162 On the Specks of the Genus Primula in Essex.
small to be reliable. Taking all the observations together we
see that the number of 1. when compared with the number of
s. is as 100 to 84, thus showing a great difference—almost as
great, in fact, as was the case with P. elatior.
I examined on three occasions, in the beginning of July,
166 plants of P. latifolia growing on Pitz Rosatsch and Pitz
Corvatsch, of which 86 were short- and 80 long-styled, thus
giving, in this species, a majority of 6 to the s. On one
occasion only the 1. outnumbered the s. (3 out of 19),
and on the other two the s. were slightly the more
numerous (by 6 out of 112 and by 3 out of 35).
On the 8th of July I gathered two lots of 66 plants together
of P. viscosa growing on the side of Pitz Rosatsch. In the
first lot the s. had a majority of 8 out of 22, and in the
second they were in a minority of 4 out of 44. Together,
therefore, the s. have only a majority of 4.
With P. candolleana, on which I have only made one
observation, the case is different. Of 89 gathered on July
11th, on the top of the Muot Marmore, 30 were s. and 59 1.,
thus giving the latter a majority of almost exactly 2 to 1.
These, then, are the grounds on which I rest my belief
that in Nature the long-styled plants, as a rule, outnumber
the short-styled plants by a considerable majority. To arrive
at this conclusion I have examined 13,201 plants, and have
further shown that in one species at least the very finest
plants generally appear among the long-styled ones.
The result of my countings at first rather surprised me, as
it seemed most reasonable to suppose that, seeing the two
forms require to be reciprocally fertilized, they should live
together in equal numbers ; and it appeared to me that if
one form were to become more numerous than the other the
balance would soon be evenly adjusted, because there would
not be enough plants of the opposite form fully to fertilize
those which were most numerous ; and they would thus pro-
duce few seeds, whilst the number of plants of this form
would in all likelihood completely fertilize the plants belonging
to the other form, which would thus produce their fullest
complement of seeds. By this means the numbers might be
equalized, but it does not seem to be so. I am as yet
altogether in the dark as to the reason of the greater abundance
of the long-styled plants, and it would be interesting to know