GYN(EOIUM. 407 



and spiral torsion of others. The pistil was entirely 

 absent in this instance.' 



M. Gaetano Licapoli places on record an instance 

 where the petals and carpels of Melianthus major were 

 suppressed.^ 



On the whole, the pistil seems less subject to changes 

 of this character than the androecium. 



Suppression of the pistil has been most frequently 

 recorded in flowers (normally bisexual) of 



Ranunculus ! Trifolium repens. 

 Aconitum ! hybiidum. 



Delphinium ! Composita3, sp. pi. 



Paeonia. Datura. 



Caryophyllea) ! Torenia asiatica. 



UmbeUi^i-aB. Colchicum autumnale. 



Suppression of ovules, abortion of seeds. The two cases 

 are taken together, as the effects are similar, though 

 it must be remembered that in the one case the ovules 

 at any rate have been formed, but their development 

 has been arrested, while in the other they have never 

 existed. The precise cause that has determined the 

 absence of seed cannot in all cases be ascertained in 

 the adult condition, hence it is convenient to treat the 

 two phenomena under one head. 



Many plants in other than their native climates 

 either produce no fruit at all, or the fruits that are 

 produced are destitute of seed, e. g. Miisciy Artocaiinis, 

 &c. Some of the cultivated varieties of the grape 

 and of the berberry produce no seeds. 



Suppression or abortion of the seed is frequently 

 associated with the excessive development either in 

 size or number of other portions of the plant, or with 

 an altered condition, as when carpels become foliaceous 

 and their margins detached. Hybridisation and cross 

 fertilisation are also well-known agents in diminishing 

 the number and size of seeds. 



' Soe also Moiren. ' Bull. Acad. Belg.,' xv, Fuchsia, p. 67. 



' Cited in ' Bull. Soc. Bot., Franco,' t. xiv (" Rev. Bill."), p. 253. 



