CHAP. IV. CROSSED AND SELF-FERTILISED PLANTS. 135 



TABLE XLYL 

 Dianthus caryophyllus {Third Generation'). 



The average height of the eight crossed plants is here 28 '39 

 inches, and of the eight self-fertilised 28 -21; or as 100 to 99. 

 So that there was no difference in height worth speaking of' 

 but in general vigour and luxuriance there was an astonishing 

 difference, as shown by their weights. After the seed-capsules 

 had been gathered, the eight crossed and the eight self-fertilised 

 plants were cut down and weighed ; the former weighed 43 

 ounces, and the latter only 21 ounces ; or as 100 to 49. 



These plants were all kept under a net, so that the capsules 

 which they produced must have been all spontaneously self- 

 fertilised. The eight crossed plants produced twenty-one such 

 capsules, of which only twelve contained any seed, averaging 

 8' 5 pei capsule. On the other hand, the eight self-fertilised 

 plants produced no less than thirty-six capsules, of which I 

 examined twenty-five, and, with the exception of three, all 

 contained seeds, averaging 10*63 seeds per capsule. Thus the 

 proportional number of seeds per capsule produced by the plants 

 of crossed origin to those produced by the plants of self-fertilised 

 origin (both lots being spontaneously self-fertilised) was as 100 

 to 125. This anomalous result is probably due to some of the 

 self-fertilised plants having varied so as to mature their pollen 

 and stigmas more nearly at the same time than is proper to 

 the species ; and we have already seen that some plants in the 



