8 MR. HENFREY ON THE DEVELOPMENT 
varied; sometimes it half enveloped the tegmen, in some ovules it had grown up further - 
over it. The inner coat, the tegmen, had not grown over the nucleus in all the ovules, 
but in most it projected beyond. The nucleus was still covered by its own cellular coat 
and still contained only the clear, colourless fluid with black points. 
May 16th. The ovaries more advanced ; the pistillary cords extended nearly to the base 
of the ovary, lying in the grooves formed between the projecting placentas and the walls 1 
of the ovary, apparently free, and composed of delicate tubes presenting all the chara 
of pollen-tubes, and apparently continuous with these, as derived from the pollen on the 
stigma. The ovules (fig. 8) exhibited considerable alteration. Most of them were e 
larged, and the outer coat had developed much in the chalazal region ; its cells were large 
and more clearly defined. The inner coat, which appeared to be tolerably independent of 
the outer at the sides, as air passed freely between them, had grown up far beyond the} 
nucleus, and its cell-walls had acquired more consistence. The nucleus was much | 
changed; the embryo-sac had lost its proper cellular coat, which had disappeared either 
by solution or by pressure, probably the former, as a free space existed sometimes beg 
tween the inner coat and the nucleus; and in some cases the solution appeared imperfect, | 
extending only to the cross walls of the cells, so that the embryo-sac was contained in an 
outer sac consisting merely of the outer walls of the cells of its coat.. The embry0-sa¢ | 
now had the aspect of a large ovoid sac attached by a cellular pedicle to the chalazal 
region, and contained opalescent mucilaginous matter (protoplasm), in most cases accu- 
mulated at the ends, chiefly at that next to the micropyle. There was no sign of a nu- 
cleus or nascent cell yet. 1 
May 20th. The embryo-sacs exhibited the collections of. protoplasm at the two ends. At 
the micropyle end new phenomena presented themselves: either one; two, or (and i 
usually *) three minute vesicles (figs. 11-14) had been formed from the protoplasm, and 
always seemed to me to originate as cavities excavated in the mucilage, not as if formed by | 
the formation of membrane on the outer surface of a nucleus (cytoblast) or globule of ] 
mucilage. These vesicles soon appeared as distinct cells, with exceedingly delicate walls, 
lying at the micropyle end of the embryo-sac, and undoubtedly existed there before the 
pollen-tubes entered the foramina of the ovules, | ! 
In some of the ovules examined this day the pollen-tubes had entered the ovules, and I 
traced them d 
; own through the wide mouth of the outer coat and the narrow canal of the 
inner, as far as the apex of the emb 
; ryo-sac. They never entered this, but generally 
appeared to be diverted a little to one side 
: ‚and to lie in contact with its outer surface t, 
Just over the place where the minute vesicles lie within. | 
May 31st. I examined a number of ovules in various stages, repeating the observations | 
on the earlier conditions with similar results. I traced the pollen-tube down to the em- 
bryo-sac in several specimens (fig. 15): in one case it appeared flattened against the mem- 
| brane of the embryo-sac (fig. 17) ; in other cases (figs. 15, 16, 19, 20) I traced it a little way 
* It is probable that there are alwa 
may be hidden in certain cases, MCN they vary in size and lie close together, one or even two of them 
t The end of the pollen-tube exhibits dark contents when in contact with the embryo-sac. 
