THE PROPORTION OF PARTS IN FRUITS 301 



seed. This often comes under our notice in green leguminous 

 pods, as in the Pea (Pisum sativum)^ where, although the pod 

 may be of full size, the immature seeds within are very small 

 and quite out of proportion to the fruit containing them, 

 the disproportion being subsequently removed by the rapid 

 growth of the seeds in the ripening pod. 



The circumstance that the earlier history of a fruit's develop- 

 ment is mainly concerned with the fruit-case and the later 

 with the seed is treated with some detail in a later page of this 

 chapter. I will now therefore allude to that critical period in 

 this sequence of events which may be pronounced the turning 

 point in the history of the seed, that period when it has to 

 make the choice between entering the resting state or germinat- 

 ing on the plant. 



There are good grounds for holding that in most fruits Both the 

 the seeds, which, as before remarked, are far behind the fruit- pericarp 

 case in the earher stage of their growth, ultimately attain JJ^^^^^'Jj.y^^'^*^ 

 maturity about the same time as the fruit. In order that the about the 

 pericarp and the seeds may reach their full development about 

 the same time, it is necessary that in the ripening fruit the 

 pericarp should considerably diminish and the seeds consider- 

 ably accelerate the rate of their growth. But, as indicated by 

 the proportion of the parts of a fruit in different stages, as 

 determined by the balance, there are evidently cases where 

 the seed proceeds with its development after the pericarp has 

 not only completed its growth but has commenced to dry. 

 In other words, the fruit-case begins to lose its vitality before 

 the seed enclosed has attained its maximum development. 

 This is shown in the Acorn {Quercus) and in the Coco-nut, 

 and, as my observations suggest, probably in the fruits of 

 Barringtonia speciosa. It would thus promise to be not in- 

 frequent with one-seeded fruits of these types. 



Before giving the data on which these general inferences 

 are based, I should remark that this subject only came into 

 prominence during the elaboration of my data. It was the 

 comparison of the results obtained for coco-nuts and acorns 



