LIFE-HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 15 



and its allies, the stigmata are bright scarlet, and entire. In the great majority 

 of species they are orange, more or less divided. In C. vitellinus and its allies, 

 they are developed as a bunch of capillary divisons; in C. aureus, as a condensed 

 mass of sessile stigmata, forming the termination of the style. In one or two 

 species, as C. carpetanus, and C. nevadensis, the stigmata are almost colourless, 

 tending to pale lavender. The most remarkable departure from the general type 

 is in C. iridi/Iorus, in which the colour of the stigmata is rich purple. 



The colour of the stigmata is not so constant within each species as the 

 colour of the anthers. In C. vermis, and several other species which have normally 

 orange stigmata, they vary to cream-colour; and in C. aureus, the stigmata of 

 which are usually pale buff, occasionally vary to a rich orange-colour. The stigmata 

 of C. ehrysanthus are very variable both in size and colour, ranging from pale buff 

 to bright orange-scarlet. Within each species the height of the stigmata is tolerably 

 constant, but it diners much in different species, either exceeding, equalling or falling 

 short of the anthers; the style is invariably glabrous, and never papillose or hairy 

 like the filament. 



Whilst the character of the stigma is of little use for natural grouping, it is 

 invaluable for the determination of species ; and in quite half of the species, the 

 stigmata are so special in their character that they may be relied on alone for 

 specific distinction. 



The Ovary and Capsule. Plate B, fig. 5, a, b, e, d, e, represents the successive 

 stages of growth of the ovary, and of the capsule to its maturity and dehiscence, 

 the changes in which must be studied and compared to enable the structure to 

 be properly understood. 



The ovary is trilocular; and in its earliest stage before the maturity of the 

 flower the dissepiments, (Plate B, fig. 5, a,) are represented only by the slightly 

 inflected united margins of the contiguous carpels a. Later on, at the time of 

 flowering, b, the dissepiments are still further developed, reaching and just coming 

 in contact, without being united, at the centre of the ovary. The placentas are 

 placed on the inner margins of the dissepiments, each of which bears two rows 

 of sessile ovules. A further stage, c, is the actual union of the dissepiments at 

 the central axis, which takes place just after the flowering time, resulting in a 

 three-celled ovary, each of the cells being formed of a single carpel. Theoretically, 

 each dissepiment consists of the infolded margins of two adjacent carpellary leaves, 

 represented diagrammatically in fig. 5 d ; though in no stage is there any partition 

 visible in the dissepiments, and the dehiscence is loculicidal along the dorsal suture. 



The homology of the ovary becomes apparent on the dehiscence of the capsule, 

 e, when the seed is matured: the central column, which was only for a short time 

 existent, through the temporary adhesion of the ends of the dissepiments, is again 



