io STUDIES IN SEEDS AND FRUITS 



The winter 1907-8 spent in Jamaica was chiefly occupied 



in working as opportunity offered on the lines before indicated. 



I repeated several of the experiments made in England on 



the resorption of water from the air by seeds in the broken 



My work in condition, so as to be assured that it was a capacity uncon- 



Jamaica. ne cted with climatic causes. At this time I began my 



observations on the Coco-nut (Cocos nucifera)^ ascertaining 



the proportional weight of all the parts the husk, the shell, 



the albumen, and the embryo and also determining their 



water-contents. 



The maturation and drying of the fruits of numerous 

 other plants also occupied my attention, such as those of 

 Anona^ Bauhinia, Citrus decumana (Shaddock), Datura, Entada, 

 Ipomcea^ Mahogany (Swietenia\ Sapota, etc. I was surprised 

 to find that the ripe capsule, the ripe legume, and the ripe 

 berry often lost much the same amount of water when 

 allowed to dry spontaneously, fleshy drupes like those of 

 Prunus (tested in England) behaving in the same fashion. 

 Then I reflected that fleshy fruits (drupes and berries) 

 corresponded to the full-grown living legume and capsule 

 in the moist, unopened condition, and that if we wish to 

 find the correlative of these dehiscent fruits in the dry, 

 opened state, we must look for it in the shrivelled currant 

 and the dried-up apple. This raised the whole question of 

 special adaptation in connection with seed dispersal. It was 

 argued that if we can discern no evidence of adaptation in 

 the shrivelled berry as regards seed distribution, we should 

 look for none in the drying capsule and pod, and that the 

 apparent display of method in the last-named is purely 

 accidental. 



To enter more into the details of my work during my 

 second winter in Jamaica would be to anticipate much that 

 will be found in the succeeding chapters. I may, however, 

 say that one branch of inquiry which was more fully 

 developed was the hygroscopic behaviour of seeds, and 

 that my study of the maturation of the fruits of Momordica 



