Chap. VI. 



rRIMULA VERIS. 



221 



following table, which likewise gives the number of flower-stems 

 produced on both sides of all the pots. 



Table XCIII. 



Primula veris. 



The average height of the eight tallest flower-stems on the 

 crossed plants is here 7*03 inches, and that of the eight tallest 

 flower-stems on the self-fertilised plants 3 '21 inches; or as 

 100 to 46. We see, also, that the crossed plants bore sixty-two 

 flower-stems; that is, above four times as many as those (viz., 

 fifteen) borne by the self-fertilised plants. The flowers were 

 left exposed to the visits of insects, and as many plants of 

 both forms grew close by, they must have been legitimately 

 and naturally fertilised. Under these circumstances the 

 crossed plants produced 324 capsules, whilst the self-fertilised 

 produced only 16 ; and these were all produced by a 6ingle 

 plant in Pot II., which was much finer than any other self- 

 fertilised plant. Judging by the number of capsules produced, 

 the fertility of an equal number of crossed and self-fertilised 

 plants was as 100 to 5. 



In the succeeding year (1871) I did not count all the flower- 

 stems on these plants, but only those which produced cap- 

 sules containing good seeds. The season was unfavourable, and 

 the crossed plants produced only forty such flower-stems, bearing 



