44 J DEVELOPMENT OF THE FLOWER 
The closure of the stigmatic canal can only determine the 
situation of the stigmata surfaces. 
n the development of this plant the first anomaly that 
takes place is the consolidation of the ends of the pistillum, 
and the consequent closure of the usual, and perhaps else- 
where, invariable channel of fecundation. 
is may be considered, perhaps, as necessitating some 
degree of separation between the disc of the so-called 
stigma and the body of the pistillum, in order to allow 
external communication with the conducting canal. 
Is there any relation between the hardness of the sides 
of the fissures, and of the pollinia? It seems reasonable, that 
when these are hard they require hard surfaces to enable 
them to be interposed. 
The glands are a mere secretion from the furrow of the 
angles, the.secretion commences along the outer angles of 
each furrow, where it proceeds inwards until it occupies the 
whole surface of the furrow. 
A transverse section of the gland will therefore (as ^ 
matter is nearly equally secreted, and the inner edges of the 
margins, certainly not walls,) present the same figure in a 
considerable measure as that of the furrow itself. 
Fecundation appears to be of uncommon occurrence in 
this genus, and indeed the obstacles opposed to it are very 
considerable. For independent of the general obstacle, as 
it would appear to be, of the passage of the boyaux through - 
a determinate spot, the sides of the fissures are closely 
approximated, and possess so much hardness as to require a 
considerable degree of force to open them. Corresponding. 
with this narrowness of the fissure is the compressed state 
of the grain, and perhaps its hardness. 
Comparison between Asclepiadez and Orchidee, (?) in both 
the amount of solidity of pollen, determines the presence of a 
gland ? Query, are the obstacles greatest in Asclepiadez ? 
The calyx appears to originate in the same way. I find 
that a branch of the inflorescence in its earliest stage consists. 
of two cellular bracts, with a convex protuberance, in the 
axil: the terminal flower is a turbinate cellular mass, with 

