406 DR. J. C. COSTERUS ON MALFORMATIONS 
The last flower (No. 20) hardly belongs to the series, but 
deserves attention for reasons to be by-and-by explained. 
The above twenty cases, which constitute only a part of those 
observed, sufficiently prove the tendency of the petal to dis- 
appear. If only in No. 18 the small appendage to one of the 
stamens had not developed, a flower would have been produced 
with two whorls of stamens and destitute of a corolla ; the flower 
would be what Linneus called a mutilus flos*, but would at the 
same time represent the conformation which is normal in apetalous 
Fuehsias, of which Fuchsia procumbens may be found in nur- 
series. We have actually met with flowers without petals alto- 
gether, their formula being St, St, St, St. 
The same relation between the petals and the antipetalous 
stamens in malformed Fuchsias is alluded to in a paper by 
Prillieux, as cited in the introduction ; with this difference, how- 
ever, that Prilieux does not describe the final disappearance of 
the petals. Having described the process, he goes on to say :— 
* En résumé, la monstruosité de Fuchsia que j'ai observée, con- 
siste uniquement dans un changement particulier de la forme des 
pétales, accompagné le plus communément de la soudure des 
pétales monstrueux avec les étamines vis-à-vis d'eux." 
By “changement de forme,” Prillieux means the narrowing of 
the petal to a claw, which he considers the first stage of the modi- 
fication. The adhesion of claw and filament is by him looked 
upon as the next stage, whieh may become more or less com- 
plete. 
That with regard to our Fuchsias and those of Prillieux * grow- 
ing together" is not a perfectly accurate term, need hardly be 
pointed out. Of course the parts that have “ grown together” 
have never been independent of each other in the flower where 
they coalesce. Morren has a felicitous term for this relation. He 
was studying the so-called “ Scaramouche,” a variety of Fucbsia, 
which he says is easily propagated by cuttings. As shown by Pl. 
LVIII. fig. 21, which we take from his paper, superposed to each 
sepal there is a stalk or claw, splitting up into one or more stamens, 
and a petaloid appendage on the external side. The most striking 
peculiarity of this flower is surely the union of the antisepalous 
with the antipetalous stamens, which are themselves joined to the 
petals, or, adopting Morren's words, the various elements have 
* Linnzus says in his ‘ Philosophia Botanica,’ * Mutilus flos nobis est, qui 
corollam non promit, quamquam eandem promere deberet." 
