394 Miscellaneous. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the natural and artificial Fecundation o/iEgilops by Triticum. 

 By M. Godron. 



The author referred to the researches of M. Fab re upon JEgilops 

 triticoides, from which it appears that this grass is produced from 

 seeds of JEgilops ovata, and that by cultivation it gradually approaches 

 cultivated wheat. He does not, however, by any means admit the 

 conclusion deduced from this fact by M. Duval, namely that wheat 

 has originated from the ^E. ovata, and is nothing but a metamor- 

 phosis of the latter plant. 



M. Godron, by examining the circumstances under which the jE. 

 triticoides is met with, has arrived at the conclusion that this plant 

 is only an accidental product ; it is never seen except on the edges 

 of wheat-fields or in their neighbourhood ; its habit resembles that 

 of the varieties of wheat near which it has grown ; it possesses beards 

 when growing in the neighbourhood of bearded wheat, but these are 

 rudimentary in places where beardless wheat is cultivated, and it is 

 less fertile than legitimate species. He considers that JE. triticoides 

 exhibits all the characters of a hybrid plant, and that it is the product 

 of the fecundation of JE. ovata by cultivated wheat. 



He has, moreover, confirmed this view by direct experiment ; the 

 artificial fecundation of JE. ovata by Triticum vulgarc has given him 

 the two varieties of JE. triticoides which are met with in the South 

 of France. He has also obtained two new hybrid plants, — one by 

 the fecundation of JE. ovata by Triticum spelta, the other by the 

 action of the pollen of Triticum durum upon JEgilops triaristata. — 

 Comptes Rendus, July 17, 1854, p. 145. 



THE OUNCES. 



The Ounces, or Tortoise-shell Tigers as they have been called, 

 should form a particular group of Cats, to which the name of Uncia 

 may be attached. They are easily characterized by the great length 

 and thickness of their cylindrical or rather clavate tail, and the 

 marbling of the colours on the fur. They are confined to Asia. 



1 . Uncia Irbis. Felis Uncia, Schreber ; F. Pardus, Pallas. Tibet. 



2. Uncia macroscelis, Horsf. Sumatra. 



3. Uncia macrosceloides, Hodgson. India. 



4. Uncia marmoratus. Felis marmorata, Martin ; F. Diardii, Jar- 

 dine. Penang. 



5. Uncia Charltoni. F. Charltoni, Gray ; F. Duvaucellii, Hodg- 

 son MSS.fide Dr. Cantor. India ; Himalaya. — J. E. Gray. 



THE AFRICAN SEAL, HELIOPHOCA ATLANTICA. 



I have just received a well-preserved skin and the skeleton of this 

 Seal from Algeria, under the name of Phoca leporina. It certainly 

 cannot be the Phoca leporina of Lepechin, in Act. Acad. Petrop. 

 1777, 2(54. t. 8, 9 = the Phoca Lepechinii, Lesson, from the White 

 Sea and the rivers flowing into it, which M. Nilssou considers to be 



