12 STUDIES IN SEEDS AND FRUITS 



ripening and drying stages of different types of fruits, such 

 as the legume, the capsule, and the berry, by fixing on a 

 stage common to all. The result was to further undermine 

 the prevailing notion of special adaptation to seed dispersal, 

 and to show that the mechanism of a dehiscing capsule or 

 legume, however adaptive it may appear, does not count for 

 more in nature than the shrivelling of a berry. 



The winter 1908-9 was spent again in the West Indies, 

 A sojourn in mainly in Grenada and Tobago, but including a sojourn 

 Tobag-o,'and o^ two or three weeks in Trinidad. It was at Port of Spain 

 Trinidad. j-j^^|. j made the acquaintance of Mr Hart, the late super- 

 tendent of the Botanic Gardens, and I was indebted to the 

 courtesy of Mr Evans, temporarily in charge, for the 

 opportunity of obtaining an abundant supply of ripe palm 

 fruits of different kinds. Mr Broadway of the Botanic 

 Station in Tobago kindly gave me valuable information 

 respecting Grenada, and subsequently assisted me by reply- 

 ing by letter to numerous queries I had put to him. To 

 Mr Anstead of the Botanic Station in Grenada I was very 

 deeply indebted for, so to speak, giving me the run of the 

 gardens and for other aid. The fruits and seeds of palms 

 occupied much of my attention in Grenada ; but I made 

 also several special studies, including one of the fruits of 

 Barringtonia speciosa (an introduced plant). It was in Tobago 

 that I made my first acquaintance with the " Twist Coco-nut," 

 where the kernel lies loose within the hard shell. 



But one of the most important lines taken up during 

 this winter was the study of the connection between monili- 

 form legumes and the abortion of ovules, which opened up 

 an interesting field of inquiry. The pods of Erythrina 

 cor alio dendron supplied me with my first clue. This raised 

 the question of the influence of the abortion of ovules and 

 of the failure of young seeds on the form, size, and weight 

 of the fruit ; and in this connection I made an extensive 

 series of observations on the pods of Albizzia Lebbek, Entada 

 ■ polystackya, and Leucana glauca. As often happened in other 



