SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS. 



105 



acquaintance, they are introduced to it. 

 And if the student discovers that he likes 

 to use a microscope, even one with only 

 low magnifying powers, he may con- 

 gratulate himself, for he has then en- 

 tered on a field of amateur investigation 

 to occupy his evenings and his leisure 

 time, that can never pall, nor tire, 

 hut will always be ready to show him 

 some new, interesting and instructive 

 thing. "Man cannot live by bread 



alone," is a divine precept that man 

 has proved by experience. Bodily and 

 mental recuperation are rarely obtained 

 by a mind that is blank. 



The pleasure of identifying, or "ana- 

 lysing" the flower is to be added to the 

 delight of seeing, with the microscope, 

 structure or objects invisible to the naked 

 eye. If the reader has not had that 

 experience there is something agreeable 

 in store for him. 



Perhaps one of the most interesting 

 features, possible the one most neglected 

 by the amateur, is the examination of 

 sections of the plant ovary, the contained 

 ovules, and the placenta to which the 

 ovules are attached. These all vary 

 widely in number, structure and appear- 

 ance in different flowers, and all are well 

 worthy of study and of record. In a 

 paper like this it is not possible to do 

 more than to hint and suggest. Further 

 investigation must be left to the stu- 





No. 4. OVARY OF EUPHORBIA 

 (A SPURGE). 



No. 3. OVARY OF COMMON LOW 

 MALLOW. 



dent, who may enter the field certain 

 that he will be rewarded. 



The few illustrations here shown are 

 transverse sections of the ovaries of 

 plants not rare nor difficult to obtain, 

 and are not highly magnified. They are 

 used more to show the variety and the 

 general aspect of such objects, than for 

 any other purpose. The reader is of 

 course not limited to these ; the nearest 

 field is full of flowers as instructive and 

 praiseworthy as are those here pictured. 

 All that he needs is a fairly good supply 

 of patience and perseverance, a sharp 

 knife or razor, and a microscope with 

 a good, low-power objective. Any book 

 on botany will inform and help on the 

 subject, which he has certainly neglected 

 or overlooked. 



Photo 1 is a section of the ovary of the 

 magnificent Night-blooming Cereus, 

 (Cereus Grandiiiorus) , which is "one- 

 celled with parietal placentas." The 

 preparation was too strenuously handled 

 before it was "mounted," or too careless- 

 ly, and only eight ovules remain attached 

 to the sections of what the technical de- 

 scription calls the parietal placentae. 



The ovary of the Begonia (Photo 2) is 

 three-angled with the placentae in the 

 angles. This illustration is also rather 



