1918-19.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINHUKGH 338 



hybrid, containing but a trace ot" Cowberry at one spot. 

 Nine 3'ards away a tew small plants of Bilberry had 

 survived. The tire took place before the plants could have 

 set seed. The small percentage of good seed 3nelded by 

 the berries from this patch (209 seeds from 100 berries, as 

 compared with over 300 seeds from 100 berries collected^ 

 at random) may have been due to the comparative absence 

 of pollen from Cowberry or Bilberry. 



Seeds from this patch will be sown apart from the 

 others, and an}^ ditference in the offspring noted. 



If the hybrid seeds reproduce hybrid plants, one might 

 expect occasionally to find hybrid patches growing apart 

 from Cowberry and Bilberry. Out of some fifty hybrid 

 patches examined, I have only seen tivo showing isolation 

 from the parent forms — one being the patch isolated by 

 fire, the other being the small-leaved patch on Maer Heath, 

 where the dryness of an artificial bank had killed out 

 all other vegetation and had notably modified the habit 

 of the hybrid. 



It is possible that birds do not carr}' the hybrid seed 

 to ail}' great extent. I have several times noted wounds 

 on the ripe hybrid fruit, suggesting that birds, having 

 tasted, had gone away to seek the more appetising- 

 Bilberry. Compared with Bilberiy and Cowberiy, the 

 hybrid fruit is lacking in flavour. 



If the hybrid seed reproduces parental forms, it will 

 be of interest to note the proportion of Bilberry and 

 Cowberry among the seedlings. 



1 Had tliefruit collected "at random " contained no berries from the 

 patch in qnestion, the difference wonld have been even more striking. 



N.B. The berries were gently broken under water, and the seeds 

 extracteii by a rough centrifugal method, so that only comparatively 

 heavy seeds were counted. 



