Miscellaneous. 315 



These belong to another, larger insect, a species of Notonecta, which 

 M. Guerin-Meneville has named Notonecta unifasciata. — Pharma- 

 ceutical Journal, Sept. 1, 1858. 



New Experiineyits on iEgilops triticoides. By Dr. Godron. 



Observations made at Montpellier on the awned and awnless forms 

 of JEgilops triticoides, which are met with there in a wild state, led 

 the author to regard this plant as a hybrid of JLgilops ovata ferti- 

 lized by the pollen of wheat (" Quelques Notes sur la Flore de Mont- 

 pellier," Besancon). Desirous of confirming or negativing this sup- 

 position by direct experiment. Dr. Godron tried, in 1853, to repro- 

 duce this vegetable form by artificial fecundation, and in 1854 he 

 obtained plants of ^Egiloj)s triticoides (" De la Fecoudation des ^gi- 

 lops par des Triticum,'" Ann. des Sc. nat. ser. 4. Botanique, ii. p. 218. 

 See also Comptes Rendus, 17 July 1854, and Ann. Nat. Hist. 2nd 

 ser. xiv. p. 394). These facts were confirmed, in 1856 and 1857, 

 by the experiments of MM. Kegel in Germany, Vilmorin and 

 Greenland at Paris, and Planchon at Montpellier. Mgilops triti- 

 coides is therefore a hybrid plant. The author considers that no 

 doubt can remain on this question. (See Journal of the R. Agric. 

 Soc. of England, xix. part 1. p. 103, 1858.) 



jEgilojis triticoides is most frequently sterile ; but sometimes, 

 though rarely, it affords fertile seeds ; and it is the^e seeds which, in 

 the hands of M. Fabre of Agde, have produced ^'Egilops speltcEforrais. 

 As Dr. Godron could not doubt the exactitude of the facts reported 

 by this skilful and conscientious observer, and was on that account 

 quite convinced that JEgilops spelt ceformis arose from j3^gilops triti- 

 coides, he at first sought to explain this transformation on the foun- 

 dation of a law accepted by almost all the authors who have studied 

 the physiological phenomenon of hybridity, namely that fertilehvbrids 

 return to one of their original types after a certain number of genera- 

 tions. yEgilops triticoides seemed to present a new confirmation of this 

 law ; yEgilojJS speltceformis is, in fact, more nearly approximate to 

 wheat than ^gilops triticoides ; and, supposing the law in question 

 to be true, the natiu'al conclusion was, that Ai,gilops speltceformis 

 reverted insensibly to Triticum vulgare. The author now doubts 

 much whether that law is solidly estabHshed, On the one hand, 

 this return oi ^gilops triticoides to its male type, through ^"Eyilops 

 speltceformis, is so long in coming to pass, that it may be despaired 

 of. On the other hand, the experiments he has made upon hvbrids 

 in general, and especially hybrids of Verhascum and Digitalis, have 

 led him to think that fertile hybrids are ordinarily only |)roduced 

 when they are fecundated anew by one of the two specific types 

 which have given birth to them. All the hybrid ])lants he has 

 hitherto obtained by artificial fecundation have been sterile, with the 

 exception of flowers which he has fecundated with the pollen either 

 of the male or female parent ; he has then mostly obtained fertile 

 seeds, and the product of this new fecundation then approached 

 nearer to the male type. 



