| from the usual Structure of Seeds. 145 
impregnated; it is still possible to conceive a case in which a 
ripe seed may be considered as truly naked while retaining its at- 
tachment to the parent plant; and this not subsequent to germi- 
nation, but even preceding the formation of the embryo. For if 
we suppose, as the immediate effect of impregnation, a swelling 
of the ovulum without a corresponding enlargement of the ova- 
rium, the consequence will obviously be a premature rupture of 
the ovarium, and the production of a seed provided with its pro- 
per integuments only. i À 
I am not aware that such an economy has hitherto been de- 
scribed ; I have observed it, however, in several plants belonging to 
very different families, and of essentially different structures. 
- The first of these is Leontice thalictroides of Linneus, Caulophyt- 
lum thalictroides of Michaux, who has founded his new genus on 
a difference of fruit, the nature of which he has entirely misunder- 
stood. It is remarkable that its real structure should have escaped 
so accurate an observer as M. Richard, through whose hands it 
is: generally understood Michaux's work passed previous to its 
publication; but the fact may at least serve to show how entire! y 
unexpected such an economy must have been even to that excel: 
lent carpologist. dcr * Porn eas es 
: My observations were made in the summer of 1812, on à plant 
of Leontice thalictroides, which flowered and ripened fruit in the 
royal gardens at Kew. A 
in examination of the unimpregnated 
ovarium proved it to be in every respect of the same structure 
with that of the other species of Leontice; and essentially the 
same with the whole order of Berberides, to which this genus be- 
longs. A careful inspection of the fruit, in different states, 
proved also that the ** Drupa stipitata" of Michaux is in reality 
a naked seed, that in a very early stage had burst its pericarpium, 
VOL. XII. : U : the 
