result of preconceived ideas, which bad blinded 

 me to such an extent that I saw what did not exist? This fact 

 shocked my convictions as to the fixity of wild species as strongly 

 as it had done those of M. Jordan. But I was comj)elled to 

 acknowledge it as incontestable, and my first care was to study 

 the circumstances under which it is produced. The lacts I 

 observed, and which I have indicated with the details in two 

 successive memoirs, * put me on the road to the discovery of the 

 hybrid origin of j^gilops triticoides. Therefore my point of 

 departure was not a simple hypothesis ; and, even if it had been 

 so, this should not have been turned into a weapon against me, 

 now that this hypothesis is confirmed by direct experiment. 

 Besides, has not hypothesis been the origin of a number of im- 

 portant scientific discoveries? In this question now under dis- 

 cussion only two suppositions are possible ; either we must admit, 

 with MM. Dunal and Lindley, the variability of wild species, or 

 acknowledge that the very striking differences which distinguish 

 u^f/ilops triticoides irom ^^gilops ovata are due to hybridity; 

 there is no other possible alternative, and M. Jordan himseli, 

 as we hope to demonstrate, must choose between them. 



But I return to the fact of the two forms of ^gilops springing 

 from the same spike of ^f/ilops ovata, because it is of the first 

 importance for the solution of this question. Not content with 

 having assured myself of it in the plains of the South, I have 

 reproduced it by the artificial ieriiWzaUon o{ j^(/iIops ovaia by 

 Triticnm vuh/are. My spikes of j^gilops partially fertilized by 

 wheat, were planted entire and separately in pots, atBesan^on. I 

 did not sow ^t/ilops ti iticoides at the same time, I had none of it 

 at my disposal ; therefore there could not have been any error, 

 any mixture of seeds. I will add that perhaps no case of hybri- 

 dation has ever been accompanied by so many circumstances 

 calculated to assure its authenticity. Ttie Society of Emulation 

 of Doubs took a warm interest in these experiments, and named 

 a committee composed of naturalists, who traced the vegetation 

 of tliese j^f/ilops, and made to that learned Society a written 

 report which affirmed in a positive manner the facts contained 

 in my memoir on the fertilization of j^rjilops by Triticnm. 

 Specimens of the different products obtained were sent to M. 



* * Quelques notes sur la flore de Montpellier,' p. 11, and the first memoir trans- 

 lated in this article. 



