380 THE WHEAT PLANT 



larly like the descendants of a cross between a " mutation from Black 

 Emmer " (T. dicoccum, var. atratum) and a beardless mutation from the 

 bearded Turkey red wheat (T. vulgar e, var. ferrugineum) recorded and 

 figured by Buffum. 



Although all the four races of cultivated wheats mentioned are gener- 

 ally seen among the descendants of these natural hybrids, the relative 

 proportion of the several races is not always the same ; in the one described 

 there is a preponderance of fertile vulgar e forms, but in others fertile durum 

 forms predominate ; the former are presumably crossed with T. vulgare, 

 the latter with T. durum. 



Love and Craig observed the occurrence of forms very closely resem- 

 bling Wild Emmer in brittleness and hairiness of rachis, form of spikelets 

 and glumes, and shape and size of grain among the segregates in F 2 and 

 F 3 of a cross between Early Red Chief (T. vulgar e. var. milturum] and 

 Marouani (T. durum, var. leucomelari). 



III. HYBRIDS OF CULTIVATED WHEATS WITH WILD GRASSES 



1. WHEAT x COUCH GRASS. 



Triticum vulgare $ x Agropyrum repens (Beauv.) $ . Hillman figures 

 a hybrid between these species and the resulting progeny obtained by 

 Fr. Strube, but no descriptions are given. He also refers to a similar 

 hybrid exhibited by G. Bestehorn. Further evidence is necessary before 

 the hybridisation of these plants can be accepted. 



2. WHEAT x ITALIAN RYE GRASS. 



Triticum vulgare $ x Lolium italicum (A. Br.) $ . Schliephacke 

 mentions the production of a sterile hybrid from the crossing of wheat 

 with Italian Rye Grass, and gives a figure of the ear of the hybrid plant 

 without any description. The figure resembles that of a wheat x rye 

 hybrid, which is also illustrated in the same communication. The evidence 

 for the crossing of these species is inconclusive. 



3. WHEAT x Various Species of Aegilops. 



(a) (i.) Aegilops ovata ? x Triticum vulgare $ = Aegilops triticoides 

 (Req.), Bertoloni. This hybrid is of much interest since it was the first 

 wild hybrid grass whose origin was determined by experiment, and its 

 discovery incidentally led to a great pre-Darwinian discussion among 

 botanists in Europe and America regarding the fixity of species and the 

 origin of cultivated wheats. Requien first collected the plant in 1821-24 

 around Avignon and Nimes in the south of France, and on account of its 

 resemblance to cultivated wheat he named it Aegilops triticoides. He 

 published no account of it, but Bertoloni, acknowledging Requien's name, 

 described the plant in his Flora Italica (vol. i. p. 788), and on the authority 



