The  results  are  literally  quoted  by  Warming  ;  but  I  have  referred
to  the  original  account  in  the  work  of  Jacquin,  entitled  Selectarum
Stirpiuin  Americanamm  Historia,  Vindobonae,  1763.  According
to  this  observer  the  seedling  falls  from  the  tree  in  the  twelfth  month
from  the  fecundation  of  the  flower.  This  happened  in  my  obser-
vations on  the  same  species  in  Fiji  in  the  eighth  or  ninth  month.
Jacquin  states  that  the  tip  of  the  radicle  protrudes  from  the  fruit  in
the  third  month,  whilst  my  results  give  it  as  taking  place  in  the
fourth  month.  The  difference  in  the  length  of  the  total  period,  it
may  be  remarked,  would  be  to  a  great  extent  determined  by  the
varying  length  acquired  by  the  seedling  before  it  drops  from  the
tree.  In  ordinary  conditions  it  averages  about  tenor  eleven  inches,
and  the  hypocotyl  itself  attains  a  length  of  nine  or  ten  inches  on
the  tree,  both  in  Fiji  and  Ecuador  ;  but  in  sheltered  localities  it
may  attain  a  length  half  as  long  again.  I  have  already  pointed  out
in  the  case  of  the  fruits  of  Rhizophora  mucronata  that  a  year  and
more  would  be  sometimes  required,  and  the  same  remark  would
apply  to  unusually  long  fruits  of  R.  mangle.  Local  conditions
would  often  produce  varying  results,  both  in  the  rate  of  growth  of
the  hanging  seedling  and  in  the  duration  of  the  period  of  its  attach-
ment to  the  tree  ;  but  it  is  probable  that  nine  or  ten  months  would
represent  for  the  genus  the  average  length  of  the  period  between
fertilisation  of  the  ovule  and  the  detachment  of  the  seedling  from
the  parent  tree.
