ate ie 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 69 
and 4égilops are identical asa genus, and that M. Fabre’s experiments are fully to be 
depended upon, there is no reason to adopt the notion, that this really very curious 
but not unnatural change of AZgilops into Triticum proves the little value of modern 
genera, and leads us to expect that oats can be changed into rye, and wheat into 
barley. The latter has been asserted as a fact, and may possibly have faken its origin 
from the circumstance, that in 1817 Hordeum trifurcatum or Atgicerus was intro- 
duced as Nepal wheat; but it was soon found to be a real barley, and it may pos- 
sibly have been thought that the climate had changed the wheat into barley. 
It certainly is very difficult to define what is a genus, at the same time the beauti- 
ful order of God’s works in general indicate that he has made some divisions or 
groups which naturalists and others. call genera, within the wide range of which 
species may wander, but beyond which they cannot go. To three such different ge= 
neta do wheat, barley and oats belong, and they never will be altered by cultivation 
from the one into the other. 
It may be interesting to add, that the observations of a very large number of 
monstrosities in abnormal states in grasses (some quite as curious as the one the 
subject of this notice), plainly show that there is always a tendency in grasses to 
elongate their axis, and increase the number of the flowers in the spicule, and 
never to become fewer-flowered, which would be the case if wheat or oats ever bee 
came barley. 
—_—_-—_—_—— 
The Biack and Green Teas of Commerce. By Professor RoyLe, M.D., F.R.S. 
It was a remarkable fact, that the subject of the difference between the black and 
green teas had been, until recently, a matter of great uncertainty. The Jesuits, who 
had penetrated into China, and Mr. Pigou, were of opinion that both the black and 
green teas were produced from the same plant; while Mr. Reeve believed that they 
Were manufactured from two distinct plants. Now, as regarded himself, he (Dr. 
Royle) had adopted the view that the best kinds of black and green tea were made 
from different plants ; and examination of tea samples seemed to confirm that view, 
but a repetition of the experiment had not done so. Mr. Fortune, subsequent to the 
China war, having been sent out to China by the Horticultural Society of England, 
made inquiries on the subject. He there found the Thea bohea in the southern parts 
of China employed for making black tea ; and in proceeding as far north as Shanghae, 
he found the Thea viridis used in making green tea near the districts where the best 
green tea was made. So far, therefore, the information obtained seemed to confirm 
the view of two different species of Thea being employed to make the two different 
kinds of tea; but Mr. Fortune, in visiting the district of Fokien, was surprised to find 
what he conceived to be the true Thea viridis employed in making black tea in di- 
stricts near where the best black tea was made. He took plants with him from 
. Fokien to Shanghae, and could find no difference between them. It was still, how- 
ever, desirable to get specimens from the district where the black and green teas or 
commerce were actually made, and this had latterly been effected. In consequence 
of the great success which had attended the experimental culture of tea in the nur- 
series established in the Himalayas, Mr. Fortune was again sent to China by the 
East India Company. He proceeded to the northern parts of the country, in order 
to obtain tea seeds and plants of the best description, as the most likely to stand the 
Himalaya climate. Mr. Fortune procured seeds and plants in great numbers, and 
sent them to the Himalayas, where they had been since cultivated. When he had 
reached Calcutta, the tea manufacturers whom he had brought with him made from 
plants in the Botanic Gardens their black and green tea from the same specimens ; 
so that it was evident it was the process of manufacture, and not the plant itself, 
that produced the green tea. All now who were acquainted with the difference be- 
tween black and green teas, knew that they could be prepared from the same plant 
without the assistance of any extraneous materials, though it was a common thing 
for manufacturers to use indigo, prussian blue, turmeric, &c. in colouring the tea. 
Dr. Royle showed specimens of the Black Tea plant from the Woo-e-Shan, and of 
the Green Tea plant from the Hwuychou districts. No specific difference could be 
observed between the two specimens. 
