THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE PHANEROGAMIC FRUIT. 



79 



so-called "inferior ovaries" consists, for the most part, according to my own 

 investigations, of a deeply excavated receptacle and not of carpels invested by the 

 tube of the calyx or perianth. That the latter condition occurs (as in many 



Fig. 211.— Autholysis and Structure of the Ovary. 



»-* Longitudinal sections of the ovaries of "monstrous" flowers of Primula japonica ; the outer carpels form the ovarian cavity 

 and are destitute of ovules; the inner carpels show all transitions between ovuliferous cushions, concrescent with the 

 extremity of the axis, and isolated leaf-structnres, the marginal teeth of which correspond to ovules. ' A single "mon- 

 strous" flower of Primula japonica. 8 Longitudinal section through the ovary of Glaux maritima. 9 View into the ovary 

 of same after removal of the front wall. ' natural size ; the others magnified 6-8 times. 



Saxifrages) is not here denied, but more frequently is it the receptacle which is 

 raised as a circular wall to form a closed ovary. On the ripening of the fruit the 

 capsule in many cases opens by means of valves which strikingly resemble the 

 valves formed from true carpels. It is, however, but a resemblance comparable 

 to that existing between the phylloclades of Butcher's-broom and true leaves 

 (c/. vol. i. p. 333). 



