44 POMCEA PUEPUEEA. CHAP. II. 



crossed plants are slightly inferior in height and in 

 earliness of flowering to the self-fertilised. But the 

 inferiority in height is so small, namely as 100 to 106, 

 that I should have felt very doubtful on this head, 

 had I not cut down all the plants (except those 

 in the crowded pot No. X.) close to the ground and 

 weighed them. The twenty -seven crossed plants 

 weighed 16 ounces, and the twenty-seven self-fer- 

 tilised plants 20 ounces; and this gives a ratio of 

 100 to 124. 



A self-fertilised plant of the same parentage as those 

 in Table XII. had been raised in a separate pot for a 

 distinct purpose ; and it proved partially sterile, the 

 anthers containing very little pollen. Several flowers 

 on this plant were crossed with the little pollen which 

 could be obtained from the other flowers on the same 

 plant ; and other flowers were self-fertilised. From the 

 seeds thus produced four crossed and four self- fertilised 

 plants were raised, which were planted in the usual 

 manner on the ojfposite sides of two pots. All these 

 four crossed plants were inferior in height to their 

 opponents ; they averaged 78 18 inches, whilst the 

 four self-fertilised plants averaged 84 '8 inches ; or as 

 100 to 108.* This case, therefore, confirms the last. 

 Taking all the evidence together, we must conclude 

 that these strictly self-fertilised plants grew a little 

 taller, were heavier, and generally flowered before 

 those derived from a cross between two flowers on the 

 same plant. These latter plants thus present a won- 

 derful contrast with those derived from a cross between 

 two distinct individuals. 



* From one of these self-ferti- an average only 3' 2 seeds per 



Used plants, spontaneously self- capsule; so that this plant had 



fertilised, I gathered twenty-four apparently inherited some of the 



capsules, and they contained on sterility of its parent. 



