194 ILLEGITIMATE OFFSPRING OF Chap. V. 



these, fifteen in number, were examined; eight contained 

 no seed, and the remaining seven contained on an average 

 only three seeds, and these seeds were so small and shriv- 

 elled that I doubt whether they would have germinated. 



Plants 3 and 4. These two long-styled plants, after be- 

 ing freely and legitimately fertilised during 1863 by the 

 same illegitimate mid-styled plant as in the last case, were 

 as miserably sterile as No. 2. 



Plant 5. This long-styled plant, after flowering in 1863 

 close to an illegitimate mid-styled plant, yielded only four 

 capsules, which altogether included only five seeds. Dur- 

 ing 1864, 1865, and 1866, it was surrounded either by ille- 

 gitimate or legitimate plants of the other two forms; but 

 it did not yield a single capsule. It was a superfluous ex- 

 periment, but I likewise artificially fertilised in a legiti- 

 mate manner twelve flowers; but not one of these pro- 

 duced a capsule; so that this plant was almost absolutely 

 barren. 



Plant 6. This long-styled plant, after flowering during 

 the favourable year of 1866, surrounded by illegitimate 

 plants of the other two forms, did not produce a single 

 capsule. 



Plant 7. This long-styled plant was the most fertile of 

 the eight plants of the first lot. During 1865 it was sur- 

 rounded by illegitimate plants of various parentage, many 

 of which were highly fertile, and must thus have been legiti- 

 mately fertilised. It produced a good many capsules, ten 

 of which yielded an average of 36.1 seeds, with a maximum 

 of 47 and a minimum of 22 ; so that this plant produced 

 39 per cent, of the full number of seeds. During 1864 it 

 was surrounded by legitimate and illegitimate plants of the 

 other two forms ; and nine capsules (one poor one being re- 

 jected) yielded an average of 41.9 seeds, with a maximum 

 of 56 and a minimum of 28 ; so that, under these favourable 

 circumstances, this plant, the most fertile of the first lot, 

 did not yield, when legitimately fertilised, quite 45 per 

 cent, of the full complement of seeds. 



In the second lot of plants in the present class de- 

 scended from the long-styled form, almost certainly fer- 

 tilised with pollen from its own mid-length stamens, 



