78 Salisbury . — Variation in E rant his hy emails , 
(6) Increase in any one region is usually accompanied by increase in 
the adjacent regions, so that transformation cannot be assumed. 
(7) In several members of the Ranunculaceae belonging to different 
tribes and genera the 4 carve ’ of meristic variation for the androecium and 
gynaeceum exhibits several maxima which correspond to numbers that are 
some imdtiple of three. The minimum number of parts present is often also 
a multiple of the same number. 
(8) Substantive variations of the nature of transitions are not infrequent 
and emphasize the foliar nature of the calyx, as in Ficaria and Ranunculus , 
and of the entire perianth in Eranthis , Anemone, &c. Still others occur 
which emphasize the staminodal character of the honey-leaves. 
The facts adduced appear to warrant the following theoretical conclu- 
sions : 
(a) Meristic variation is mainly the outcome of two tendencies, viz. 
fission and fusion. 
(b) The supernumerary perianth members are usually the result of 
fission, and only very rarely, in the case of staminodal corollas, do we find 
any evidence of increase as a result of transformation. 
(e) Decrease in number is usually the result of fusion (e. g. Anemone , 
Paeonia), more rarely of suppression (e. g. gynaeceum of Aconittim). 
( d ) The perianth is either derived entirely from modified foliage 
leaves (e.g. Anemone , Eranthis , &c.) or in part from bracts and in part 
from stamens (e.g. Ranunculus , Clematis alpina , &c.). 
(e) The flower, of the Ranunculaceae is probably derived from a trimer- 
ous type, which has, however, in many cases become obscured by multipli- 
cation of parts and consequent changes in phyllotaxy, or by fusion and 
abortion. 
Bibliography. 
Allen, Grant (1882) : The Colours of Flowers. 
Baillon, H. (1862) : Sur la fleur des Pivoines. Adansonia , vol. iii, pp. 45 - 9 . 
(1868) : Memoire sur la famille des Renonculacees. Ibid., vol. iv, pp. 1 — 57 * 
de Candolle, A. P. (1823) : Theorie elementaire de la botanique. Paris. 
Celakovsky, L. (1896 and 1900) : Ueber den phylogenetischen Entwickelungsgang der BKithe und 
liber den Ursprung der Blumenkrone. Sitzungsber. d. k. bohmischen Ges. d. Wiss. 
Church, A. H. (1908) : Types of Floral Mechanism. Oxford. 
Clos, D. (1852) : Etude organographique de la Ficaire. Ann. des Sci. Nat., Bot., 3 e ser., vol. xvii, 
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Drude, O. (1887) : Die systematische und geographische Anordnung der Phanerogamen. Schenk’s 
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