194 ILLEGITIMATE OPPSPRING OP Chap. V. 



these, fifteen in number, were examined; eight contained 

 no seed, and the remaining seven contained on an average 

 only three seeds, and these seeds were so small and shriv- 

 elled that I doubt whether they would have germinated. 



Plants 3 and 4. These two long-styled plants, after be- 

 ing freely and legitimately fertilised during 1863 by the 

 same illegitimate mid-styled plant as in the last case, were 

 as miserably sterile as No. 2. 



Plant 5. This long-styled plant, after flowering in 1863 

 close to an illegitimate mid-styled plant, yielded only four 

 capsules, which altogether included only five seeds. Dur- 

 ing 1864, 1865, and 1866, it was surrounded either by ille- 

 gitimate or legitimate plants of the other two forms ; but 

 it did not yield a single capsule. It was a superfluous ex- 

 periment, but I likewise artificially fertilised in a legiti- 

 mate manner twelve flowers; but not one of these pro- 

 duced a capsule; so that this plant was almost absolutely 

 barren. 



Plant 6. This long-styled plant, after flowering during 

 the favourable year of 1866, surrounded by illegitimate 

 plants of the other two forms, did not produce a single 

 capsule. 



Plant 7. This long-styled plant was the most fertile of 

 the eight plants of the first lot. During 1865 it was sur- 

 rounded by illegitimate plants of various parentage, many 

 of which were highly fertile, and must thus have been legiti- 

 mately fertilised. It produced a good many capsules, ten 

 of which yielded an average of 36.1 seeds, with a maximum 

 of 47 and a minimum of 22; so that this plant ijroduced 

 39 per cent, of the full number of seeds. During 1864 it 

 was surrounded by legitimate and illegitimate plants of the 

 other two forms ; and nine capsules (one poor one being re- 

 jected) yielded an average of 41.9 seeds, with a maximum 

 of 56 and a minimum of 28 ; so that, under these favourable 

 circumstances, this plant, the most fertile of the first lot, 

 did not yield, when legitimately fertilised, quite 45 per 

 cent, of the full complement of seeds. . 



In the second lot of plants in the present class de- 

 scended from the long-styled form, almost certainly fer- 

 tilised, with pollen from its own mid-length stamens. 



