448 ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 



De Marti* repeated the above experiment, and considered Spal- 

 lanzani's observations imperfect. He was of opinion that male blos- 

 soms must have existed, which were overlooked by Spallanzani. 

 Voltaf also was unable to procure any perfect seeds from plants from 

 which the anthers had been carefully removed. 



In 1837, Ramisch published some observations upon Mercurialis 

 annua, with which he had been occupied for four successive years. 

 The results were inconclusive, for although Eamisch procured seeds, 

 both with and without embryos, he admits that in some of the female 

 plants upon which he experimented male blossoms were present, and 

 he attempts to exclude the operation of the pollen in these herma- 

 phrodite flowers by suggesting that the anthers had only been opened 

 for a very short time. 



Bernhardi's experiments with Cannabis are given in " Otto u. 

 Dietrich's Allgemeine Gartenzeitung, 1839." These experiments 

 were continued for six years, and each year with the same result. 

 The plants were sown in April in the open air ; the male plants which 

 appeared were destroyed, and two female plants only allowed to stand, 

 which were carefully examined every two days, in case any male 

 blossoms should be overlooked. Each year seeds were ripened, from 

 which both male and female plants were raised. Bernhardi was satis- 

 fied that at the time of the experiments no male plants were in flower 

 near the spot where they were carried on, and consequently that 

 accidental impregnation by pollen grains carried by the wind, or by 

 insects, was out of the question. 



Gartner's observations on Delphinium Consolida are important 

 as showing the great care which must be taken in order to guard 

 against deception. For some years he had taken what he considered 

 sufficient precautions, and nevertheless had always obtained perfect 

 seeds, apparently without any previous impregnation; but in the 

 year 1838, when he cut off" the male organs at an earlier period, and 

 examined the plants several times daily, removing individual anthers 

 at each examination, he found that the plants upon which he experi- 

 mented produced no seeds. 



We now come to the case of Ccelebogyne ilicifolia, the famous 

 Euphorbiaceous plant, the great stumbling block of the opponents of 

 parthenogenesis. This plant is dioecious, and the female one forms a 

 low evergreen shrub, with pale green oval leaves, toothed like the 

 holly. The female flowers are situated at the apex and on the side 

 of small branches, and form short spikes of five or more flowers. The 

 ovary is trilocular, and the stigma three-lobed. Each flower has on 

 its calyx and bracts large wart-like glands, which at the time of flow- 

 ering secrete a watery fluid. Three female plants were sent by 

 Cunningham from Moreton Bay to Kew, where they flowered for the 



* Experimento y Observaciones sobre los sexos y fecondation de los plantas. 

 Vol. i. Barcelona, 1791. 



f Memoires de l'Acad. de Mantoue, i. 226. 



