204 MR. T. H. CORRY ON ASCLEPIAS CORNUTI. 
enlarges owing to the effects of the fecundating influence upon its contents. I was, on 
two occasions, fortunately enabled. to trace the pollen-tubes downwards in the conducting- 
tissue of the style, even into the ovarian cavity itself. In this latter they at first tra- 
versed the inner, more superficial, portion of the placental tissue which bore no ovules, | 
and their course here, as in the tissue of the style, was indicated by a dark blackish dis- 
coloration of the tissue ; they then diverged into the more internal ovule-bearing portion, 
which became in their course of a light fawn-colour. Further than this I was unable to 
follow them. Robert Brown appears to have succeeded better than any other observer, 
since he found that in A. phytolaccoides the tubes spread from this place over the whole 
ovuliferous surface of the placenta, from which they go off to the ovules; the free end 
of a single tube being in many cases attached to a definite point of each, through the 
tissue of which it probably penetrates for some distance, since the attachment is an 
`- extremely firm one *. 
Shortly after fecundation the gynostegium separates at the point of junction of the 
style-table with the styles, as well as at its junction with the thalamus, and leaves the two 
distinet carpels freely exposed and subtended by the persistent sepals. 
[Моте. The circumstances of the publication of this paper require а brief note. Ав originally pre- 
sented to the Society, it comprised a practically exhaustive account of everything which the author had 
got together, from either literature or observation, connected with the structure and functions of the 
floral organs in Asclepias. Had he contemplated publishing his memoir as an independent work, this 
method of treatment would not have been inappropriate. But the conditions of publication by a scien- 
tific society obviously do not allow of the republication of matter which is already easily accessible. 
When the whole memoir was referred to me by the Council, I suggested the immediate printing of the 
portion dealing with the mode of development of the pollinium, which has already appeared in the 
present volume of the Transactions (рр. 75-84; pl. XVI.). I further suggested that the remainder of 
the manuscript should be referred back to Mr. Corry, in order that he should prepare from it a second 
paper, giving the very important results of his investigation into the development of the corpusculum, 
and the mode in which fertilization is effected. Тһе paper, after large excisions and revision by the 
author, was accordingly again placed іп my hands. Т still found, however, that the enthusiasm which 
the author felt in a subject of which he had made himself a master in every detail had led him to a 
diffuseness of treatment which would seriously detract from the usefulness of the paper. Before, how- 
ever, I could take any steps to induce him to still further condense what was unimportant in its bearing 
on the results of his own actual researches, the lamentable news reached me of his death by drowning 
on Lough Gill, in Ireland, on August 4, 1883. I felt, therefore, that, impressed as I was by the sub- 
stantial value of the results which Mr. Corry had obtained, nothing remained for me but to endeavour 
to select from the large mass of material in my hands such passages and figures as would place before 
botanists the original observations which Mr. Corry had actually himself made. In doing this I have to 
acknowledge the invaluable assistance which I have received from my colleague, Mr. N. E. Brown, 
A.L.S., Assistant in the Herbarium of the Royal Gardens. As regards the mode of fertilization in the 
Asclepiadez, I found that Mr. Brown had been long studying the matter without knowledge of Mr. 
Corry's work; and as he was kind enough to read over the paper with me, I think it is important to 
record that from his own observation he quite confirms the accuracy of the results obtained by the 
author. He has been so good as to furnish me with the following remarks :—'* Having gone over 
almost all the ground covered by Mr. Corry, with the exception of the experiments on cross-fertilization, 
I am able to testify to the general accuracy of the details given by him. The invention of the term 
+ Supplementary Observations on the Fecundation of Orchidez and Asclepiadex, 1833 ; Mise. Bot. Works, vol. i. 
_ pp. 549-551. | 
