242 KUMPTA COTTON AND ITS IMPROVEMENT 



(6) Length of style. The measurement taken was that of the projection 

 of the style beyond the central column, in the flowers of kumpta cotton, and 

 these figures are taken from a thousand examples. — 



Millimeters Frequency 



1-5 — 3-0 .... 48 



30 — 4-5 402 



4-5 — 6-0 479 



Over 6-0 71 



Here there appears to be less variation than in most of the previous 

 characters studied. If we count the curve as a simple one then the standard 

 deviation is seen to be r043 and the co-efficient of variability 0'274. The 

 mean length of the style beyond the central column is 3"86 millimeters. 



(5) The boll characters. I have already described the kumpta cotton as 

 one bearing small bolls, with a tapering beak. The size and shape are subject 

 to variation like other characters, not only on different plants, but on the 

 same individual. The variations from the normal are ^^ddest during the last 

 stage of growth, when the plants generally suffer from heat and drought. 

 So far I have not been able to devise numerical expressions for denoting these 

 variations, but they deserve careful study. 



The other characters which are important are the number of cells in each 

 boll, and the nimiber of ovules in each cell. With regard to the number of 

 cells in the boll, the nmnber varies from two to six, although a gTeater range 

 is possible. The actual variation is, however, very slight indeed in kiimj^ta 

 cotton, nearly all the bolls examined contaioing three cells. The following 

 table shows the frequency of the various numbers of cells in 1,000 bolls 

 examined : — 



Number of cells ' Frequency 



2 .... 2 



3 987 



4 11 



Total .. 1,000 



I may note here that this constancy is not so great with other types of 

 Indian cotton. In the well-kno^vn " N. R." variety of Gossypium neglectum, 

 while the predominant number of cells per boll was still three, there was a 

 larger number of bolls mth four cells, the proportion being 160 in one thousand 



