2 Harris, Observations on the Physiology of Seed Development in Staphylea. 
Garden. In anot.her place, the relationship between the characters 
of the inflorescence and the number of ovules has been discussed. 1 ) 
In both of these papers the problems of fertility and fecnndity 
were quite subsidiary, but the results were hardly what I had 
expected, and it seems desirable to present here the results of a 
study of three large series of data with special reference to the 
problem of the factors influencing the development of the seed. 
The tables of data and the constants included here are almost 
without exception published for the first time, but the three series 
of material — all from the North American Tract of the Missouri 
Botanical Garden — have been utilized for other relationships in 
the two papers cited above. Henceit is unnecessary to discuss 
material or methods 2 ) in detail. 
II. Number of pods per inflorescence and fertility 
and fecundity. 
Given a species in which the inflorescence produces fruits 
from only a small proportion of the flowers which it bears, and in 
which the fruits, in their turn, mature only a small percentage 
of their ovules into seeds, it seems of considerable physiological 
interest to ascertain whether the inflorescences bearing a large 
number of fruits are more (or less) able to mature their ovules 
into seeds than those having a smaller number. Has the competion 
of several fruits for the plastic material available for a particuliar 
inflorescence the elfect of lessening the chances of the ovules of 
a fruit developing into seeds? Or, on the other hand, are the in¬ 
florescences with more than the average number of pods so much 
more vigorous that their fruits also mature a larger number of 
seeds? 
We have an interesting Suggestion along this line in the work 
of Waldron 3 ) on oats. He found that the correlation between 
the number of grains per head and the mean weight of the grains 
was strongly negative, i. e. the heaviest grains were produced by 
the smallest heads. In the case of Celastrus, however, there is no 
trustworthy indication 4 ) of an interdependence between the number 
of flowers formed per inflorescence and the number of seeds maturing 
per fruit, or between the number of fruits matured per inflorescence 
b Harris, J. Arthur, Further Observations on the Selective Elimination 
of Ovaries in Staphylea. (Zeitschr. f. ind. Abst. u. Vererbungsl. In press.) 
2 ) The familar biometric methods have been employed in the analysis of 
the data. The means and Standard devinations are omitted, since they have 
110 direct bearing on the problems discussed. Sheppard’s correction was not 
used. 
3 ) Waldron, L. R., A Suggestion on Concerning Heavy and Light 
Seed Grain. (Ann. Hat. Vol. XLIV. 1910. p. 48—56.) 
4 ) Harris, J. Arthur, Correlation in the Inflorescence of Celastrus 
sconclens. . (Ann. Report. Mo. Bot. Gard. Vol. XX. 1909. p. 116 — 122.) 
