On polarized surfaces of low degree whose adjont bundles are not spanned

Smooth complex surfaces polarized with an ample and globally generated line bundle of degree three and four, such that the adjoint bundle is not globally generated, are considered. Scrolls of a vector bundle over a smooth curve are shown to be the only examples in degree three. Two classes of examples in degree four are presented, one of which is shown to characterize regular such pairs. A Reider-type theorem is obtained in which the assumption on the degree of the polarization is removed.