208 DR. M. T. MASTERS ON COCHLIOSTEMA. 
stated, that the andreecium of Cochliostema does not differ in the 
number and position of its parts from that of other genera of the 
same Order. It does differ in the order and manner in which the 
six elements are developed, in the congenital want of separation 
(union) of one of the outer and two of the inner series of stamens, 
in the spirally twisted anthers, in the petaloid outgrowth from the 
filaments, and in the development at the back of the flower of 
that peeuliar tuft of hairs which in theadult flower seems to form 
one of three staminodes, but which the course of development 
Shows to be an acquired structure, long posterior to the true 
staminodes in its development. 
It may be inferred from this that the primitive or congenital 
number and arrangement of parts (in this ease six in two rows— 
one in front of the sepals, one in front of the petals) is a fact of 
more weight than congenital irregularity or congenital union 
(want of separation), and that the acquired or adaptive characters 
(7. e. the spiral anthers, the petal-like hoods, and the posterior 
tuft of hairs) are, from a morphological point of view, altogether 
of secondary importance, greatly as they affect the external ap- 
pearance of the flower in the adult state, and important as they 
are in all probability with reference to the physiological history 
of the flower. 
If these remarks and the observations on which they are 
founded be correct, they offer a striking confirmation of the 
difference between, and the relative value of congenital and ac- 
quired characters, as further explained in my work on ‘ Vege- 
table Teratology, and in a paper on the “ Conformation of Passi- 
floracez ” recently published in the Society’s * Transactions.” 
EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES. 
Fig. 1. Earliest stage of flower. 
2. Shows the floral tubercle, with the rudiment of the posterior sepal, s. 
3. All three sepals formed (s, s, s), the posterior one the largest. 
4. Posterior sepal turned back and the antero-lateral ones turned aside, to 
show the floral tubercle now triangular in outline. 
5. Sepals turned back as before, to show the three petals (p, p, p) simul- 
taneously developed. 
6. Section lengthwise through a young flower, showing the large posterior 
sepal, two antero-lateral sepals cut through, and, in the centre, indica- 
tions of the carpellary tubercles. 
7. Side view of the same bud. 
8. Bud, in which a portion only of the posterior sepal is shown : the petals 
are flattened; all six stamens are now visible, three posterior ones large 
