48 



Fig. 3. a. represents the bracteated pedicle, the scales or 

 bracteae of which have been obtuse, and somewhat elevated in 

 the centre. In one of my specimens in which the pedicle is still 

 surrounded by the collar, the upper part of the former is some- 

 what expanded just below its attachment to the latter. 



At h., in some specimens, there is a sudden contraction of the 

 diameter of the prolonged pedicle. This is where it becomes 

 part of the axis of the collar. At c. is a still further con- 

 traction, forming the main central axis of the collar, which 

 is usually in a very decomposed state, constituting the " oval or 

 pyriform cavity" of Mr. Yates, but which one or two specimens 

 in the Scarborough Museum prove to have been a solid woody 

 texture. 



At d., the axis suddenly contracts to a diameter not usually 

 much more than half an inch in diameter, but soon expands 

 again at e., where in all the specimens that I have seen which 

 are perfectly developed, it terminates in a well-defined circular 

 margin, resembling that presented by the pedicle of a gourd, or 

 any other fruit in which the foot-stalk is articulated to the base 

 of the pericarp. From the lower part of this axis arises the 

 incurved circle of scales, which I have denominated the " col- 

 lar" for want of a better provisional name. In the majority of 

 the specimens found, we observe no perforation, nor prolongation 

 of the axis through the upper portion, but several exceedingly 

 well-marked examples have been discovered (a beautiful one of 

 which is in my own cabinet), proving beyond all doubt that this 

 prolongation does occur in some states of the plant. From this 

 I have inferred, that the " collar" was originally a scaly bud, 

 enclosing and protecting the undeveloped germ. That as the 

 fruit became more fully developed, it forced its way through the 

 upper part of this bud, and, when completely ripened, the fruit 

 or cone (f ) was raised above the incurved tips of the scales, the 

 latter forming literally a collar encircling the neck of the 

 pedicle which supported the ripened fruit. 



In the numerous examples which present no trace of having 

 supported a superior appendage, we have, in all probability, 

 specimens of the fruit-buds in an early stage, where the germ 



