Dr. J. E. Gray on the Attitudes and Figures of the Morse. 339 



and the first appearances of fibres in the placenta are not pro- 

 longed upward from the stem, but descend to meet those of the 

 stem (fig. 4). 



These facts seem conclusive against the axile theory in the 

 case of the Primroses ; and if in them it does not hold, we have a 

 strong argument against its truth in any case. It seems impro- 

 bable at the outset that the ovule should vary so much in mor- 

 phological value as to be in one plant equivalent to a bud, and 

 in another perhaps not far removed from it, only a secondary 

 growth from a single leaf. This of itself prejudices one against 

 believing that we have placentation of both the marginal and axile 

 kind; and another circumstance likewise irrespective of argu- 

 ments drawn from the structure of the pistil in particular spe- 

 cies is in favour of the marginal theory, viz. that the pollen-grain, 

 which is the male equivalent of the ovule, is always a mere off- 

 shoot from a leaf homologue, and we might not unnaturally 

 expect the ovule to have the same morphological value. 



XXXII. — On the Attitudes and Figures of the Morse^, 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, Ph.D., F.R.S., V.P.Z.S. 



The arrival of a living Morse, or Walrus, in this country, show- 

 ing that it is very different in its manner of moving from the Seals, 

 has induced me to examine and compare the figures which have 

 hitherto been given of this animal. Most of the oldest figures were 

 purely imaginary. To this series must be referred the Rosmarus and 



Fig. 1. Rosmarus. Gesner, Addenda, 368, 16. 1560. 

 » (Reduced one-ninth.) 



* From the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, No. 254, p. 112. 



22* 



