194 NATURAL SCIENCE. march, 



outgrowths from the walls or developed placentas, as is the case in a 

 berry, but there are large spaces between the seed and the cell-walls. 

 Its appearance suggests that it is a capsule becoming baccate. 



The variations of the arrangements for the dispersal of the seeds 

 of capsular fruits by birds seem almost endless, and only a few of the 

 more striking and commoner forms can be here described. As in the 

 drupes and berries, red is the most common attracting colour. 

 Frequently the capsule is red and the seeds are black, red, or yellow, 

 or provided with a red or yellow aril. One of the most showy fruits 

 is that of Sterculia rubiginosa, a common tree. The capsule is 

 of an intense crimson -scarlet, and when ripe each carpel splits widely 

 and exposes the black oblong seeds hanging from the edge by the 

 raphe. Beneath the black testa is a thin white pulp, which is the only 

 eatable part of the fruit. This appears to be highly appreciated by 

 birds, which devour the seeds as soon as they are ripe. S. parviflora, 

 has the same arrangement, but the capsule is pink and less 

 showy, and I note that the seeds are less popular with birds, the 

 ground beneath a fruiting tree being covered with fallen seeds, which 

 is not the case with the other brighter-coloured species, 5. rubiginosa 

 and S. Icevis. A somewhat similar arrangement t occurs in Pithe- 

 colobium (Leguminosae). Here the pod, which is often curiously con- 

 torted, is of a bright orange-red, while the seeds are black ; and in 

 P. fasciculatum the seeds, very much like those of Sterculia rubiginosa 

 in appearance, are pendulous ' and conspicuous and very soon 

 carried off by birds. P. lobatum is an exception to this plan ; the 

 fruits and seeds are very large, too large to be taken off by any 

 ordinary bird. They are dispersed by squirrels, and, as in all plants 

 dependent on mammals for dispersal, they are not gaily coloured, the pod 

 and seeds being of a dull brown. I once saw a squirrel running with 

 one of these seeds in its mouth fully a hundred yards from the tree. It 

 dropped the seed, which I found to be quite sound, though it had 

 nibbled off much of the testa. 



Ternstroemia penangiana is commonly described as having a baccate 

 fruit, but it should rather be described as capsular. It consists of an 

 elliptical scarlet capsule which splits open and permits three or four 

 crimson seeds to hang out. The crimson outer covering, apparently 

 part of the testa, is eatable, and a tree in fruit with the scarlet and 

 crimson fruit standing out against the deep green leaves is very showy. 



In some plants, such as Gardenia tubifeva, a common tree in 

 jungles, the outside of the fruit, which is generally spoken of as 

 baccate, is of a dull green colour and quite inconspicuous, but it 

 breaks open irregularly, and then the inner lining of the woody 

 pericarp is seen to be of a bright orange, setting off the black seeds 

 which are enclosed in a sweet shining substance. 



Fagrcea imperialis is an interesting example of modification of 

 the arrangement for dissemination entailed by the modification of 

 other parts of the flower. The genus to. which it belongs consists of 



