CLUE TO THE HOMOLOGIES OF FRUITS 257 



Thus in the case of capsular fruits, like those of the Horse-chestnut 

 {Msculus Hippocastanum) and of Iris Pseudacorus, we see displayed the 

 rdgime of the berry in the preliminary shrinking of the seeds within 

 the ripening fruit and in the subsequent great loss of weight when the 

 fruit has passed its maturity and dries in the air. Here, then, it 

 becomes evident that the green berry and the green capsule are in the 

 same stage, the ripe juicy berry and the mellowing still closed capsule 

 in another stage, and the shrivelling berry with the drying, dehiscing 

 capsule in a third stage. 



(3) With the ordinary dehiscent leguminous pod, as illustrated by 

 the behaviour of those of Ceesalpinia sepiaria and Ulex europaus, there 

 is quite another regime, since dehiscence occurs much later than in the 

 capsule ; but here also the preliminary shrinking of the seeds and other 

 changes in the fruit enable us to detect the equivalents of the stages 

 of the berry and the capsule in those of the leguminous pod. We 

 thus learn that the berry, the capsule, and the legume, in the full- 

 grown green or so-called unripe condition with large soft seeds, are 

 in the same stage. The ripe, juicy berry, the mellowing, still closed 

 capsule, and the green legume just commencing to discolour represent 

 the next stage in the maturation of the fruit, which is characterised 

 by a slight shrinking and hardening of the seeds. Then the berry 

 shrivels, the capsule dehisces and dries, and the legume darkens 

 and dries rapidly, but still remains unopened, the shrinking and 

 hardening of the seeds being in all cases actively continued. When 

 the last stage arrives the dry capsule has already completed its history 

 and lies gaping widely, with its seeds falling out, whilst the shrivelled 

 berry and the dry legume now liberate their seeds, the first by decay,. 

 the second by dehiscence. 



(4) If the seeds in the ripe berry are in the same stage as those 

 of the mellowing capsule before dehiscence and of the full-sized moist 

 legume on the eve of drying, then the shrivelled berry represents the 

 dried-up open capsule and the dry legume or pod on the point of 

 dehiscing. From this standpoint, therefore, the mechanism of a 

 dehiscing legume or capsule, however adaptive its appearance, does not 

 count for anything more in nature than the rotting apple or the 

 shrivelling currant. If we are not able to detect any signs of adapta- 

 tion for dispersal in a decaying berry, the same should be true of 

 dehiscent fruits, the withering and opening of which, though 

 apparently displaying more of method, are equally determined by- 

 external iniluences of a haphazard kind. 



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