ii6 STUDIES IN SEEDS AND FRUITS 



attain their maximum weight in a few days. If a number of 

 seeds are bared together in the same experiment, the increase of 

 weight might astonish the observer when unprepared for such 

 a result. A sample of looo grains of the seeds of Guilandina 

 bonducella would in less than a week weigh from iioo to 

 1 1 80 grains; but even the testimony of the bared kernel of 

 a single seed as given below would be sufficiently striking. 

 The following data represent the result of an experiment 

 igle bared kernel of Guilandina bonducella : — 



Although five or six days are usually sufficient in the case 



of this and other impermeable seeds for the attainment of the 



The range of maximum weight, the period may be as short as three or as 



of weighto^f long as ten days, the time being extended or shortened by 



kernSs^of ^^^ relative dryness or humidity of the air. The varying 



Guilandina hygrometric conditions of the air also account for some of the 



differences between the results of experiments, but only to the 



extent of 2 or 3 per cent., which represents the ordinary range 



of hygroscopicity. The results of six experiments on the bared 



kernels of Guilandina bonducella^ mostly in the West Indies, the 



average weight of a kernel being 1 6 or 1 7 grains, are given below. 



Results of Experiments on the Bared Kernels of Guilandina 

 bonducella, showing the increase in weight by the absorp- 

 TION OF Aqueous Vapour after an Exposure of a few Days 

 TO THE Air. 



