216 ILLEGITIMATE OFFSPRING OP Chap. V. 



styled illegitimate plants, fertilised with their own- 

 form pollen, only six plants — ^grandchildren of the 

 first union. These, like their parents, were of low 

 stature, and had so poor a constitution that four died 

 before flowering. With ordinary plants it has been 

 a rare event with me to have more than a single plant 

 die out of a large lot. The two grandchildren which 

 lived and flowered were short-styled; and twelve of 

 their flowers were fertilised with their own-form pollen 

 and produced twelve capsules containing an average 

 of 38.2 seeds; so that these two plants, though be- 

 longing to so weakly a set, were rather more fertile 

 than their parents, and perhaps not in any degree 

 sterile. Pour flowers on the same two grandchildren 

 were legitimately fertilised by a long-styled illegiti- 

 mate plant, and produced four capsules, containing only 

 32.3 seedp instead of about 64 seeds, which is the nor- 

 mal average for legitimate short-styled plants legiti- 

 mately crossed. 



By looking back, it will be seen that I raised at 

 first from a short-styled plant fertilised with its own- 

 form pojlen one long-styled and seven short-styled 

 illegitimE^te seedlings. These seedlings were legiti- 

 mately intercrossed, and from their seed fifteen plants 

 were raifed, grandchildren of the first illegitimate 

 union, ajid to my surprise all proved short-styled. 

 Twelve ^hort-styled flowers borne by these grand- 

 children were illegitimately fertilised with pollen 

 taken from other plants of the same lot, and produced 

 eight capsules which contained an average of 21.8 

 seeds, with a maximum of 35. These figures are 

 rather below the normal standard for such a union. 

 Six flowers were also legitimately fertilised with pollen 

 from an illegitimate long-styled plant and produced 

 only three capsules, containing on an average 23.6 



