, 14 



STUDIES IN SEEDS AND FRUITS 



Albizzia Lebbek and heucana glauca^ arranged according to the 

 number of seeds, and from which I obtained my principal 

 material for investigating the relation between the number of 

 seeds and the size and weight of the fruit. In the same press 

 were two small paper trays containing the bared seeds of 

 C^salpinia Sappan, Erythrina corallodendron^ and EUis guineensis^ 

 which, having been exposed to a temperature of 212° F. for 

 two hours, were now regaining from the air the moisture lost 

 in the oven. But perhaps the most interesting things around 

 me were a number of seeds of Barringtonia speciosa which had 

 been cut up with the hope of discovering the missing coty- 

 ledons. Lying about the room were many West Indian 

 fruits, such as those of Saccoglottis amazonica^ Carapa guianensis^ 

 and Mauritia setigera, all from Trinidad ; whilst a box under 

 the table contained my collection of seed-drift from the 

 Trinidad and Tobago beaches, much of which had been 

 brought down by the Orinoco from the interior of the neigh- 

 bouring continent. 



In the spring of 1909 I brought back to England abundant 

 material for further research in the various lines already 

 instituted. During the summer the observations on the 

 abortion of ovules and the failure of young seeds were con- 

 tinued, and I began to pay systematic attention to the 

 coloration of seeds, a subject about which many notes had 

 been previously made. At the same time I was arranging my 

 notes and working out the general results, during which many 

 "lacunae" presented themselves; and it was with the filling 

 up of these gaps, together with the working up of results, that 

 most of the following twelve months were occupied. I may 

 add that large seed-collections were at my disposal for this 

 purpose. 



At the close of 19 10 I went to Turks Islands, which form 

 geographically the southernmost portion of the Bahamas, and 

 remained there three months. This locality was selected as 

 the most suitable one in the West Indies for the study of 

 oceanic seed-drift, or, in other words, for observing the dispersal 



