18 Mr. J. Miers on the Development 



be seen that, in regard to this early stage of the development, 

 Mirbel was nearer the truth than his opponent. 



Schleiden, although he seems to have adopted the erroneous 

 views of Fritsche concerning the earliest origin of the nucleus 

 and ovular tunics, gave (in 1843) an account of their subsequent 

 development and growth, somewhat different from that of Mir- 

 bel : he says*, "The funiculus is much elongated, the nuclear 

 papilla bends downwards; and thus the side, either of the naked 

 nucleus or of the simple or of the external bud-integument 

 (secundine or primine), turned towards the funiculus, becomes 

 blended with it In the perfect seed-bud the nuclear papilla 

 then lies close to the point of attachment, the chalaza opposite 

 to it, and the line from the centre of the chalaza through the 

 middle of the nucleus is straight : such a bud is termed reversed 

 {gemmuh anatropa) ; the adherent part of the funiculus is termed 

 the raphe/' Schleiden farther aptly remarks — '' Excepting 

 Fritsche, not a single botanist has done anything on this weighty 

 point of our subject, not even so much as to re-examine the 

 researches of the distinguished Mirbel and Brown ; and we find 

 in consequence, even up to the most recent dates, the false views 

 of Mirbel (and these often sadly disfigured) copied without 

 reflection." 



Prof. Henfrey (in 1847), in his truly excellent ' Outlines of 

 Structural and Physiological Botany' (p. 199), thus defines the 

 nature of the anatropal ovule : — " The nucleus is sometimes so 

 afliected by the development, that the apex or micropyle comes 

 to be placed next the hilum, and the organic base of the ovule 

 (the chalaza) at the opposite extremity ; the vascular cord com- 

 municating with the chalaza is extended during the growth of 

 the ovule, and the chalaza thus always communicates with the 

 funiculus by these vessels, which run in the thickness of the 

 coats, in the exterior where there are two. This cord is called 

 the raphe, looking like a prolongation of the funicle adherent to 

 the side of the ovule, and disappearing at the point, which is 

 the organic base.'' This description, as far as it goes, is the 

 clearest and most truthful detail of the development of the 

 ovule yet given, as it does not allude to any presumed action 

 of the inversion of the nucleus and its ovular coats, upon 

 which all other accounts are more or less based. This scientific 

 botanist, however, appears subsequently (in 1858) to have 

 adopted the prevalent error in contending that " the inversion 

 of the (anatropal) ovule takes place by a one-sided development 

 of the tunics t." 



Prof. Asa Gray has lately pursued this inquiry (in 1857) in 



* Principles of Scientific Botany, Engl. edit. p. 390. 

 t Ann. Nat. Hist. 3 ser. i. 356. 



