248 STUDIES IN SEEDS AND FRUITS 



the fruit is mellowing and assuming a yellowish hue before 

 dehiscence. Since the soft white seeds of the green capsule 

 lose 60 per cent, of their weight when allowed to dry, and since 

 the brownish seeds in the capsule on the eve of dehiscence lose 

 about 50 per cent, of their weight when exposed to the air, it 

 follows that about 20 per cent, of their weight is lost by the 

 soft unripe seeds when shrinking in the ripening fruit before 

 dehiscence. We thus get for Iris Pseudacorus results very 

 similar to those obtained for the Horse-chestnut. Both display 

 the regime of the berry in the drying of their fruits and 

 seeds, processes quite independent of any distinction that may 

 be drawn between baccate and capsular fruits. Here again 

 the mellowing, greenish-yellow stage immediately preceding 

 dehiscence corresponds to the ripening of the green berry when 

 it reddens in Arum, Tamus, etc. I have compared the results 

 for these two capsular fruits in the table below with the mean 

 result for a berry as supplied by the data for Berberis, Arum 

 maculatum, Tamus communis, and Passiflora pectinata. 



Comparison of Capsules and Berries with regard to the 

 RELATIVE Weight of the Seeds during Maturation and 

 during the Drying Process, the Weight of the Seed in the 

 Full-sized Green or Unripe Fruit being taken as 100. 



The weights of an average Horse-chestnut seed in the three stages are 300, 250, 142 

 grains ; and for Iris Pseudacorus, 2*0, i-6, and o"8 grain. 



