Chap. IV. 



KESEDA 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 XXXVIII. 



Reseda odoruta, growing in the open ground. 



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

 ibat 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 ffowers on 

 this same plant had been fertilised with pollen from a distinct 

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

 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 



