156 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



that for a great number of these little Folk, He hath stored up 

 their peculiar provisions in the Attires of Flowers, each Flower 

 thus becoming their Lodging and their Dining-Room, both in 

 one." He goes on however to say that this is merely a 

 secondary use, and that it was suggested to him in conversation 

 by Sir Thomas Millington that the stamens were male organs. 

 To this he agrees, but adds that the andrcecium also serves 

 to draw off some of the redundant sap, so that only the purest 

 goes to the seed. - 



Grew gives an excellent account of seeds and fruits, 

 drawing special attention to the " Branchery " or vascular 

 system .in the latter. His account of the Poppy capsule is a 

 good example of his way of attacking the difficulties of botanical 

 description. " The Poppy-Head, is a little Dove-Coat ; divided 

 by Eight or Ten Partitions, into so many Stalls. On both 

 sides the Partitions, hang a most numerous Brood of Seeds. 

 ... as it dries, it gradually opens at the Top, into several 

 Windows, one for every Stall: which are all covered with a 

 very fair Canopy. . . . As the several Windows, serve to let 

 in Aer, for the drying of the Seeds, after their full Growth : 

 So the Canopy over them, serves to keep out Rain. For here, 

 the case not cleaving down the side, as it usually doth ; should 

 the Rain get in, it would stand in it, as in a Pot, and so 

 rot the seeds. And as the Canopy serves to preserve the 

 seeds ; so the several Partitions, or Walls, for their better 

 Stoivage. For by an easie survey of this little piece of 

 Ground, it is plain, that as they stand on both Sides every 

 Wall, there is as much more Ground for them to stand upon, 

 as if there were no parting Walls, but the seeds stuck all 

 round about upon the Ambit or Sides of the Case; or upon 

 a great Bed or Placenta within it, as in Hyoscyamns, Anagallis, 

 etc., where there is a less numerous brood." Amongst Seed- 

 cases Grew naturally includes the sporangium of the fern, which 

 he describes with great clearness, recognising that the annulus 

 is a "sturdy Tendon or Spring" by means of which the seed is 

 flung abroad. 



The morphological part of the book is illustrated by a 

 large number of engravings, many of them remarkably good. 

 I can only draw attention to a very few of the points which 

 they bring out. Stomates are shown (though not in detail); 

 annual rings in stem and roots ; the pith diaphragms of the 



