[Vor. 11 
458 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
there are as yet unmeasurable factors which influence in a similar 
manner the seed production of the 3 locules of the same ovary. 
These may be in part ecologieal, depending upon accidents of 
fertilization, and in part physiological. 
Тһе result of greatest importance derived from this investiga- 
tion is the generally low correlation between the meristic char- 
acters of the inflorescence and fruit and seed production. While 
variation in seed production is elearly the resultant of underlying 
causes, these causes" are not easily located in.the variations of 
the magnitudes of any of the antecedently formed structures. 
Thus there is little relationship between the number of flowers 
formed per inflorescence and the number of seeds matured per 
locule. This conclusion, that there is but a low correlation be- 
tween somatic characters and fertility, is in full agreement with 
those drawn from a consideration of the relationship between the 
number of parts of the involucral whorl and fertility in Hibiscus 
(Harris, 711). 
This conclusion is not shaken by the more substantial corre- 
lations formed between number of pods and number of ovules 
and seeds in Phaseolus (Harris, '14), for here, as in Sanguinaria 
(Harris, 710) and in Nothoscordum and Allium (Harris, '09 b), 
we have questions of possible age differentiation in the perennials 
or of the somatie character measured standing more directly in 
relation to the fertility characters as means of support, conducting 
tracts for plastic materials, or as an actual source of the elabora- 
tion of plastie materials. 
LITERATURE CITED 
Harris, J. Arthur (09). Correlation in the inflorescence of Celastrus scandens. 
Mo. Bot. Gard., Ann. Rept. 20: 116-122. 1909. 
----- (09 a The correlation between а variable and the oer of a de- 
pendent variable from its probable value. Biometrika 6: 438 
, 09 b). Correlation between length of flowering stalk and pint of 
Sowers per inflorescence in Nothoscordum and Allium. Mo. Bot. Gard., 
Ann. Rept. 20: гче 1909. 
————, (10). 444042 a £4} ti of the fruit of the blood- 
root, к canadensis. Biometrika 7: 305-351. f. 1. 1910. 
—— — — ——, (11). On the correlation between somatic characters and fertility: 
illustrations from the involucral whorl of Hibiscus. Ibid. 8: 52-65. f. 1 5. 
