MISCELLANEA 207 



Further, the ripe seeds iu an apogamus capsule are usually 

 fewer in number than those in a selfed capsule, and it may there- 

 fore be inferred that all the ovules are not capable of apogamy. 

 Given this inference, it is not difficult to imagine that some 

 N. Forcjetiana were reproduced apogamously among the hybrids 

 made by Mr. Sander, and chosen for their deeper colour to con- 

 tinue breeding from 



I fear it is not possible, until some traveller again imports it 

 from South America, to ascertain positively that N. Forgetiana 

 is apogamous, for in reply to a letter of enquiry Mr. Sander wrote 

 to me April 23rd, 1907, as follows : — " We regret to say we have 

 neither seeds nor plants of N. Forgetiana, as the plant was 

 deemed not worth keeping after the hybrids were obtained 

 from it." It seems a pity that a plant which produced such 

 splendid results horticulturally and financially in the cross 

 with N. afflnh should be destroyed instead of being crossed 

 with other varieties of Nicotiana. Again, all the Nicotiana 

 species and varieties I have observed under cultivation are each of 

 them distinguished by three gradations of colour — pale, medium, 

 and dark in distinct shades, the medium shade most numerous, 

 the pale and dark far less frequent ; and these same three grades 

 of colour exist on the under surfaces of the so-called White 

 Nicotianas, Affinis and Suavolens. Now, it is conceivable that 

 Mr. Sander's traveller may have brought over N. Forgetiana 

 in one only of these colours, the medium, which might further 

 confuse the issue, as it would seed all three shades. This I have 

 found experimentally in selfed plants. 



Varieties of Nicotiana seeding true in the open ground 

 subjected to insect crossing, and growing within two feet of one 

 another, seemed to demand some explanation ; in the case of 

 the N. Tabaccums, this is found in the fact that fertilization 

 takes place just before the bud expands, but N. Sanderae and 

 others have not that habit, and apogamy in these might partly 

 explain it, though not altogether, as apparently all the ovules 

 are not apogamic. 



Rose Hatg Thomas. 



