Cxxxiii. the Constitution of Certain Nutshells

THE postfertilization development of the ovary of the hazel flower results in the formation from the outer integument of the ovule of a thin fibrous seed coat closely adherent to the embryo and from the ovary wall of a hard, lignified pericarp which is quite free from the seed coat at the time when the fruit is ripe. The work recorded in this paper was done on the pericarp of the hazel fruit. The results obtained are therefore more comparable with those of Emley [1928] for the hull of the peanut, Arachi8 hypogea, than with those for the shell of the Brazil nut, Bertholletia excelsa [Boswell, 1936], as the hull ofthe former is the pericarp of the fruit, the seed coat being a thin fibrous membrane closely adherent to the kernel, while the shell of the latter is the seed coat.