THE NUMBER OF STAMENS AND CARPELS, 237 
TanLE XIV. 
Number of Stamens and Carpels in Flowers of 
Ranunculus Ficaria. 
flowers. No. of | No. of 
sepals. | petals. | stamens. | carpels. 
No. of Average | Ratio of 
Locality. Date. o. of |. -— stamens to 
No. of | No. of | 1 carpel. 
Under trees, poor soil. 
Beresford Dale, « . ". " . 
ap Minen ] March 26th | 75 | 375 | 736 | 9252 | 1914 
Forge Valley, . . . 9T. . 
Scarborough. April 9th 67 301 | 845 | 2724 | 1815 
Sunny banks facing 
south, 
Ashbourne ...... Mar. 21 &22| 84 3:13 8:42 30°42 17:59 
Ravine, Filey ... April 5th 28 3:03 8:25 34:36 | 20:25 
Slopes facing east. 
Cliffs, Scarborough. | Mar.29 & 30| 64 313 852 3803 | 32:89 
OUS Cayton Bay |) March 3ist| 45 | 307 | 882 | 4144 | 3490 
(base) ............ 
Open field. 
op of CastleHill, . oq. 
Scarborough. || Aprldth | 20 | 30 | 870 | 3430 2865 
Coe Fen, Cambridge. April 16th 86 3:02 8:07 30:67 20:55 
1:18 
1:50 
173 
1:69 
116 
121 
119 
1:49 
That conditions do affect the number of parts seems certain ; 
but it is difficult to say what the conditions are. The flowers 
gathered from the somewhat inhospitable mountain limestone 
of Beresford Dale, near Hartington, are those in which the 
number of stamens is lowest. The flowers gathered in various 
spots from the boulder-clay near Scarborough, z. e. Cayton Bay (3), 
Castle Hill and cliffs, all show a large number both of stamens 
and carpels, and the ratio of stamens to carpels varies but little. 
On the contrary, the proportion of stamens to carpels is much 
higher in plants from Forge Valley, Ashbourne, and Cambridge. 
The Filey plants were from boulder-clay, but do not agree 
with the other boulder-clay plants,—perhaps because of the 
steepness of the bank on which they grew. The plants from 
Coe Fen, grown under similar conditions to those from the top 
of the cliffs at Cayton and on the Castle Hill at Scarborough, 
i. e. amongst grass, instead of resembling these, resemble those 
