Harris: NUMBER OF OVULES FORMED 449 
ship was most kindly worked for me while engaged on this problem 
at University College, London, by Professor Karl Pearson.* 
III. Discussion OF DATA 
This formula has been so far applied to the problem of fecundity 
in plants only in the case of the fruits of Cercis, Robinia and 
Sanguinaria and of the inflorescence of Staphylea, Celastrus and 
Crinum.t Only one or two published series were available for 
each of these species. Because of the delicate relationships which 
are ordinarily found between fertility and other characterst it is 
essential for trustworthy results that the relationship be worked 
out on as large a series of material as possible. It will be also 
advantageous if one can include a large number of sub-series 
differing from each other in the conditions to which they have 
been subjected but each homogeneous in itself. 
The only such series of data is that used for the working out 
of the relationship between bilateral asymmetry and fertility 
and fecundity in Phaseolus vulgaris.§ For each of these 53 series, 
embodying altogether over 170,000 pods, I have carried through 
the arithmetical routine necessary for the determination of 7.2, 
the correlation between the number of ovules formed per pod 
and the deviation of the number of seeds from their probable 
‘value on the assumption of there being no relationship between 
the number of ovules formed and the capacity of the pod for 
maturing its seeds. - 
TABLE I gives the results. The key letters indicating the 
individual series permit easy reference to other published informa- 
tion concerning them. The second column shows the number of 
pods upon which the determinations are based. The third gives 
the coefficient of correlation between the number of ovules and 
Harris, J. Arthur, The Correlation between a Variable and the Deviation of a 
Dependent Variable from its Probable Value. Biometrika 6: 438-443. 1909. 
} For the results for the fruits of Cercis, and Robinia and the = GE of 
Staphylea see the original paper on methods. For Sanguinaria see Biometrika 7: 
321-324. 1910. For Celastrus see Missouri Bot. d. Ann. Rep. 20: Ce 
1909, and for Crinum see Missouri Bot. Gard. Ann. Rep. 23: 85-89. 1912. 
t For a review of the pertinent literature for plants see Biometrika 8: 52-65. 
Igtt. 
J. Arthur, in Roux’s Archiv. f. Entwicklungsmech. Organism. 35: 500- 
522. 1912. ; 
