Fruits and Seeds. 21 1 



also short pointed ones (fig. 8i,& #), which it buries 

 in the ground. 



In the case of the Ground-nut of the West 

 Indies the flower is yellow and resembles that of a 

 pea, but has an elongated calyx, at the base of which, 

 and close to the stem, is the ovary. After the flower 

 has faded, the young pod, which is oval, pointed, 

 and very minute, is carried forward by the growth 

 of the stalk, which becomes two or three inches long 

 and curves downwards so as generally to force the 

 pod into the ground. If it fails in this, the pod 

 does not develop, but soon perishes ; on the other 

 hand, as soon as it is underground the pod begins 

 to grow and develops two large seeds. 



3. In a South European species of Vetch (fig. 82) 

 there are two kinds of pods. One of the ordinary 

 form and habit (a), the other (), oval, pale, con- 

 taining only two seeds borne on underground stems, 

 and produced by flowers which have no corolla. 



Again, a species of the allied genus Lathyriis 

 (fig. 83) affords us another case of the same pheno- 

 menon. 



There are many other species possessing the 

 same faculty of burying their seeds, belonging 

 moreover to very different families of plants. 



4. Moreover, it is interesting that in several of 

 these the subterranean pods differ from the usual and 

 aerial form in being shorter and containing fewer 

 seeds. The reason of this is, I think, obvious. In 

 the ordinary pods the number of seeds of course 



P 2 



