21 MR. M. T. MASTERS ON AN UNUSUAL MODE OF 
Note on an unusual mode of Germination ån the Mango— - 
Mangifera Indica. By Maxwzrr T. Mabrers, Esq., F.L.S. 
[Read April 4th, 1861.] 
In the Museum of the Royal Gardens at Kew, are preserved two 
specimens of the Mango in an advanced stage of germination, 
which present some peculiarities that may be deemed worthy of 
bringing under the notice of the Society. For the opportunity of 
examining and describing these curious plants, I am under great 
obligations to Dr. Hooker, and to Mr. Jackson the curator of the 
Museum. From these gentlemen I learn that the seeds in ques- 
tion were sent home by the late Mr. Barter, when accompanying 
Dr. Baikie on his second Niger Expedition in 1857, and were 
reared by Mr. Crocker at Kew. 
From the appearance that these young plants presented on 
cursory inspection, and perhaps from the knowledge that the seeds 
of the Mango are occasionally poly-embryonous, the specimens 
were described in these words, “one mango seed producing many 
plants." The closer examination which I have been enabled to 
make leads me to conclude that there are, in reality, two seeds, 
presenting such peculiar appearances, especially when placed, as 
they were, in close apposition one to the other, as readily to give 
rise to the opinion before expressed. This will be understood at 
once by the circumstance of there being only two cotyledons pre- 
sent, from between which a great number of shoots apparently 
emerge. In one of these two seeds (fig. 1.) one cotyledon is present, 
though partly decayed and truncated at its upper part, possibly 
by some accident during growth ; the other seed-leaf is absent, but 
there is a scar distinctly visible, indicating its original position. 
The plumule presents itself as a long, thick, fleshy, curved body, 
presenting no trace externally of leaves or buds; in the axil of the 
cotyledon, between it and the plumule, arises a leaf-bearing shoot, 
presenting no unusual features. The radicle is thick and tapering, 
and gives off a few slender rootlets. The second seed (fig. 2) is 
likewise deprived of one of its cotyledons, but the scar remains to 
attest its former presence. From the appearance of the tissues in 
the immediate vicinity of the scar, the missing seed-leaf seems to 
have perished from some cause inducing gradual decay, rather than 
from any injury or traumatic cause,to use a surgical expression. The 
existing cotyledon is oblong, oblique at the base, the outer surface 
convex, wrinkled on the upper half, while the lower half is scooped 
out and smooth like the inside ofa shell. From this portion proceed 
