5(3 



SCTEXGE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 154 



Supposing the air rises to one thousand feet, it will 

 there be cooled to 12 : then descending, as it passes 

 over the range, it will at first (FG) warm as slowly 

 as it cooled, until all the cloud that it carries is dis- 

 solved : the rest of the descent has a faster warming 

 (GHk and the ground is reached with a temperature 

 of about 43°, or S : warmer than when the ascent 

 began. 



These figures are not precise, as the diagram is 

 rather hastily constructed from Hertz's plate : but 

 they serve to show how much greater a change is 

 produced by the descent of the upper air than by the 

 evolution of latent heat in a transmontane wind. The 

 approach of the line of summer temperature (SS ) to 

 parallelism with the adiabatics also illustrates how 

 much fainter the foehn must be in summer than in 

 winter. 



The following quotation from Espy's 1 Fourth 

 meteorological report ' (1857) is of interest in this 

 connection: " It is known that air. in passing over 

 high mountains, ... is twenty or thirty degrees 

 warmer than the atmosphere is at the same height 

 over plains, because in passing over them it has the 

 latent caloric in it, just evolved by the condensation 

 of the vapor on the windward side." " Air can 

 never come down from a great height without being 

 very dry when it reaches the surface of the earth."' 

 "At the time of this hot south wind, there may be a 

 great rain taking place on the other side of a moun- 

 tain to the south of the observer, sending its hot air 

 over above, and radiating its abnormal heat down, 

 and even bringing some of the hot air down the 

 slope on the north, which would be felt there as an 

 excessively hot, dry air." He also quotes Lepoy's 

 mention of a warm south-west wind at Fort Simp- 

 son, east of the Rocky Mountains in British America, 

 and applies the above explanation to it (pp. 146, 147, 

 151). W. M. Davis. 



Cambridge, Jan. 12. 



The claimed wheat and rye hybrid. 



There is very slight botanical distinction between 

 the wheat and rye genera, and hence we could 

 scarcely select two genera between which we should 

 more readily expect, a priori, a success in hybridiza- 

 tion. The question, however, is, Has such a hybridi- 

 zation been effected? Mr. Charles Barnard, who 

 scarcely can speak as a botanist, states in the Janu- 

 ary Century, p. 477. that it has taken place. As one 

 who has carefully studied the published claims, and 

 who has also visited the growing plants upon which 

 the result is claimed, I must beg to dissent. Without 

 opportunity for a careful and thorough examination 

 of the various plants produced, I dare not affirm that 

 such a hybridization has not been effected ; yet I do 

 dare affirm that the evidence adduced is insufficient 

 to establish the fact, and is sufficient to establish 

 grave doubts. 



What are the facts | The flowers of the Arm- 

 strong wheat were treated with pollen from rye. 

 A number of variables were produced from the 

 resulting seed, which, without careful botanical in- 

 vestigation, have been pronounced hybrids. These 

 figures were published in the Rural New-Yorker of 

 Aug. 80, 1884. 



Lindley distinguishes rye from wheat by its nar- 

 row glumes, and constantly twin narrow florets with 

 a membranous abortion between them. In the draw- 

 ings referred to, the glumes in all the figures are 



drawn broader than in the rye. In four of the 

 figures the spikelets are distinctly those of a common 

 wheat. In the fifth figure — the one called by Mr. 

 Carman "'a distinct grain, neither wheat nor rye, 

 and as different from either as wheat is from rye, 

 or rye from wheat" — we must look for the hybrid, 

 if at all. This plant, so far as can be indistinctly 

 made out from the figure, has its spikelet solitary on 

 each notch of the axis, with two nearly equal 

 glumes ; and the outer pale of each floret has at the 

 top either a notch or angle on each side of the 

 terminal point or awn, — all the distinguishing char- 

 acters of the genus Triticum. It has not the narrow 

 glumes nor the constantly twin narrow florets which 

 are peculiar to rye. 



What do these figures resemble, if not rye \ Judg- 

 ing by comparison of pictures, his No. 335 is close to 

 the Froment de Saumur ; his No. 336, to Froment 

 Pictet ; his No. 337, to Froment de Naples ; his No. 

 338, to Froment blanc de Flandre ; his No. 339, the 

 supposed hybrid, to Froment de Pologne compact, — 

 all, as figured by Heuze, in the form of the head. I 

 do not mean to say by this that they are these varie- 

 ties, for the material for judgment does not admit 

 of such close comparison ; but I refer to these varie- 

 ties, and those represented by Mr. Carman's figures, 

 as representing like types of head. 



We do not question the attempt at a cross. The 

 variability effected is indication of the influence of a 

 foreign pollen. We can explain the appearances, 

 however, by an hypothesis. Under the stimulus of 

 the rye pollen, atavism has resulted, whereby varie- 

 ties dormant in the Armstrong wheat have made 

 their appearance ; and to those unfamiliar with for- 

 eign varieties, whose type appears in the progeny, 

 the seedlines produced seem as if novelties, the un- 

 familiar Ble de Poland being little known in this 

 country. 



The whole subject is, however, too interesting a 

 one to allow to pass without comment such state- 

 ments as the Century article contains, and it is to be 

 hoped that at some time a botanist expert in agri- 

 cultural botany may have opportunity to investigate 

 a series of these specimens. 



E. Lewis Sturtevant. 



Geneva. X.Y., Jan. 6. 



Stepniak's 4 Russia under the tzars." 



Will you kindly permit a few words of reply from 

 one of your English readers to M. Woeikof 's letter on 

 p. 478 of your issue for Nov. 27, 1885 ? 



We in the old country, who are watching with 

 deep interest the struggle for freedom now going on 

 in Russia, do not attach so much importance as your 

 correspondent seems to think we should, to Stepniak's 

 personal share in the conflict : indeed, we do not 

 even care to inquire about it. The important point 

 for us is the accuracy of the facts he has brought 

 forward. If true, they place the Russian govern- 

 ment outside the pale of civilization, and deprive it 

 of all right to appeal to civilized Europe against any 

 act in which the wrath and despair of its subjects 

 may find vent. If false, they can easily be disproved. 

 Stepniak has plainly stated names, dates, and sources 

 of information ; his book has now been for a year 

 before the public ; and he has reiterated his charges 

 through the leading organ of the English press. If 

 the Russian government is maligned, why does it 

 take no steps to disprove his statements ? 



But whilst Stepniak's allegations are confirmed by 



