34 STUDIES IN SEEDS AND FRUITS 



absorbing more water, until they had reached their saturation 



point of about 120 per cent. 



A closer con- We are now in a position to consider more closely the 



the shrinking shrinking and swelling ratios before tabulated. There are 



ratiosr*""*^ dealt with in these tables the results of observations on the 



seeds of more than 100 plants, four-fifths of which, as given 



in Table A, are from my own observations, whilst the rest, as 



included in Table B, are from the observations of HofFmann 



and Nobbe. They belong to 38 families and comprise about 



80 genera, of which rather over one-third are leguminous. 



In three or four cases only, viz. Pisum sativum, Faba vulgaris, 



Phaseolus vulgaris, and perhaps P. multiflorus, are the same plants 



referred to in both tables. 



In the list containing my own results, seeds alone are dealt 

 with, seed-like indehiscent fruits being excluded ; but in Table 

 B we find also the " grains " of Cereals and a few seed-like 

 indehiscent fruits, such as those of Buckwheat ; but I do not 

 apprehend that the swelling ratios will be very materially 

 affected. Dr Nobbe himself did not regard this disturbing 

 cause as concerning the validity of his comparison (p. 112); 

 and from my own observations on fruits to be subsequently 

 discussed I would infer that, at all events with the grains of 

 Cereals, which comprise most of the seed-like fruits in Table 

 B, the effect of the coverings would be rather to lessen than 

 to increase the contrast which evidently exists between the 

 swelling capacities of the seeds of Cereals and the seeds of 

 other plants. 

 The views of Dr Nobbe sums up very briefly the results obtained by 

 Hoffmann and himself concerning the swelling capacities of 

 seeds (p. 120). Leguminous seeds, he infers, possess the 

 highest capacity for absorbing water, whilst the lowest is 

 possessed by oily and resinous seeds and by the grains of 

 Cereals. This inference receives a general support from the 

 results in Table A, and it will be sufficient at present to take 

 the two extreme cases in illustration, the seeds of Ricinus 

 communis absorbing one-third of their weight of water before 



