168 On the Reproductive Functional [No. 3, 



ed flowers are the more fertile : and lastly, the irregular unions in 

 which no relations are observed between the degree of fertility and 

 affinity of colours. 



A. 1. — Heterochromatio union, the more fertile. 



1. V. lychnitis, lutea, by pollen of V. blattaria, alba, . 100 



2 V. lychnitis, lutea, by pollen of V. blattaria, lutea, . „ to 91 



8. V. blattaria, lutea, by pollen of V. thapsus, alba, . 100 



4. V. blattaria, lutea, by pollen of V. thapsus, lutea, . „ to 83 



5. V. blattaria, lutea, by pollen of V. lychnitis, alba, . 100 



C. V. blattaria, lutea, by pollen of V. lychnitis, lutea, . „ to 88 



7. V. thapsus, lutea, by pollen of V. lychnitis, alba, . 100 



8. V. thapsus, lutea, by pollen of V. lychnitis, lutea, . „ to 87 



B. 2. — Homochromatic unions, the more fertile. 



1. V. lychnitis, lutea, by pollen of V. thapsus, lutea, . 100 



2. V. lychnitis, lutea, by pollen of V. thapsus, alba, . ,, to 85 



3. V. blattaria, alba, by pollen of V. thapsus, alba, . 100 



4. V. blattaria, alba i by pollen of V. thapsus, lutea, . „ to .76 



5. V. blattaria, alba, by pollen of V. lychnitis, alba, . 100 



6. V. blattaria, alba, by pollen of V. lychnitis, lutea, . „ to 66 



C. 3. — Degree of Fertility and affinity of Colour 

 Irregular. 



1. V. lychnitis, lutea, by pollen of V. phceniceum, . 100 



2. V. lychnitis, lutea, by pollen of V. phceniceum, . „ to 80 



3. V. lychnitis, lutea, by pollen of V. phoeniceum, . „ to 74 



In A. and B. of the above comparative tables, I have ar- 

 ranged those unions in which a certain regularity is observed be- 

 tween the colour relationship and the degree of fertility. Now, by 

 comparing the 14 unions therein given, we find that the heterochro- 

 matic unions are, in the greater number of cases, more fertile, viz., as 

 8 to 6, than the homochromatic unions, and that this higher fertility, 

 in every case, results from those unions in which the yellow variety 

 of the species is treated as female. Again that the average pro- 

 portion of the four heterochromatic to the four converse homochromatic 

 unions in the first of the above tables is nearly as 7 to 6 in 

 favour of the former. In B. 2 of the tabulated results, we see in one 



