I9.S 



(U.IMI'SES IXTO I'l.ANT-LIFE 



a white garden lily, and remove the petals, sepals, 

 and stamens, leaving only the pistil, which, as 

 shown in the drawing, consists of three parts, the 

 club-like stigma, a very long style, and its base the 

 ovary, which contains three cavities. In these 

 last we see a number of small, colourless spore-like 

 bodies termed ovules (from oviiiii, an egg), each 

 consisting of an outer coat, and a mass of cells in 

 the centre called the iiuccllus. 



An opening exists at one end 

 of each ovule called the micropyle 

 (meaning a little gate or entrance), 

 and this opening leads down into 

 the middle of the nucellus, where 

 lies what we may call the life-prin- 

 ciple, but what is known in botany 

 as the embryo-sac. 

 We need the aid of a microscope to enable us 

 to see how the pollen exerts its influence upon the 

 ovules. 



If we place a drop of very weak sugar and 

 water upon a slip of grass, and sprinkle over it 

 some pollen grains of the common white lily, 

 then allowin<>" the slide to remain for a few 



POLLEN TUBE. 



