T. S. COBBOLD ON THE EMBRYOLOGY OF ACHIMENES PICTA. 19 



the embryo-sac had not been formally rejected by him. At all 

 events the reviewer of Quekett's " Lectm*es on Histology," in the 

 very first number of the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical 

 Science treated the matter as an open question ; and I understood 

 that the review was from the pen of Professor Henfrey. Later on 

 it is clear that Henfrey fell in with the now generally received 

 views, but in one of his classical articles, contributed to the 

 '' Micrographic Dictionary," we still find him saying that " it is not 

 absolutely kno^vn whether the cavities of the pollen tube and the 

 embryo-sac become actually continuous by absorption of the walls at 

 the point of attachment ; it is generally believed not, but we have 

 recently had occasion to feel some doubt on this point." Henfrey, 

 indeed, in illustration of the article " Ovule," gives a figure of the 

 embryo-sac of Orchis morio, representing the union of the pollen 

 tube with it, but we are left in doubt as to the source of the 

 illustration. 



At the present time it is unnecessary to do more than remind the 

 Club that although this part of the question may now be regarded 

 as definitively set at rest, the special views of Schleiden in respect 

 of the phenomena observed in Mesemhryantliemuin were not 

 generally abandoned until Meyen had also watched and described 

 the process as it occurs in M. lingiK^forme and M. pomeridianum, 

 Schleiden, indeed, observed the embryo-genetic process in a great 

 variety of genera (Salvia, Mnothera, JJomordica, Epilohium, 

 Martynia, and so forth), but it was from the facts noticed in the 

 genus above mentioned that his most striking conclusions were 

 deduced. Those who desire to go into the literature of the subject 

 should not only consult Bennett and Dyer's edition of Prof. Sach's 

 " Text Book of Botany," but also Dr. Sanderson's article 

 (" Vegetable Ovimi ") in Dr. Todd's '' Cyclopa}dia of Anatomy 

 and Physiology." It appears to me that this masterly article has 

 never received that consideration which was, and is still, due to it. 

 With these introductory remarks I proceed to record a few un- 

 published facts that I have observed in Achimenespicta. 



As every systematist knows, the genus Achimenes belongs to the 

 Gesnerace^, an order of plants especially abundant in South 

 America. Not many observations appear to have been made on the 

 embryology of this family, although several of the genera, including 

 the beautiful Gloxinias, flower freely and produce seeds in our 

 conservatories. I may mention, incidentally, that I have detected 



