222 ILLEGITIMATE OFFSPRING OF CHAP. V. 



on an average only 9 1 seeds, with a -maximum of 46. Some 

 seeds indiscriminately saved from the foregoing twenty-nine 

 equal-styled and long-styled plants produced sixteen seedlings, 

 grandchildren of the original plant belonging to Mr. Duck ; and 

 these consisted of fourteen equal-styled and two long-styled 

 plants ; and I mention this fact as an additional instance of the 

 transmission of the equal-styled variety. 



The third lot in the table, namely the Baston plants, are the 

 last which need be mentioned. The long and short-styled plants, 

 and the fifteen equal-styled plants, were descended from two 

 distinct stocks. The latter were derived from a single plant, 

 which the gardener is positive was not long-styled ; hence, pro- 

 bably, it was equal-styled. In all these fifteen plants the anthers, 

 occupying the same position as in the long-styled form, closely 

 surrounded the stigma, which in ono instance alone was slightly 

 elongated. Notwithstanding this position of the stigma, the 

 flowers, as the gardener assured me, did not yield many seeds ; 

 and this difference from the foregoing cases may perhaps have 

 been caused by the pollen being bad, as in some of the South- 

 ampton equal-styled plants. 



Conclusions with respect to the equal-styled variety of 

 P. Sinensis. That this is a variation, and not a third or 

 distinct form, as in the trimorphic genera Lythrum and 

 Oxalis, is clear ; for we have seen its first appearance 

 in one out of a lot of illegitimate long-styled plants ; 

 and in the case of Mr. Duck's seedlings, long-styled 

 plants, only slightly deviating from the normal state, 

 as well as equal-styled plants were produced from the 

 same self-fertilised parent. The position of the sta- 

 mens in their proper place low down in the tube of the 

 corolla, together with the small size of the pollen- 

 grains, show, firstly, that the equal-styled variety is a 

 modification of the long-styled form, and, secondly, that 

 the pistil is the part which has varied most, as indeed 

 was obvious in many of the plants. This variation ia 

 of frequent occurrence, and is strongly inherited when 

 it has once appeared. It would, however, have pos- 



