Total :  72.13 :  72.25.

In six out of the eight pots the legitimately crossed plants exceeded in height by a trifle the illegitimately self-fertilised plants; but the latter exceeded the former in two of the pots in a more strongly marked manner.  The average height of the eight legitimately crossed plants is 9.01, and that of the eight illegitimately self-fertilised 9.03 inches, or as 100 to 100.2.  The plants on the opposite sides produced, as far as could be judged by the eye, an equal number of flowers.  I did not count the capsules or the seeds produced by them; but undoubtedly, judging from many previous observations, the plants derived from the legitimately crossed seeds would have been considerably more fertile than those from the illegitimately self-fertilised seeds.  The crossed plants, as in the previous case, flowered before the self-fertilised plants in all the pots except in Pot 2, in which the two sides flowered simultaneously; and this early flowering may, perhaps, be considered as an advantage.

27.  Polygoneae.—­Fagopyrum esculentum.

This plant was discovered by Hildebrand to be heterostyled, that is, to present, like the species of Primula, a long-styled and a short-styled form, which are adapted for reciprocal fertilisation.  Therefore the following comparison of the growth of the crossed and self-fertilised seedlings is not fair, for we do not know whether the difference in their heights may not be wholly due to the illegitimate fertilisation of the self-fertilised flowers.

I obtained seeds by legitimately crossing flowers on long-styled and short-styled plants, and by fertilising other flowers on both forms with pollen from the same plant.  Rather more seeds were obtained by the former than by the latter process; and the legitimately crossed seeds were heavier than an equal number of the illegitimately self-fertilised seeds, in the ratio of 100 to 82.  Crossed and self-fertilised seeds from the short-styled parents, after germinating on sand, were planted in pairs on the opposite sides of a large pot; and two similar lots of seeds from long-styled parents were planted in a like manner on the opposite sides of two other pots.  In all three pots the legitimately crossed seedlings, when a few inches in height, were taller than the self-fertilised; and in all three pots they flowered before them by one or two days.  When fully grown they were all cut down close to the ground, and as I was pressed for time, they were placed in a long row, the cut end of one plant touching the tip of another, and the total length of the legitimately crossed plants was 47 feet 7 inches, and of the illegitimately self-fertilised plants 32 feet 8 inches.  Therefore the average height of the fifteen crossed plants in all three pots was 38.06 inches, and that of the fifteen self-fertilised plants 26.13 inches; or as 100 to 69.

28.  Chenopodiaceae.—­Beta vulgaris.