THE ABORTION OF OVULES 



349 



Table showing how the Ovules that fail to produce Seeds in 

 the case of vicia sativa combine with the matured seeds to 

 FORM THE Original Complement (12) of the Ovules before 

 Fertilisation of the Ovary. 



(Ten pods were examined. All the remarks on the size, behaviour, and original 

 number of the ovules of Vicia septum, as given at the foot of the preceding table, here 

 apply.) 



To no fruits have I paid more attention to the relation 

 between the failure of the ovules and the form and size of the 

 fruit than to the legumes of Albizzia Lebbek. All my materials 

 were obtained from one tree in Grenada ; but the observations 

 were restricted on account of the season to the dry pods. 

 These legumes well illustrate the commencement of the 

 moniliform habit, but the contraction is rarely so marked as 

 to merit that epithet. 



The first thing to notice is the relation between the 

 number of seeds and the length of , the fruit. It will be 

 observed from the results tabulated below that there is a 

 progressive increase in the pod's length from the single-seeded 

 to the twelve-seeded fruit ; but, as also indicated in the pods 

 of Vicia sepium^ the increase in length is relatively small, since 

 the twelve-seeded legume is only about twice the length of the 

 single-seeded fruit. Thus we obtain here another indication 

 of the independent growth of the fruit-case as regards the 

 seeds. 



The failure 

 of ovules in 

 Albizzia 

 Lebbek. 



