IIOMOTYPOSIS IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
3()‘» 
Sectiox II .—Seed Vessels of Flowers. A. Poppies. 
(11.) Having dealt ^vitli several characters in a variety of trees, I thought it 
desirable to deal with a single character in a variety of races in a very ditferent 
branch of the vegetable kingdom. After consultation with my colleague, Professor 
F. 0. Oliver, the stigmatic bands on the seed capsules of poppies were selected, and 
they have proved an easily recorded character, winch could be considered for a variety 
of races. Here again there was some diversity in tlie method of collection. The 
rules given being (i.) that the bands were to be counted at the periphery of the 
capsule and not at the centre ; thus 
was counted as 7, not 6, bands; and 
(ii.) every possible bud on the plant was to be counted. The work went on from 
spring to autumn of the year 1899 ; it was impossible to collect, dry, and preserve for 
counting all the wild poppies gathered as soon as they had ceased flowering. Thus 
some poppies were taken when they had completely done flowering, others with flowers 
on them, and others with many buds. Few, I think, wmuld be included wdiich had 
not formed all their buds. In my own series, I counted the bands on every ca^isule, 
in every flower, and in nearly every bud, opening the bud and using a microscope 
when necessary. The laliour of this wars very great, and was not carried out by all 
my helpers. I doubt, indeed, wliether any advantage was derived from it, except in 
so far as there may be correlation between the number of stigmatic bauds and the 
early or late development of the seed-vessel. 
(12.) The following series were obtained :— 
Series (i.). Buchinejliamsliire Wild Poppy (Papaver Ilhoeas).—I gathered 
200 specimens from as wide a lunge as possible—roadside, field-hedgerow, and 
cornfield—avoiding Papaver diihiuni, and counting every set of stigmatic bands right 
down to the smallest ljud I could manage. These specimens w'ere gathered on the 
very top of the Chilterns ; the soil and climate is not a very favourable one, and 
my mean number of buds was a small one. I myself tabled the data and calculated 
the constants. 
Series (ii.). Buchinyliamshire WiUl Poppy (Papaver ilhoeas).—Miss C. D. Fawcpht 
gathered 236 poppy plants on the southern slope of the Chilterns, towards their foot. 
They came nearly all from a single cornfleld, and thus their environment was much 
more uniform, and the climate more favourable than in Series (i.). It is (juite 
possible that these poppies were largely the offspring of a comparatively few poppies, 
as they were gathered from a small area. Dr. Lee tabled the data and calculated the 
constants. 
Series (iii.). Somersetshire Wild Poppy (Papaver Ptlioeas).—The bulk of this series 
were gathered by Miss Agnes Fry in the Quantocks, but being rather a short series, 
86 ])lants, I added to it several other short series, 42 plants in all, gathered and 
