Fecundation in Orchidea and Asclepiadea. 689 



part, before the pollen masses are attached to it, " stigma vir- 

 gineum," he may be considered as belonging to the same class. 



Koelreuter, the next writer in point of time, and whose essay- 

 was published before Linnaeus's query appeared, states, in 1775*, 

 that the pollen masses, which he denominates naked antherae, 

 impart their fecundating matter to the surface of the cells of 

 the true anthera, regarded by him consequently as stigma, and 

 that through this surface it is absorbed and conveyed to the 

 ovarium. 



In 1787, Dr. Jonathan Stokest conjectures that in Orchideae, 

 as well as in Asclepiadeae, the male influence, or principle of 

 arrangement, as it is termed by John Hunter, may be conveyed 

 to the embryo without the intervention of air : a repetition cer- 

 tainly of Linnaeus's conjecture, with which however, as it was 

 not published till 1791, he could not have been acquainted. 



In 1791, BatschJ states that in Orchis and Ophrys, — and his 

 observation may be extended at least to all Satyrinae or Ophry- 

 deae, — the only way in which the mass of pollen can act on the 

 ovarium, is by the retrogradation of the impregnating power 

 through the pedunculus or caudicula of the pollen mass to the 

 gland beneath it, which he is disposed to refer rather to the 

 stigma than to the anthera. 



The late Professor Richard, in 1802 §, expressly says that 

 fecundation is operated in Orchideae and Asclepiadeae without 

 a change of place in the stamina ; his opinion therefore must be 

 considered identical with that of Batsch, and extended to the 

 whole order. 



It might perhaps be inferred from the description which I 

 gave of Orchideae in a work published in 1810 1|, that my opi- 



* Act. Phys. Palat. iii. p. 55. f With. Bot. Arrang. 2nd ed. ii. p. 964. 



% Botanische Bemerk. i. p. 3. § Diet, de Botan, par Bulliard ed. 2. p. 56. 



II Prodr. Flor. ISlov. Holl. i. p. 310. 



4 T 2 nion 



