7l6 Mr. Brown on the Organs and Mode of 



tached, yet considers both masses and glands as equally belong- 

 ing to the anthera, the mass being the receptacle of the pollen. 

 He further states that before the masses unite with the glands 

 they are removed from the cells in which they were lodged, and 

 are found firmly implanted by their sharp edge into the wall of 

 the tube which surrounds the ovaria ; that in this state a white 

 viscid substance hangs to them, which when highly magnified 

 appears to consist of very slender tubes containing minute 

 globules ; and these tubes with their contents he considers as 

 constituting the early preparation for the formation of pollen. 

 He also asserts that the tops of the styles are not originally 

 connected with the pentagonal body to which the glands belong, 

 — the stigma of Adanson, Jacquin, and others ; and that there- 

 fore the true stigmata are those extremities of the styles on 

 which, he adds, vesicles and threads are observable. And 

 lastly, he supposes that impregnation, which he says is of rare 

 occurrence m this family, does not usually take place until 

 those stigmata have penetrated through the substance of the 

 pentagonal body, and are on a level with its apex ; at the same 

 time he is disposed to believe that insects may occasionally 

 assist in this function, by carrying the fecundating matter 

 directly to the stigmata, if I understand him, even before they 

 enter the pentagonal body. His conclusion therefore is, that 

 in Asclepiadeae impregnation may be effected in two different 

 ways. 



This description, in several respects so paradoxical, and of 

 which Jacquin has overlooked some of the most important 

 parts, is too remarkable to be here either omitted or abridged. 

 It is not indeed strictly correct in more than two points, namely, 

 in the pollen masses being originally distinct from the glands, 

 and in the masses, when found implanted in the membrane 

 surroimding the ovarium, having minute tubes filled with gra- 

 nular 



