121 



Mr. WONFOR exhibited the rotation of cell contents in 

 two of the plants he had named ; and the Rev. J. Beecheno, 

 sections of foraminifera? from St. Vincent, Zanzibar, the Gulf 

 Stream, and other parts. 



May IOtii. 



ORDINARY MEETING.— Major HALLETT, F.L.S., OX 

 THE LAW OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF CEREALS. 



I have the honour to appear before you, in compliance with a 

 request from your respected President, that I should read a paper 

 upon the above subject, which I will endeavour to treat in the 

 simplest manner possible. Opinions have diffei'ed as to the 

 number of distinct species, but taking wheat as an illustration, no 

 matter what the number favoured, the opinion has been in the 

 main, if not altogether, founded upon such distinction as the 



following : — 



1 Winter and Spring, 



2 Bearded and beardless. 



3 White, red, or yellow grain. 



4 Smooth and rough-chaffed ears. 



5 Composite and simple ears. 



At the end of the year 1860, Colonel Le Couteur (afterwards 

 Sir John Le Couteur), of Jersey, sent me a copy of his well-known 

 work on Wheat, published in 1826, and also two ears of his Belle 

 Vue Talavera wheat grown in 1860, asking me to experiment 

 upon them upon my system, but warning me not to plant any of 

 the grains in the autumn, as it was a " Spring " wheat and could 

 not endure the winter. Probably nowhere else in the world 

 could such a verified example of a " Spring " wheat have been 

 found, for Le Couteur liad himself grown it every year and 

 always as a Spring wheat ever since the year 1834. From one 

 of these two ears I picked out ten of its grains, and planted 

 them in a row in my garden in a very exposed situation, on the 

 1st November, 1861. Nine out of the ten plants from these 



