THE FRUIT OF TROPIDOCARPUM. 115 



about tbe plant. In its locality it is even more abundant 

 than any other species, and less disposed to vary tlian is the 

 typical species of the genus. The statement in the Synopti- 

 cal Flora, p. 141, as to the capsules commonly containing a 

 small capsule-like structure at base, is based on a single 

 instance. Dr. Robinson's imagination would seem to have led 

 him to guess that this malformation may be common. I 

 alone have seen more of this plant than have all other botan- 

 ists, by at least tenfold, and am prepared to say that no 

 species of the genus is less variable in its fruit, or more con- 

 stant in all its excellent specific characters." 



As several others have collected T. cajyparideum at the 

 type locality and in the neighboring regions, it is not easy to 

 admit the superior opportunities of observation, which Prof. 

 Greene claims to have enjoyed ; but even if they are granted 

 he seems to have made wofully poor use of them, if he has 

 overlooked all the interesting variations in the number and 

 form of the valves, and the presence of the inner capsule, so 

 often exhibited. 



Two sheets of material of Prof. Greene's own collecting, 

 from the type locality, have been examined by the writer and 

 show occasional 2-valved capsules and the presence in some 

 instances of the inner capsule. Indeed the excellently devel- 

 oped one, shown in Fig. 16, grew upon a specimen of Prof. 

 Greene's collecting. 



Regarding the structure and morphology of the internal 

 capsule there is doubtless much still to be learned. A few 

 facts, however, can be given. It appears to occur only in 

 capsules which have three or four valves. It is itself quite 

 variable in size, from the merest obscure rudiment to a cap- 

 sule half the length of the outer pod. It is, so far as 

 observed, always 2-valved, with strongly convex valves and a 

 complete or nearly complete partition. When well developed 

 it contains about two seeds, which mature in just the same 

 way as those in the surrounding capsule, taking on the same 

 dark brown color and having the same firm testa and mucil- 

 aginous envelope, which swells on contact with water. Within 



