14 TERATOLOGIOAL OBSERVATIONS ON PARN'ASSIA PALUSTRIS L. 



" investigating numberless Parnassia-Qoweva," and finding ten 

 abnormal "among many normal" blossoms. These last investi- 

 gations were made in the Tyrol." 



Then consider the statements of these authors in connection 

 with the table of abnormalities given above for Scarborough and 

 the Grampians. There are two points to which I wish to call 

 attention : (1) that the variation in these different pLices — Alaska, 

 Britain, and Continental Europe — runs on the same lines, every- 

 where the ovary being the most variable organ ; and (2) that, in 

 want of fuller statistics, it appears as if P. pahtstris is very variuble 

 in Alaska (nearly 50 %), much less so in Britain (9 %), and still 

 less variable on the Continent. 



Let us turn to the other abnormalities. Firstly, there were six 

 flowers given at the base of the first table, which need fuller 

 explanations. Of these, three (marked with an asterisk, and not 

 included in the second table) are intermediate in symmetry between 

 two types, having more members in the calyx than in some of the 

 other whorls between it and the ovary. Three of the six flowers (c) 

 exhibited a chorisis of one stamen ; and one had two petals, two 

 stamens, and two staminodes aborted on the late-developing side of 

 the flower. 



Other abnormalities were observed as follows : — 

 1 flower. — Phyllody of the first sepal. 



1 flower. — Sepalody of a petal, the staminode above it being aborted. 

 1 flower. — Petalody of a sepal and two stamens. 

 3 flowers. — The ovary, incompletely closed, bearing on one side an 



extra anther, or in one case two anthers. 

 1 flower. — Adhesion of a sepal and petal. 



1 flower.— -Adhesion of a petal and stamen. 



2 flowers. — Adhesion of a stamen to outside of ovary. 



1 flower. — Cohesion of three stamens, accompanied by complete 

 disappearance of three staminodes, two being those 

 alternating with the fused stamens, the other having 

 disappeared from the opposite side of the flower ; the 

 two remaining staminodes, those before first and fifth 

 petals, were much reduced. 



1 flower. — One sepal, two petals, one stamen being represented by 

 a lump attached to outside of ovary. 



1 flower. — Five carpels present, of which three were fused together 

 into a perfect but flattened ovary, while the other two 

 were lying free against the most flattened side of it. I 



1 flower. — Complete abortion of ovary. 



Many flowers were found in which the carpels were incompletely 

 fused together, and others in which the stigmas left a small opening 



* In various floras the possibility of flowers occurring with three or five 

 carpels is noted ; among the authors of these may be mentioned Wimmer, Godet, 

 Grenier, and J. A. Schmidt. 



t Buchenau describes and figures an almost identical case ; in his flower, 

 however, tlnere were two complete ovaries — one with three and the other with 

 two placenta). ' Einige Beobachtungen aus d. Gebiete d. Pflanzen-Teratologie,' 

 Bot. Zeituiu), 1802, xx. p. 307. 



