70 PROFESSOR HENFREY ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OVULE 
pendently of the apex of the pollen-tube, this very point is most warmly contested by 
Schacht*, and notwithstanding that I have tolerably positive opinions derived from å | 
certain number of cases, where the end of the pollen-tube and the germinal vesicle (the 
summit of the suspensor) were seen together, but distinct, in one preparation, the objects 
are so delicate, and the cause producing obscurity of the preparation so difficult to guard 
against, that I cannot but think the demonstration of the pre-existence of the germinal 
vesicle in the embryo-sac, the most important fact that can be brought forward in oppo- 
sition to the views of Schleiden. As remarked by Tulasne, it has a great philosophical 
importance in reference to speculations as to the source of the vitality of the new being; 
and, as will be shown below, it is of no less importance for the establishment of the rela- 
tions of the processes of embryogeny in the various classes of plants, and of the analogies 
which these present to phænomena attending the reproduction of animals, — 4 
As in my former paper I selected one well-established series of observations for the 
support of the doctrine I advocated, passing over without notice numerous fragmentary — 
researches which, although corroborative, had in themselves nothing absolutely decisive, : 
I shall here confine myself to the course of development of the ovule of one plant, in | 
which the complete series of observations have been repeated many times. I feel the less : 
hesitation in laying before the Society a paper thus restricted, from the circumstance that — 
the example brought forward possesses features of great interest in other respects besides » 
the main point of the fertilization, The principal facts are not indeed now brought for — 
ward for the first time, even before this Society, but they are such as few botanists have 
the opportunity of testing for themselves, and hence may be admitted as supplementary, 
partly confirmatory, partly emendatory, of the memoirs on the same subject by the late | 
William Griffith f. pr 
Å melancholy interest is attached to the investigations now presented; for the mate- 
rials which have enabled me to repeat and control the observations of Griffith, were 
furnished by my lamented friend Dr. Stocks, another Fellow of this Society, suddenly cut 
off from us in the midst of active labours for the advancement of Indian botany. — 
A bottle containing a large quantity of blossoms and fruits of Santalum album, m 
have acquired a firmer consistence than I have usually found in fresh objects. nr 
_ When very young buds are examined in vertical sections (Tab. XVII. fig. 1) the ov 
Is found superior, forming a conical body arising in the centre of the flower; as 
advances in age, the adherent tube of the calyx and the side-walls of the ovary. 
rapidly (Tab. XVII. figs. 3-5), so as at length to render the ovary altogether m 
(Tab. XVIL fig. 14); the original conical summit (continued into the style) b 
gradually flattened by the lateral elevation (Tab. XVIII. figs. 22, 27, 28). 
The Ovary never exhibits any open cavity; the centre is occupied by an e 
* Flora, 1855, p. 145; Botanische Zeitung, 1855, p. 641. ; 
t Linn. Trans. xviii. pp. 59 & 71; xix. pp. 171 & 487. 
