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ANATOMY, AND LIFE-HI8TOBY OF THE C0NIFKRJ3. 207 



nective seems, in many cases, to serve as a protection against wet 

 or cold and perhaps against the intrusion of undesirable insects. 

 On the other hand, when the flowers are expanded the open, 

 brightly-coloured connective may serve as an indication of the 

 presence of food to pollen-eating insects, even although they do 

 not take part in the fertilization of the flower. 



The following will show the principal variations of which the 

 connective is the subject : 



Connective peltate : — Taxus, &c. 



Connective prolonged, ending in a semi-peltate expansion : 

 Agathis, Araucaria, Pinus, Cedrns, Larix, Picea, Abies spp., 

 Sciadopitys, Cunninghamia, Sequoia, Athrotaxis, Cryptomeria, 

 Taxodium, Callitris, and Cupressima generally, Microcachrys, 

 Podocarpus, Dacrydium, Phyllocladus, Cephalotaxus* 



Connective scarcely ', if at all, prolonged, or ending in a small 

 knob or linear process-. — Ginkgo, some species of Abies (e. g. 

 grandis, Pinsapo), Torreya, Tsuga, Sciadopitys, Pseudotsuga, some 

 species of Pinus (e. g. Strobus). 



When prolonged the direction of the prolongation is usually 

 more or less at ati angle with the direction of the anther-lobes, 

 aud the arrangement is such that in the uuexpauded flower the 

 connective of one stamen overlaps the anther next above it, but in 

 Saxe-Gothea, according to the illustration (Lindl. Veg. Kingdom, 

 p. 229 6), the connective is bent directly downwards and thus 

 covers over its own anther. 



Pollen-grains. — The differences in the form of the pollen-grains 

 have been made to serve as points of distinction between the 

 Cupressineae and the Abietinese, being globular in the former 

 and provided with wing-like extensions in the other *. These 

 distinctions, however, cannot be considered as absolute, for Pseu- 

 dotsuga Bouglasii, which is certainly Abietineous, has the globular 

 Pollen of the Cupressinea*. 



The microscopical appearances of the pollen of various species 

 and the formation of a male prothalliuin by subdivision of the 

 pollen-cell may here be passed over with mere incidental mention 

 and a reference to the works of Strasburger (Conif . u. Gnetac). 

 Nor does it fall within the scope of this paper to do more than 

 uiake passing allusion to the relationship existing between the 



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* Brown and Uennett, Plant. Jav« Bariur. p. #7 



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