The seeds were placed on sand, and after germinating were planted in pairs on the opposite sides of five pots, which were kept in the greenhouse.  When the seedlings were from 2 to 3 inches in height, most of the crossed had a slight advantage over the self-fertilised.  The plants were trained up sticks, and thus grew to a considerable height.  In four out of the five pots a crossed plant flowered before any one of the self-fertilised.  The plants were first measured to the tips of their leaves, before they had flowered and when the crossed were under a foot in height.  The twelve crossed plants averaged 11.1 inches in height, whilst the twelve self-fertilised were less than half of this height, namely, 5.45; or as 100 to 49.  Before the plants had grown to their full height, two of the self-fertilised died, and as I feared that this might happen with others, they were again measured to the tops of their stems, as shown in Table 5/72.

Table 5/72.  Nemophila insignis; 0 means that the plant died.

Heights of plants measured in inches.

Column 1:  Number (Name) of Pot.

Column 2:  Crossed Plants.

Column 3:  Self-fertilised Plants.

Pot 1 :  32 4/8 :  21 2/8.

Pot 2 :  34 4/8 :  23 5/8.

Pot 3 :  33 1/8 :  19. 
Pot 3 :  22 2/8 :  7 2/8. 
Pot 3 :  29 :  17 4/8.

Pot 4 :  35 4/8 :  10 4/8. 
Pot 4 :  33 4/8 :  27.

Pot 5 :  35 :  0. 
Pot 5 :  38 :  18 3/8. 
Pot 5 :  36 :  20 4/8. 
Pot 5 :  37 4/8 :  34. 
Pot 5 :  32 4/8 :  0.

Total :  399.38 :  199.00.

The twelve crossed plants now averaged 33.28, and the ten self-fertilised 19.9 inches in height, or as 100 to 60; so that they differed somewhat less than before.

The plants in Pots 3 and 5 were placed under a net in the greenhouse, two of the crossed plants in the latter pot being pulled up on account of the death of two of the self-fertilised; so that altogether six crossed and six self-fertilised plants were left to fertilise themselves spontaneously.  The pots were rather small, and the plants did not produce many capsules.  The small size of the self-fertilised plants will largely account for the fewness of the capsules which they produced.  The six crossed plants bore 105, and the six self-fertilised only 30 capsules; or as 100 to 29.

The self-fertilised seeds thus obtained from the crossed and self-fertilised plants, after germinating on sand, were planted on the opposite sides of four small pots, and treated as before.  But many of the plants were unhealthy, and their heights were so unequal—­some on both sides being five times as tall as the others—­that the averages deduced from the measurements in Table 5/73 are not in the least trustworthy.  Nevertheless I have felt bound to give them, as they are opposed to my general conclusions.