‘YNG@ICIUM. 4.07 
and spiral torsion of others. The pistil was entirely 
absent in this instance.’ 
_M. Gaetano Licapoli places on record an instance 
where the petals and carpels of Melianthus major were 
suppressed.” 
On the whole, the pistil seems less subject to changes 
of this character than the andrcecium. 
Suppression of the pistil has been most frequently 
recorded in flowers (normally bisexual) of— 
Ranunculus ! Trifolium repens. 
Aconitum ! hybridum. 
Delphinium ! Composite, sp. pl. 
Peonia. Datura. 
Caryophyllee ! Torenia asiatica. 
Umbellifere. Colchicum autumuale. 
Suppression of ovules,—abortion of seeds.—l'he two cases 
are taken together, as the effects are similar, though 
it must be remembered that in the one case the ovules 
at any rate have been formed, but their development 
has been arrested, while mm the other they have never 
existed. The precise cause that has determined the 
absence of seed cannot in all cases be ascertained in 
the adult condition, hence it is convenient to treat the 
two phenomena under one head. ~ 
Many plants im other than their native climates 
either produce no fruit at all, or the fruits that are 
produced are destitute of seed, e. g. Musa, Artocarpus, 
&c. Some of the cultivated varieties of the grape 
and of the berberry produce no seeds. 
Suppression or abortion of the seed is frequently 
associated with the excessive development either in 
size or number of other portions of the plant, or with 
an altered condition, as when carpels become foliaceous 
and their margins detached. Hybridisation and cross 
fertilisation are also well-known agents in diminishing 
the number and size of seeds. 
? See also Morren, ‘ Bull. Acad. Bele. xv, Fuchsia, p. 67. 
* Cited in ‘ Bull. Soc. Bot., France,’ t. xiv (** Rev. Bibl.”), p. 253. 
