IN PLANTS HAVING IRREGULAR COROLLAS. 395 
that his specimen of this form had only four stamens, whereas 
every case examined by us had five. 
One form described by Chavannes (Mon. Antirrh. p. 66) is of 
especial interest in relation to some of the other varieties about to 
be described. This case is that of a 4-petalled Linaria vulgaris, 
in which there were two posterior petals and two anterior ones 
forming a lower lip with only a single inflation or “ palate,” which 
was destitute of grooves. This corolla had only one series of hairs 
in the interior. There were four sepals. The stamens are de- 
scribed thus :— Les deux antérieures soudées en une seule plus 
longue; les deux autres trés courtes ; la cinquième stérile, mais 
assez développée.” Now on comparing this with our case of 
Streptocarpus No 4 (vide p. 410 and Plate LI. fig. 1, iii.), it 
will be seen that a similar form occurs. In our flower the 
stamen standing anteriorly in the median plane was to all appear- 
ances a single stamen, though regarded in the way common in 
morphological discussions it would be presumed to be formed by 
the union of two, just as the posterior petal of Veronica is pre- 
sumed by Eichler (vide p. 397) to be formed by the union of 
two petals. The question now arises whether Chavannes, in 
saying that the two anterior stamens were “soudées en une seule,” 
meant that he believed that the single stamen had thus arisen, 
or was describing the actual appearance. This cannot be 
decided, but it is very common, and indeed usual for such modes 
of description to be used ; and if there had been a double anther, 
or a double filament, or, indeed, any outward sign of duplicity, 
it would surely have been specified. We are inclined, therefore, 
to think that there was actually “ une seule” anterior stamen as 
in our Streptocarpus ; and in saying that this had resulted by the 
union of two, Chavannes not improbably is referring to the 
accepted view of the origin of sueh structures. : 
In a paper by Lafont *, for a reference to which we are in- 
debted to Mr. Francis Darwin, a considerable number of abnormal 
flowers are mentioned as having been found on Z. vulgaris. 
The enumeration given by Lafont includes eleven forms, but the 
description is without figures and is so brief as to be somewhat 
ambiguous in some cases. But'of these eleven forms only two 
clearly correspond with those found by us in L. spuria, viz. the 
peloric form and that which we have called No. 1. It is parti- 
* Ann. Sci. Nat. (Botanique), sér. 2, tome xiv. p. 255. 
