CHAPTER XI 



A CLUE TO THE HOMOLOGIES OF FRUITS 



Some casual observations of the berries of a Berberis in my 

 garden directed my attention to the fact that the seeds in the 

 ripe fruit were harder, smaller, and lighter in weight than 

 those of the green berry, or, in other words, that seed-contraction 

 had taken place within the moist fruit. This was established 

 by further investigation, as shown by the results tabulated 

 below. The curious circumstance that the seeds of Berberis 

 had undergone shrinkage in the ripening berry gave me a clue 

 for attacking the problem concerned with the homologies in 

 the maturation of different kinds of fruits, especially of the 

 berry, capsule, and legume. It led me to study the conditions 

 of seed-shrinkage and of seed-coloration in fruits generally, 

 and as a matter of course this in its turn led to the investiga- 

 tion of the dehiscence and drying of the fruits with which such 

 matters are closely bound up. It kept me clear of the en- 

 tanglement of the controversy relating to the priority of the 



Table showing the Contraction of the Seeds of Berberis 

 IN the Ripening Berry. 



-. * 



Condition of fruit. 



Full-sized green berry just 



beginning to colour 

 Ripe berry 



Condition of seeds. 



Soft and green 

 Harder and brown 



Average weight 

 of a seed. 



o'Z3 grain 

 "19 .. 



Average length 

 of a seed. 



4*5 millimetres. 

 3'5-4 » 



The loss in weight of the seed was about 17 per cent. 

 241 



The shrink- 

 age of seeds 

 in the moist 

 berry affords 

 a clue for the 

 comparison 

 of fruits in 

 their ripen- 

 ing stages as 

 illustrated 

 (a) by Ber- 

 beris, 



16 



