1914] Jack,— Plural Seeds in Acorns 143 
plumule, causing the growth of two stems from the buds in each 
axil of the cotyledons, or of two or more than two stems when a well 
developed young seedling is broken off near the ground or nipped off 
by some animal or insect. Two or more acorns, also, when planted 
close together, may produce a plural trunk effect when the trees are old. 
But on an examination of the trees in a piece of woodland, where all 
species have had seemingly equal chance, it will often be found that 
the Red Oak shows a larger percentage of plural trunked trees than 
other species. 
While we have often noted plural stems in seedling Red Oaks in 
nursery beds no examination has ever been made to show what per- 
centage of the fruits contained more than one fully developed seed 
from the six ovules which are normally produced in each flower. 
Since reading Mr. Smith's note, however, I have thought it might be 
worth while to get actual figures. Last autumn we had collected in 
the Harvard Forest, at Petersham, Mass., about half a bushel of Red 
Oak acorns for planting this spring. These acorns have been kept in a 
cool place and are in good fresh condition. They were collected from 
good healthy trees, growing in the open, in the prime of life and vigor, 
broad spreading and low branched. The acorns may be described 
as medium sized, being about half the size of the largest sometimes 
found and nearly double the size of the smallest of well developed 
acorns found on this species. As they were collected from several 
trees they show some, though but little, variation in size. From over 
a quart of acorns taken at random from the half bushel collected last 
autumn at the Harvard Forest, I have cut and examined two hundred 
with the following results. 139 acorns with single seeds, and 61 acorns 
with plural seeds. 
Of those with plural seeds 58 contained two developed seeds in 
each and 8 contained three seeds. Most of those with two seeds had 
both seeds strong and well developed; in those with three seeds the 
third seed was generally much crowded and with much reduced coty- 
ledons, in one case being diminutive and crowded into the centre of 
the acorn and almost completely surrounded by the cotyledons of the 
two highly developed seeds. The cotyledons of each seed are often 
very unequal and very unsymmetrical in the fruits with plural seeds. 
In all cases where two seeds were found in the acorn they were both 
apparently sufficiently strong and well developed to grow with nearly 
equal vigor and to produce two trunks. So far as could be detected 
