CHAP. IV. 



RESEDA ODORATA. 



121 



and weighed : the crossed weighed 11 '5 ounces, and the self- 

 fertilised 7'75 ounces, or as 100 to 67. These two lots having 

 been left freely exposed to the visits of insects, did not present 

 any difference to the eye in the number of seed-capsules which 

 they produced. 



The remainder of the same two lots of seeds were sown in two 

 adjoining rows in the open ground ; so that the plants were ex- 

 posed to only moderate competition. The eight tallest on each 

 side were measured, as shown in the following table : 



TABLE XXXVIH. 



Reseda odorata, growing in the open ground. 



The average height of the eight crossed plants is 25 -76, and 

 1 at of the eight self-fertilised 27'09 ; or as 100 to 105. 



We here have the anomalous result of the self-fertilised plants 

 being a little taller than the crossed ; of which fact I can offer 

 no explanation. It is of course possible, but not probable, that 

 the labels may have been interchanged by accident. 



Another experiment was now tried: all the self-fertilised 

 capsules, though very few in number, were gathered from one of 

 the semi-self-sterile plants under a net ; and as several flowers on 

 this same plant had been fertilised with pollen from a distinct 

 individual, crossed seeds were thus obtained. I expected that the 

 seedlings from this semi-self-sterile plant would have profited 

 in a higher degree from a cross, than did the seedlings from 

 the fully self-fertile plants. But my anticipation was quite wrong, 

 for they profited in a less degree. An analogous result followed in 

 the case of Eschscholtzia, in which the offspring of the plants of 

 Brazilian parentage (which were partially self-sterile) did not 



