168 



SUMMAKY ON THE LEGUMINOSJS. 



CHAP. 



supremacy ; their height being 16| and 15J, whilst that of the 

 two self-fertilised plants was 14f and llf inches. 

 By the autumn of 1870, the heights were as follows : 



TABLE LXI. 

 Ononis minutissima. 



So that the mean height of the two crossed plants was 19 - 81, 

 and that of the two self-fertilised 17 '37 inches ; or as 100 to 88. 

 It should be remembered that the two lots were at first equal in 

 height ; that one of the self-fertilised plants then had the advan- 

 tage, the two crossed plants being at last victorious. 



Summary on the Leguminosas. Six genera in this 

 family were experimented on, and the results are in 

 some respects remarkable. The crossed plants of the 

 two species of Lupinus were conspicuously superior to 

 the self-fertilised plants in height and fertility ; and 

 when grown under very unfavourable conditions, in 

 vigour. The scarlet-runner (Phaseolus multiflorus) is 

 partially sterile if the visits of bees are prevented, and 

 there is reason to believe that varieties growing near 

 one another intercross. The five crossed plants, how- 

 ever, exceeded in height the five self-fertilised only 

 by a little. Phaseolus vulgaris is perfectly self-fertile ; 

 nevertheless, varieties growing in the same garden 

 sometimes intercross largely. The varieties ofLathyrus 

 odoratus, on the other hand, appear never to intercross 

 in this country ; and though the flowers are not often 

 visited by efficient insects, I cannot account for this 

 fact, more especially as the varieties are believed to 



