mm 
FERTILIZATION OF CATTLEYA LABIATA. 405 
capsule; by this time the ovules, or seeds as we should perhaps 
now call them, had become elongated in one direction and con- 
tracted in the other, as shown by I in fig. 13. A group of ovules 
at this stage, magnified 45 Fig. 14. 
times, is shown in fig. 14. It \ 
was now clear that the im- 
pregnated ovules hadattained 
their mature form and size, 
although, from our experi- 
ence in hybridizing orchids, 
we were sure the seed would 
not be ripe for some months 
to come.. As the days at 
this period of our investiga- 
tion were getting short and 
cold, and artificial heat alone 
bad to be depended on to 
maintain the plants in health, 
We desisted from further "E 
examination; and the few remaining capsules were left on the 
Plants to mature their seeds or to fall, as the case might be, the 
latter being quite a common occurrence under the artificial con- 
ditions tropical orchids are cultivated in this country. When I 
say fall, the expression is not literally correct ; the peduncle 
shrivels and withers, and the capsule dehisces before the con- 
tained seeds are mature, a cause due probably more to the murky 
condition of the atmosphere of London during the winter months 
than to any other I can suggest. It happened m the prosent 
instance that two of the remaining capsules failed in this way to 
mature their seed, ‘and split early in March ; the contents were 
examined, but showed nothing more than the shrivelling that 
would naturally be expected under the circumstances. Tho Te 
maining two matured their seed and dehisced towards the en M 
May, or about twelve months after pollination. A number o 
the seeds were examined with the aid of the microscope ; MS 
one half were found to be plump; they may therefore : 
assumed to have been good; the other half consisted of mere 
dust and shrivelled ovules. The question at once suggeste 
itself, Had these apparently abortive ovules ever ween Bau 
nated by the. pollen-tubes? I think not; for on the same A 
the ovules were found in the condition represented in fig. 14, an 
