unimpregnated Ovulum in Phenogamous Plants. 411 
and family they belong to, have pendulous ovula; and, as I 
have long since noticed, in the perfect ovula only of Abelia*. 
In these, and in the other cases in which the raphe is on the 
outer side, or that most remote from the placenta, the ovula 
are in reality resupinate ; an economy apparently essential to 
their developement. 
The distinct origins and different directions of the nourish- 
ing vessels and channel through which fecundation took place 
in the ovulum, may still be seen in many of those ripe seeds 
that are winged, and either present their margins to the pla- 
centa, as in Proteacez, or have the plane of the wing at right 
angles to it, as in several Liliaceze. These organs are visible 
also in some of those seeds that have their testa produced at 
both ends beyond the inner membrane, as Nepenthes ; a struc- 
ture which proves the outer coat of scobiform seeds, as they ~ 
are called, to be really testa, and not arillus, as it has often 
been termed. 
The importance of distinguishing between the membranes 
of the unimpregnated ovulum and those of the ripe seed must 
be sufficiently evident from what has been already stated. But 
this distinction has been necessarily neglected by two classes 
of observers. The first consisting of those, among whom are 
several of the most eminent carpologists, who have regarded 
the coats of the seed as products of fecundation. The second, 
of those authors who, professing to give an account of the ovu- 
lum itself, have made their observations chiefly, or entirely, on 
the ripe seed, the coats of which they must consequently have 
supposed to be formed before impregnation. 
The consideration of the arillus, which is of rare occurrence, 
is never complete, and whose developement takes place chiefly 
after fecundation, might here, perhaps, be entirely omitted. 
It is, however, worthy of remark, that in the early stage of the 
ovulum, this envelope is in general hardly visible even in those 
cases where, as in Hibbertia volubilis, it attains the greatest 
size in the ripe seed; nor does it in any case, with which I am 
acquainted, cover the foramen of the testa until after fecunda- 
tion. 
The ¢esta, or outer coat of the seed, is very generally formed 
by the outer membrane of the ovulum;. and in most cases 
where the nucleus is inverted, which is the more usual struc- 
ture, its origin may be satisfactorily determined ; either by the 
hilum being more or less lateral, while the foramen is termi- 
nal; or more obviously, and with greater certainty where the 
raphe is visible, this vascular cord uniformly belonging to the 
outer membrane of the ovulum. The chalaza, properly so 
* Abel’s China, p. 377. 
3F2 called, 
