Chap. II THE COJIMON OXLIP. 57 



tlie primrose, when legitimately and naturally ferti- 

 lised, yield on an average many more seeds per capsule 

 than the cowslip, namely, in the proportion of 100 to 55. 

 When illegitimately fertilised they are likewise more 

 fertile than the two forms of the cowslip, as shown by 

 the larger proportion of their flowers which set cap- 

 sules, and by the larger average number of seeds which 

 the capsules contain. The difference also between the 

 number of seeds produced by the long-styled and short- 

 styled flowers of the primrose, when both are illegiti- 

 mately fertilised, is greater than that between the 

 number produced under similar circumstances by the 

 two forms of the cowslip. The long-styled flowers of 

 the primrose when protected from the access of all in- 

 sects, except such minute ones as Thrips, yield a con- 

 siderable number of capsules containing on an average 

 19 ■ 2 seeds per capsule ; whereas 18 plants of the long- 

 styled cowslip similarly treated did not yield a single 

 seed. 



The primrose, as every one knows, flowers a little 

 earlier in the spring than the cowslip, and inhabits 

 slightly different stations and districts. The primrose 

 generally grows on banks or in woods, wliilst the cow- 

 slip is found in more open places. The geographical 

 range of the two forms is different. Dr. Bromfield re- 

 marks * that " the primrose is absent from all the in- 

 terior region of northern Europe, where the cowslip is 

 indigenous." In Norway, however, both plants range 

 to the same degree of north latitude, t 



The cowslip and primrose, when intercrossed, be- 



• ' Phytotogist,' vol. iii. p. 694. centre de la France,' 1840, torn. ii. 



t H. Lecoq, ' Ge'ograpli. Bot. de p. 376. With respect to the rarity 



TEurope,' torn. viii. 1858, pp.141, of P. veris in western Scotland, 



144. See also ' Ann, and Mag. of see H. C. Watson, ' Gybele Biltan- 



Nat. Hist." ix, 1842, pp. 156, nica,' ii. p. 293. 

 515. Also Boreau, ' t'lore du 



