364 REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE ON GENETICS. 
3 was a turgidum wheat, with a brown half-compact, hairy bearded 
ear, and rather short glumes. 
4 was a durum wheat, with a very short and very compact, flat, 
bearded ear. 
5 was a durwm wheat, with a compact, long-bearded ear. 
6. ‘PETANIELLE BLANCHE X Retr’ AND ‘ RIETI 
xX PETANIELLE BLANCHE.’ j 
(Tr. sativum x Tr. turgidum.) 
This double cross, between a sativum and a turgidum, was effected in 
1903 ; so the results are yet very slight. However, the influence of the 
soft wheat appeared to predominate. 
In the case where ‘ Rieti’ served as the seed-bearing parent, the disordered 
variation, which should have appeared in 1905, was not noticed. 
Out of nine plants, which were the direct result of the cross (first 
generation), eight were characteristic specimens of ‘ Rieti,’ and I only kept 
the ninth plant, which was marked by the absence of beard. In 1905, the 
offspring of this plant were mostly wheats with bearded ears, more or less 
compacts, but not departing to any appreciable extent from the type. 
In the contrary cross, the four plants produced in the first generation 
appeared to be ‘ Rieti,’ but, in 1905, I found two forms which might be 
considered as durwm wheats: one of them has a turgidwm grain, whilst 
the other produced a well-marked durum grain. 
7. ‘Massy’ x ‘CHIDDAM D’AUTOMNE A EPI ROUGE.’ 
(Tr. sativum x Tr. sativum.) 
This cross, the last !am going to talk about to you to-day, was made 
in 1901, between two soft wheats, and rather with the idea of trying to 
produce a useful wheat than to promotes any new variation. 
But, as early as in 1902, and therefore amongst the plants that resulted 
directly from the fertilised seed, I found one plant with red straw and a 
small greyish-brown ear. 
In 19038, the offspring of this plant only produced white-eared plants, © 
with the exception of two plants, which were very like the type of 1902. 
One of them was preserved. 
In 1904, all the ears were freely streaked with brown, and the same 
peculiarity was well reproduced in 1905. 
VARIATIONS. 
SUPERNUMERARY SPIKELETS. 
As regarding Tr. polonicum x Tr. turgidum (‘Blé de Pologne’ x 
Pétanielle blanche’), I mentioned that a cross of the second generation 
showed a tendency, without reproducing it afterwards, to produce two 
spikelets on each joint of the rachis. 
This curious anomaly was not noticed again until 1900; but in that 
year, and particularly in 1902 and 1903, it became very frequent in 
numerous varieties, and still continues to appear. 
