HILUMj THE SCAR. 2 & 5 



between the Memhrana and the Testa, 

 constituting a pulpy seed, semen baccatunu 

 which is distinct from the Acinus, or grain 

 of a compound berry in the Raspberry, 

 the seed of the latter having its proper 

 double covering within the pulp. The 

 Testa bursts irregularly, and only from the 

 swelling of its contents in germination. 



Hilum, the Scar, is the point by which 

 the seed is attached to its seed-vessel or 

 receptacle, and through which alone life 

 and nourishment are conveyed for the per- 

 fecting its internal parts. Consequently 

 all those parts must be intimately con- 

 nected with the inner surface of this scar, 

 and they are all found to meet there, and 

 to divide or divaricate from that point, 

 more or less immediately. In describing 

 the form or various external portions of 

 any seed, the Hilum is always to be con- 

 sidered as the base. When the seed is 

 quite ripe, the communication through this 

 channel is interrupted : it separates from 

 the parent plant without injury, a Scar 

 bein^ formed on each. Yet the Hilum is 



