CHAPTER XV 



THE RELATION BETWEEN THE NUMBER OF SEEDS AND THE 

 WEIGHT AND SIZE OF THE FRUIT 



The relation The relations between the number and weight of the seeds 



number of o^ the one hand and the total weight of the fruit and the 



weight"oVa^ proportional weight of the pericarp on the other offer an 



fruit, interesting stydy. Although we shall at first treat the subject 



on its own ground, it will soon be perceived that in so doing 



we are ignoring important determining influences. Foremost 



among such influences stands that connected with the abortion 



of ovules before and after fertilisation, this distinction in time 



with regard to fertilisation being pregnant with results as regards 



the future of the fruit. But the subject of the failure of ovules 



and seeds is dealt with in Chapter XVI., and here it will be 



only incidentally noticed as we proceed with the discussion. 



(a) in the The living fruit, that is to say, the green, moist, full-grown 



iving fruit, fj-uit with large, soft, uncontracted seeds, first claims our 



attention. This is but natural, and indeed the main interest 



of the withered or air-dried fruit should chiefly lie in its ability 



to aid us in our studies of the living fruit. Although the 



data below tabulated are scanty, their acquisition has often 



involved a good deal of labour, and a large amount of material 



had usually to be gone over to get a few results. It is necessary, 



for instance, to select only full-grown moist fruits that show no 



signs of drying ; but of these a large number have frequently 



to be rejected on account of defective seed-development, or 



of a lack of uniformity in the size of the seeds. 



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