134 DIANTHUS CARYOPHYLLUS. CHAP. IV. 



plant ; and these produced twenty-two capsules, containing on an 

 average 35 "95 seeds, with a maximum in one of 61 seeds. We 

 thus see, judging by the number of seeds per capsule, that the 

 crossed plants again crossed were more productive than the 

 self-fertilised again self-fertilised, in the ratio of 100 to 65. 

 Both the crossed and self-fertilised plants, from having grown 

 much crowded in the two beds, produced less fine capsules and 

 fewer seeds than did their parents. 



Crossed and self -fertilised Plants of the Second Generation. The 

 crossed and self-fertilised seeds from the crossed and self-fertilised 

 plants 01 the last generation were sown on opposite sides of two 

 pots ; but the seedlings were not thinned enough, so that both lots 

 grew very irregularly, and most of the self-fertilised plants after 

 a time died from being smothered. My measurements were, 

 therefore, very incomplete. From the first the crossed seedlings 

 appeared the finest, and when they were on an average, by esti- 

 mation, 5 inches high, the self-fertilised plants were only 4 

 inches. In both pots the crossed plants flowered first. The two 

 tallest flower-stems on the crossed plants in the two pots were 

 17 and 16i inches in height ; and the two tallest flower-stems 

 on the self-fertilised plants 10j and 9 inches; so that their 

 heights were as 100 to 58. But this ratio, deduced from only 

 two pairs, obviously is not in the least trustworthy, and would 

 not have been given had it not been otherwise supported. I 

 state in my notes that the crossed plants were very much more 

 luxuriant than their opponents, and seemed to be twice as 

 bulky. This latter estimate may be believed from the ascertained 

 weights of the two lots in the next generation. Some flowers 

 on these crossed plants were again crossed with pollen from 

 another plant of the same lot, and some flowers on the self- 

 fertilised plants again self-fertilised; and from the seeds thus 

 obtained the plants of the next generation were raised. 



Crossed and stlf -fertilised Plants of the Third Generation. The 

 seeds just alluded to were allowed to germinate on bare sand, 

 and were planted in pairs on the opposite sides of four pots. 

 When the seedlings were in full flower, the tallest stem on each 

 plant was measured to the base of the calyx. The measurements 

 are given in the following table (XL VI.). In Pot I. the crossed 

 and self-fertilised plants flowered at the same time ; but in the 

 other three pots the crossed flowered first. These latter plants 

 also continued flowering much later in the autumn -han the 

 self-fertilised. 



