m] FRUITS OF YELLOW WATERLILY 35 



such an extensive series of leaf-forms as the seedling of Victoria 

 regia. The green bottle-shaped fruits which succeed the yellow 

 flowers ofNymphaea lutea (Fig. 

 17) are usually found floating 

 just at the surface of the water. 

 Water-fowl are occasionally 

 seen pecking at them 1 . In order 

 to follow the dehiscence and 

 germination, the present writer 

 brought some fruits collected 

 on October i, 1914, into the 

 laboratory, and kept them in an 

 aquarium. In the course of the 

 first few days the pericarp began 

 to disintegrate. The green fruit- 

 wall burst irregularly at the 

 base and the torn ' segments 

 gradually curled right up round 

 the stigmatic disc, disclosing 

 the seed-containing loculi. 

 These, which were snow-white, 

 owing to the presence of air 

 in their walls, soon became 

 detached from the fruit, and for 

 a time floated on the water, 

 either singly or in groups ; but, 

 in a couple of days or so, they 



ill J , ' * FIG. 1 8. Nymphaea lutea, L. .4, seedling 



had become water-logged and April 23, 1915 (x 2). B, seedling May 28, 



B 



had Sunk to the bottom of the 



laroirootnairs;c,c=cotyledons;^.=plu- 



bellT-jar 2 . It has been shown 3 mule; l lt 1 2 , 1 3 , first, second and third 

 that these detached loculi are le avesofpl u mule^=seed;o=operculum. 



clothed with thin-walled cells 



which secrete much mucilage outwards. The cells have at first 



1 Guppy, H. B. (1893). 



2 On dehiscence of Castalia alba see p. 302. 



3 Raciborski, M. (18942). 



32 



