^gilops of the South of France. 
171 
driest soil of the country, and is known by tlie name of Rocher de 
Rif/aud ; around it ^vov/ some very weak vines. 
The triaristata presented the same phenomena as the yE. 
ovata in a very barren gravelly soil covered with pebbles. 
The remarkable fact that, under certain circumstances, plants 
approaching Triticum, or wheat, are })roduced from the two per- 
fectly distinct species of ^gilops, leads to the supposition that, 
as has often been presumed, these .^gilops are the wild repre- 
sentatives of cultivated corn, and that consequently wheat is 
nothing more than iEgilops modified by the influence of soil 
and climate. 
It may moreover be supposed that the varieties of Triticum 
or wlieat produced by JE. ovata, are those with glabrous ears 
and fine grains, known to agriculturists by the name of Seissette, 
Touzelle, glabrous or bearded, &c., and which varieties were long 
since united by M. Dunal into one great class called Touzelle, 
and so adopted by M. Seringe in his excellent work on cereals. 
It may also be presumed that the coarse corn with hairy spikes, 
known in Languedoc by the name of Fourmen, including Triti- 
cum turgidum and compositum, and forming the group called 
Petanielle by M. Dunal, arise from ^E. triaristata, Willd. It 
would result from this, that the two species of yFgilops which 
are transformed into triticoides give rise to two series of distinct 
varieties, each consisting of one of the known groups, races, or 
varieties of cultivated wheat. 
Before I had ascertained by observation that yE. triaristata 
presented the same phenomenon as ovata, that is to say, 
yielded plants like Triticum, I was induced to cultivate 
triticoides derived from ovata in the hope of obtaining cultivated 
wheat, or at least some analogous variety. The next chapter is an 
account of my experiments with this view. 
Chapter II. — Cultivation of JEgilops triticoides obtained from 
JEi. ovata. — When I made the experiments of which I am about 
to give an account, I was not acquainted with yE. triaristata, 
which is not in De Candolle's ' Plore Frangaise,' the only book 
I then had at hand. I was consequently not then aware that this 
species, like jFi. ovata, became transformed into triticoides ; 
had it been otherwise, I should have cultivated triticoides 
obtained from j^. triaristata, Willd., together with triticoides 
obtained from JE. ovata. Unfortunately, however, I was com- 
pelled to confine my experiments to the cultivation of jFl. triti- 
coides produced from jE. ovata. 
First gear of cultivation, 1839. — The plants were sown for the 
first time in 1838. In 1839 the flowering stems attained a 
height of from 70 to 80 centim. The plants ripened from the 15th 
to the 20th July ; they had but few fertile spikelets, each con- 
