THE CEREALIA. 13 



that having cultivated the seed of the (Egilops, the 

 plant has changed its generic character, and has 

 made approaches to that of wheat.* Sir Joseph 

 Banks, in a paper addressed by him to the Horti- 

 cultural Society, in the year 1805, stated that having 

 received from a lady some packets of seeds, and 

 among them one labelled ' Hill Wheat,' the grains 

 of which were hardly larger than those of our wild 

 grasses, but which, when viewed through a magni- 

 fying lens, were found exactly to resemble wheat, he 

 sowed these grains in his garden, and was much 

 surprised on obtaining, as their produce, a good crop 

 of spring wheat, the grains of which were of the 

 ordinary size. Every inquiry that was made to as- 

 certain the history of these seeds proved fruitless. 

 All that could be established, with regard to the 

 place of their production, was, that they came from 

 India ; but as to the particular locality, or the amount 

 of cultivation they had received, or whether the grain 

 was indeed in that instance a spontaneous offering of 

 nature, could not be ascertained. Experiments such 

 as those we have mentioned, may naturally lead us 

 to think, that in the corn-plants, as in other vegeta- 

 bles, great modifications have been produced by cul- 

 tivation ; but they do not at all interfere with the 

 belief that the cereal grains are spread through the 

 earth by the agency of man alone, and that they are 

 bequests from past ages of civilization too remote to 

 afford any materials for the authentic history of their 

 introduction, even into countries possessing the most 

 ancient records. Other seeds are dispersed through- 

 out the earth by winds and currents, in the hairy 

 coats of quadrupeds, and in the maws of birds. But 

 the corn-plants, in common with many other impor- 

 tant vegetable productions, follow the course of man 

 alone. This is a blessing, which even hostile armies 



* Diet. Classique d'Histoire Nat., Art. (Egilops. 

 VOL. XV. 2 



