498 MISS G. LISTER ON THE ORIGIN OF 
upper part of the capsule from the outgrowths of the axis which 
form the dissepiments. 
Kichler, in his * Bluthendiagramme,’ regards the origin of the 
placentas in this and in all other orders as carpellary. 
Sachs, in his * Text-book of Botany,' ascribes a different mor- 
phological significance to the ovules according to their mode of 
origin and their position. He suggests that * in some genera of 
Caryophyllex the placentas are axial, while in others they would 
appear rather to be carpellary.” 
Taking the view of Sachs, that the significance of ovules may 
vary, it is evident that he would place Lychnis in that group in 
which the placentas would appear to be carpellary ; and the exa- 
mination of this plant would strongly lead us to this conclusion. 
In consideration of the fact observed in Lychnis that the first- 
developed ovules are developed along the unattached margins of 
the dissepiments in the upper unilocular portion of the capsule, 
it must be admitted that the placentas are carpellary. It has 
been shown (Pl. XXXV.) that the capsule in Alsinez is deve- 
loped on essentially the same plan as that of Lychnis, the differ- 
ence in the various genera being merely dependent upon the 
relative height attained by the carpels on the one hand, and by 
the central axis on the other. This being so, we are bound to 
admit that if we accept, as we do, the carpellary origin of the 
placentas in Lychnis, the placentas in the Alsinew, from Sagina 
apetala, which most resembles Lychnis, to Cerastium triviale, which 
most widely differs from it, are carpellary also. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. 
Piare XXXII. 
Development of the Capsule of Lychnis diurna. 
Fig. 1. Young flower: c=whorl of carpels appearing as prominences around 
the base of the central elevation ; s¢=rudiments of stamens. 
Fig. 2. Young capsule: the loculi appearing as shallow pockets. 
Figs. 3 and 4. Older stages in the development of the capsule. 
Fig. 5. Trans. sect. through the upper part of the capsule drawn in fig. 4. 
Fig. 6. Trans. sect. through the lower part of the capsule drawn in fig. 4. 
Fig. 7. Longitudinal section of a capsule, at the time when the ovules are 
appearing in its upper part. 
Fig. 8. Transverse section through the upper part of a young capsule, showing 
the ovules arising from the free edges of the dissepiments, or from 
the inflexed margins of the carpellary leaves. 
Fig. 9. Transverse section through lower part of an older capsule. 
