716 Mr. Brown on the Organs and Mode of 
tached, yet considers both masses and glands as equally belong- 
ing to the anthera, the mass being the receptacle of the pollen. 
He further states that before the masses unite with the glands 
they are removed from the cells in which they were lodged, and 
are found firmly implanted by their sharp edge into the wall of 
the tube which surrounds the ovaria; that in this state a white 
viscid substance hangs to them, which when highly magnified 
appears to consist of very slender tubes containing minute 
globules; and these tubes with their contents he considers as 
constituting the early preparation for the formation of pollen. 
He also asserts that the tops of the styles are not originally 
connected with the pentagonal body to which the glands belong, 
—the stigma of Adanson, Jacquin, and others; and that there- 
fore the true stigmata are those extremities of the styles on 
which, he adds, vesicles and threads are observable. And 
lastly, he supposes that impregnation, which he says is of rare 
occurrence in this family, does not usually take place until 
those stigmata have penetrated through the substance of the 
pentagonal body, and are on a level with its apex; at the same 
time he is disposed to believe that insects may occasionally 
assist in this function, by carrying the fecundating matter 
directly to the stigmata, if I understand him, even before they 
enter the pentagonal body. His conclusion therefore is, that 
in Asclepiadez impregnation may be effected in two different 
ways. Y 
This description, in several respects so paradoxical, and of 
which Jacquin has overlooked some of the most important 
parts, is too remarkable to be here either omitted or abridged. - 
It is not indeed strictly correct in more than two points, namely, 
in the pollen masses being originally distinct from the glands, 
and in the masses, when found implanted in the membrane 
surrounding the ovarium, having minute tubes filled with gra- 
nular 
