and on the Structure o/Hydnora afrieana. 



Another point, which in my former paper I considered doubtful, nam. Iv 

 the seat or limit of the stigmata, is not even now satisfactorily established] 

 for the slender processes forming the hispid tips of the supposed styles, which 

 have so much the appearance of the ultimate division! of itigma, an- merely 



hairs of a very simple structure, and exactly resembling those found in other- 

 parts of the column; though in several of the Bpecimens examined they were 

 greatly altered in appearance, from a coating' of macous /natter taken up and 

 again deposited by the spirit in which the Bpecimens were preserved*. A 

 slight difference, indeed, seems to exist between the ti^ue of the apices of the 

 styles and the other parts of their surface ; hardly sufficient, however, to prove 

 it to be stigma, though this is no doubt the probable seat of that organ. 



The next point of importance in the female flower of Rafflesia is the struc- 

 ture and gradual development of the ovula. These, in the earliest sj a te ob- 

 served, consist of merely conical or subcylindrieal papillae, having a perfect!) 

 smooth surface as well as uniform internal substance. 



The first perceptible change taking place in the papilla is a slight contrac- 

 tion at its summit, the upper minute contracted apex being the rudiment of 

 the nucleus. Immediately below this contracted portion a dilatation is s (l( „, 

 observable, which, gradually enlarging and becoming slightly hollowed, forms 

 a cup in which the nucleus, also proportionally increased in si Zt -. is partly 

 immersed. This cup, the rudiment of the future integument, continues gra- 

 dually to enlarge, until it completely covers and extends considerably beyond 

 the nucleus, but without cohering with it. If a transverse section is made near 

 the slightly-depressed apex of this integument, an extremely minute perfora- 



known species of the genus. But if the placentation o(Raffle*ia Arnold! and Cumingii, notwithstanding 

 the objections stated in the text (p. 223), be considered parietal, as Blume has described it in R. Patma, 

 and as from his figures it seems actually to be in Brngmansia, there would stdl be no means of , 

 mining the exact degree of composition of ovarium in Rafflesia ; for in no spenes of the genus m there 

 the slightest indication afforded by the arrangement of cavities or ramification of the assumed placent*, 

 to mark any definite number of component part,. Similar objections apply with equal force to t)„ 

 adoption of that opinion which regards placentation as in all cases central or derived from the ax«. 



In conclusion, therefore, it may perhaps be said that Raffled, in the structure both of ovarium and 

 anthers is not obviously reconcileable to any hypothesis hitherto proposed to account either for the 

 origin or for a common type of the sexual organs of Phsmogamous phafe 



* See Mr. Bauer's representation of the hairs in this state, Iab. XXIII. fig. 3. 4, 5, 6& 7. 



