no STUDIES IN SEEDS AND FRUITS 



reproduced, the results do not appear convincing. With the 

 exception of two of the species experimented on, there is but 

 slight contrast in the behaviour of the more mature and less 

 mature seeds, and even in those two cases the contrast is not 

 striking. Then, again, in the instance of the seeds of the 

 species of Acacia {A. Farnesiana), it would be difficult to draw 

 any inference from the circumstance that the less matured 

 seeds contained no permeable seeds and the more matured 

 8 per cent., when the value given in the general table for the 

 ordinary mature seeds is 3 per cent. I must be pardoned 

 for saying that, as presented, the differences are too small to 

 serve as the basis of a theory, whilst the data are hardly 

 sufficient in quantity. Then, again, the expressions " more 

 mature "and "less mature" can only apply to the condition 

 of the coats, since the embryo is as fully mature in the soft 

 full-grown seed of the green pod as it is in the normal resting 

 seed. 



Still, the trend of the indications would be in favour of 

 Dr Gola's interpretation in default of a more probable ex- 

 planation. I made a long study of the shrinking process in 

 seeds, and all my results point to the opposite conclusion, 

 namely, that the occurrence of permeable seeds amongst 

 typically impermeable seeds is due to deficient shrinkage, or, 

 in other words, that immaturity is associated not with imper- 

 meability but with permeability. Professor Ewart's extensive 

 researches yielded results supporting the same conclusion ; 

 and one may recall his remark (p. 197) concerning leguminous 

 seeds (the same order tested by Dr Gola in this connection), 

 that the seeds which take up water with difficulty are smaller, 

 drier, and in appearance harder than the readily swelling ones 

 of the same species. 



It often occurred in my own investigations that shrivelled 

 very immature seeds absorbed water less readily than seeds 

 still immature, though less shrunken. But this was not the 

 test of maturity employed by Dr Gola. Adopting the con- 

 clusion that the complete absence of chlorophyll in the integu- 



