410 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



altogether a more promising appearance from a gardener's or 

 seedsman's point of view. 



Unfortunately my experiments were stopped at this point, or 

 I had intended testing the germinating power of each set ; but 

 I entrusted the seeds to a careful friend, and he subsequently 

 gave me the following results, which I am satisfied are quite 

 reliable. Of the seeds from the unfed plant, about sixty per cent, 

 germinated, of those from the others fully ninety per cent, 

 germinated ; in the former case twenty per cent, died before they 

 reached full size, and only five per cent, of the others were lost 

 in the same way. 



Some time afterwards I tested Drosera rotundifolia in a 

 similar way, and with practically the same results, so that I felt 

 amply satisfied in having confirmed the results obtained by 

 several distinguished observers. 



In the following year Dr. Kegel published in the Gartenflora 

 a description of very similar experiments undertaken with four 

 pairs of Droseras, and the results were summarised in the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, as here quoted : — 



" Drosera longifolia. — The unfed plants bore exactly twice as 

 many seed-capsules as an equal number of fed plants, and these 

 forty-two capsules contained three times as many seeds as the 

 twenty-one capsules, or 3,720 seeds against 1,300 seeds. On 

 the other hand, 1,000 seeds of the unfed plants were somewhat 

 lighter than the same number from the fed plants, being as 

 twenty-five to twenty-seven. 



" Drosera rotundifolia. — In this experiment the fed and unfed 

 plants produced an equal number of seed-capsules, but the thirty- 

 four capsules of the unfed plants contained nearly three times as 

 many seeds as those of the fed plants. On the other hand, 1,000 

 seeds of the unfed plants weighed little more than half as much 

 as an equal number of the fed plants." 



Dr. Kegel was opposed to the views which had been pre- 

 viously set forth on the subject, but the only respect in which 

 his experiments confirmed his opinions was in the number of 

 seeds produced, though this does not seem to have been carried 

 out to the logical conclusion by testing the germinating power 

 and proportion of the various seeds. 



Since that time I have observed the Sarracenias and 

 Nepenthes rather closely, and I am convinced the plants derive an 



