CHAPTER XVI 



THE ABORTION OF OVULES AND THE FAILURE OF SEEDS 



I FIRST took up this subject quite accidentally in Tobago 

 whilst determining the proportional weight of the pericarp in 

 the dry beaded pods of Erythrina corallodendron. Since the 

 pronounced moniliform habit presented a disturbing influence, 

 I was led on to examine its nature, and thus the inquiry 

 commenced. A few weeks afterwards I made a detailed 

 investigation in Grenada of the failure of ovules in the dry 

 legumes of Albizzia Lebbek, and the inquiry developed. The 

 investigations were continued in England and subsequently 

 in Turks Islands. From the beginning my usual plan of 

 following indications was adopted, forming crude hypotheses 

 as I went along and dropping them as soon as they had lost 

 their usefulness. Many points of course remain undetermined, 

 and the contents of the present chapter can only be offered as 

 a contribution to the study of a difficult but highly interesting 

 subject. 



Each fruit examined told its own story in its own way and 

 threw new light on some point of the subject. Thus, after I 

 had first learned from the legumes of Vkia that all the ovules 

 begin to respond to the fertilisation of the ovary, the capsules 

 of Primula gave the same testimony, but in a different fashion, 

 and further elucidated the matter. The pods of Albizzia and 

 the capsules of Iris and Allium afforded valuable data relating to 

 the influence of the early failure of ovules and of very young 

 seeds on the form of the fruit, the first named giving me the 



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