234 ILLEaiTIMATE OFFSPEIKG OF Chap. V. 



row of these plants of the fourth illegitimate genera- 

 tion, thns freely exposed and legitimately fertilised, 

 produced only 3 capsules, containing on an average 

 only 17 seeds. During the ensuing winter almost all 

 these plants died, and the few survivors were miserably 

 unhealthy, whilst the surrounding legitimate plants 

 were not in the least injured. 



The seeds from the great-great-grandchildren were 

 sown, and 8 long-styled and 2 short-styled plants of 

 the fifth illegitimate generation raised. These whilst 

 still in the greenhouse produced smaller leaves and 

 shorter flower-stalks than some legitimate plants with 

 which they grew in competition ; but it should be ob- 

 served that the latter were the product of a cross with 

 a fresh stock, — a circumstance which by itself would 

 have added much to their vigour.* When these ille- 

 gitimate plants were transferred to fairly good soil 

 out of doors, they became during the two following 

 years much more dwarfed in stature and produced very 

 few flower-stems ; and although they must have been 

 legitimately fertilised by insects, they yielded cap- 

 sules, compared with those produced by the surround- 

 ing legitimate plants, in the ratio only of 5 to 100 ! 

 It is therefore certain that illegitimate fertilisation, 

 continued during successive generations, affects the 

 powers of growth and fertility of P. veris to an extra- 

 ordinary degree ; more especially when the plants are 

 exposed to ordinary conditions of life, instead of being 

 protected in a greenhouse. 



Equal-styled red variety of P. veris. — Mr. Scott has described t 

 a plant of this kind growing in the Botanic Garden of Edin- 

 burgh. He states that it was highly self-fertile, although insects 



• For full details of this ex- t ' Proc Linn. Soc.' vol. yiii 



periment, see my ' Effects of Cross (Ititil), p. 105. 

 and Self-fertilisation,' 1876, p. 220. 



