206 DR. M. T. MASTERS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF 
nodes are quite detached. The anther, in the early stages of its 
existence, is an ordinary two-lobed structure (fig. 12), each lobe 
beingagain subdivided into two minor lobules by a slight depression. 
There is at first no trace of the spiral curvature which afterwards 
becomes so remarkable a feature of these plants. The connective 
in the odd posterior stamen remains horizontal, whilst in the two 
postero-lateral anthers it assumes gradually a vertical position. 
The direction of growth of the anther, as of the coil, is centrifugal. 
i. e. from the centre outwards and upwards (fig. 14). Not till 
after the anthers begin to manifest the spiral coil is there any in- 
dication of those petal-like hoods which conceal the anthers in the 
adult flower, of which they constitute so remarkable a feature. 
The course of development shows them to be mere petaloid out- 
growths from the sides of each of the postero-lateral filaments, 
gradually increasing till they completely envelope the anthers 
(fig. 15). During this process the anther of the posterior central 
stamen, which heretofore had maintained its proper position, be- 
comes, as it were, pressed to the front in advance of the two 
lateral anthers, and thus in the adult flower may give rise to the 
false impression that it is really and organically interior (figs. 16, 
17), an impression I myself had when I first described the struc- 
ture of the flower. Not till the stamens have assumed the cha- 
racters and positions just mentioned is there any indication what- 
ever of that euriously lobed and ciliated process which I formerly 
regarded as a staminode belonging to an outer series of abortive 
stamens. It is, despite its position and prominence in the adult 
flower, a mere outgrowth from the thalamus, at the back of the 
flower (fig. 18). What, if any, morphological significance, or 
what physiological office it may have, is at present unknown. It 
may be connected in some way with the process of fertilization ; 
but this is a mere guess. 
The development ofthe pistil presents nothing noteworthy or dif- 
ferent from what occurs in many other Endogenous flowers. Its 
three component carpels are formed simultaneously—one posterior, 
twoantero-lateral. They make their appearance soon after the for- 
mation of the staminal tubercles, and before any indication of 
anthers is present (fig. S). The carpels are closed, and the style 
formed, before the occurrence of those remarkable changes in the 
stamens already allued to. 
It is only after repeated examinations that I venture to lay 
before the Society the results of my observations on the deve- 
