CHAP. IV. 



LYTHRUM SALICARIA. 



155 



TABLE 24. Mid-styled Form continued. 



Besides the experiments in the above table, I fer- 

 tilised a considerable number of mid-styled flowers with 

 pollen, taken by a camel's-hair brush, from both the 

 longest and shortest stamens of their own form: only 

 5 capsules were produced, and these yielded on an 

 average 11.0 seeds. 



* I have hardly a doubt that 

 this result of 136 seeds in compart- 

 ment V. was due to a gross error. 

 The flowers to be fertilised by 

 their own longest stamens were 

 first marked by "white thread," 

 and those by the mid-length 

 stamens of the long-styled form 

 by "white silk;" a flower fertil- 

 ised in the latter manner would 

 have yielded about 136 seeds, and 

 it may be observed that one such 

 pod is missing, viz. at the bottom 

 of compartment I. Therefore I 

 have hardly any doubt that I 

 fertilised a flower marked with 

 " white thread " as if it had been 

 marked with " white silk." With 

 respect to the capsule which yield- 

 ed 92 seeds, in the same column 

 with that which yielded 136, I do 

 not know what to think. I en- 



deavoured to prevent pollen drop- 

 ping from an upper to a lower 

 flower, and I tried to remember to 

 wipe the pincers carefully after 

 each fertilisation ; but in making 

 eighteen different unions, some- 

 times on windy days, and pestered 

 by bees and flies buzzing about, 

 some few errors could hardly be 

 avoided. One day I had to keep 

 a third man by me all the time to 

 prevent the bees visiting the un- 

 covered plants, for in a few sec- 

 onds' time they might have done 

 irreparable mischief. It was also 

 extremely difficult to exclude 

 minute Diptera from the net. In 

 1862 I made the great mistake of 

 placing a mid-styled and a long- 

 styled under the same huge net : 

 in 1863 I avoided this error. 



