1,^6 STUDIES IN SEEDS AND FRUITS 



Inferences to We find the answer to the question suggested by the 



from^the" columns of Table A as to the relative values of the data 



tabulated afforded by moist and dry legumes in the contents of Table B. 



given. Here we see that although the relative proportions by weight 



of pericarp and seeds are on different planes, the pericarp being 



proportionately lighter and the seeds proportionately heavier 



in the dry than in the moist fruit, the progressive changes 



of relation are the same in both. We thus arrive at the 



following conclusions with regard to the relations between 



the number and weight of the seeds, the weight and length 



of the pod, and the relative proportions of the pericarp, in the 



living legumes of Leuc^na glauca and Albizzia Lebbek. 



(a) It is only in the few seeded pods of each plant that the 

 legumes follow the principle of capsules, where not only a 

 marked increase in the weight and size of the entire fruit, 

 but a gradual decrease in the relative weight of the pericarp 

 accompanies the additions to the number of seeds. 



(^b) But this principle has a limit in each case. In Leucana 

 glauca it is restricted to the shorter pods with less than a dozen 

 seeds. In Albizzia Lebbek it is confined to the shorter pods 

 with less than seven seeds. Beyond these limits in both cases, 

 as the seeds increase in number and the pods increase in 

 length, the relative proportions of the pericarp and the seeds 

 remain about the same. 



(c) The average weight of a single seed varies but little, 



whatever may be the number of seeds or the length of the 



legume. A slight increase of weight is indicated in the case 



of the longer pods of Leucana glauca ; but I do not imagine 



that this small difference would have been sustained if the 



materials had been more abundant. 



Theindica- The weight-relations of the pericarp in some other dried 



dried ° °* ^^ legumes, as shown by those of Vicia^ Ulex^ and Erythrina in 



legumes. |-|^g following table, give no very definite results, the tendency 



of the decrease in the relative weight of the pericarp, as the 



fruits increase in size and weight and the seeds in number, 



being but slight. However, in Guilandina bonducella^ which has. 



