18621871] JOHN SCOTT 305 



developed in an irregular membranous form, taken in con- Letter 631 

 junction with the results of my experiments before alluded 

 to on their fertilisation, leads me to infer that two sexual 

 conditions are presented by the flowers of this plant. In 

 short, that many of the ovaries are now normally abortive, 

 though Nature occasionally makes futile efforts for their 



o 



perfect development, in the production of ovuloid bodies ; 

 these then I regard as the male flowers. The others that are 

 still capable of fertilisation, and likewise possessing male 

 organs, are hermaphrodite, and must, I think, from the results 

 of your comparative examinations, present a somewhat 

 different condition ; as it can scarcely be supposed that ovules 

 in the condition you describe could ever be fertilised. 



This is at least the most plausible explanation I can offer 

 for the different results in my experiments on the fertilisation 

 of apparently similar morphologically constructed flowers ; 

 others may, however, occur to you. Here there is not, as in 

 the Cdtasetuwi) any external change visible in the respective 

 unisexual and bisexual flowers. And yet it would appear 

 from your researches that the ovules of Acropera are in a 

 more highly atrophied condition than occurs in Catasetum, 

 though, as you likewise remark, M. Neumann has never suc- 

 ceeded in fertilising C. tridentatum. If there be not, then, an 

 arrangement of the reproductive structures, such as I have 

 indicated, how can the different results in M. Neumann's 

 experiments and mine be accounted for ? However, as you 

 have examined many flowers of both A. luteola ?a\&Loddigesii, 

 such a difference in the ovulary or placental structures could 

 scarcely have escaped your observation. But, be this as it 

 may, the to me at least demonstrated fact still remains, 

 that certain flowers of A. Loddigesii are capable of fertilisation, 

 and that, though there are good grounds for supposing that 

 important physiological changes are going on in the sexual 

 phenomena of this species, there is no evidence whatever 

 for supposing that external morphological changes have so 

 masked certain individuals as to prevent their recognition. 



I would now, sir, in conclusion beg you to excuse me for 

 this infringement upon your valuable time, as I have been 

 induced to write you in the belief that you have had negative 

 results from other experimenters, before you ventured to 

 propose your theoretical explanation, and consequently that 

 VOL. II. 20 



