Remarxs.—Both Origanum vulgare, 8. prismaticum, Gaud., and Ca- 
lamintha Nepeta, Link, are common wayside plants in South France; 
yet they give us an opportunity of studying a most curious and inter- 
esting instance of the partial separation of sexes which occurs in some 
Labiate. Calamintha Nepeta, Link, appears under two forms, the one 
with large, brightly-coloured flowers, which contain both pistil and 
stamens in a fully-developed and useful condition (Fig. 3); the other 
with small, crowded flowers, in which the stamens are aborted and 
quite useless, but the pistil is well formed (D). Now these herma- 
phrodite and pistillate plants are produced from seed of either one or 
the other form, and, probably, from a given number of seeds, about half 
of one kind and half of the other would grow. It is singular that the 
achenes are unlike in shape, and that there should be so great a dif- 
ference in the size of the flowers; for it is necessary that insects should 
be attracted both to the hermaphrodite and the pistillate plants. How- 
ever, the pistillate plant yields an immense quantity of seed,—more, I 
believe, than the hermaphrodite. In Thymus vulgaris, Linn., and T. 
Serpyllum, Linn., the plants are hermaphrodite and pistillate in like 
manner, and the flowers differ similarly in size. Origanum vulgare, - 
B. prismaticum, Gaud., is a variety of our Wild Marjoram of England, 
from which it is distinguished by its longer and less compact flowering 
spikelets. This plant is also in the same condition with Calamintha 
Nepeta, Link, as far as the flowers go. Now it is very interesting to 
observe that plants may occasionally be found which have the abortive 
stamens partly restored, and which are in an intermediate condition be- 
tween the hermaphrodite and the pistillate forms, thus showing by re- 
version one of the steps through which the stamens were reduced to 
their now useless state. This was well shown in some specimens of the 
wild English Marjoram, observed by Mrs. Nevil Maskelyne at Dover. 
One of these, of which only one plant was found, had “all the blossoms 
on a small head of open flowers with 2 abortive stamens, 2 good long 
ones and a long style.’””, Another plant was in a very polymorphic con- 
dition, for it had, in the same head, “ one blossom with 3 stamens longer 
than the short style, and 1 abortive stamen;” three blossoms with 3 
abortive and one perfect stamen; one in which all the 4 stamens were 
aborted; and one in which 2 stamens were aborted and 2 perfect. 
Now it is natural to ask what advantage the Calaminth, Thyme, and 
Marjoram gain by having, in the one form, aborted stamens which are 
not available for fertilization. The answer is, that foremost among the 
laws which govern the reproduction of all living creatures, is one which 
requires, at least occasionally, the union of two distinct individuals, 
for perfect fertility and for the production of healthy offspring. Now, 
though one might suppose that a flower in which the pollen and ovaries 
are side by side would be sure to fertilize itself in the most effective 
manner, yet this has been found not to be the rule. Ina great many 
cases the pollen is much better adapted for the fertilization of another 
a 
