the Male and Female Flowers of Conifers. 219 
petal or crest of the anther at its extremity without materially 
adding to its size; so the same process of growth takes place 
here. The apex of the scale is pushed on by the growth of the 
lower part of the scale, and its shoulders are filled out and dis- 
tended, by the accumulation of cell-growth behind them, until 
they assume the form of a mature apophysis. It is in conse- 
quence of the growth of the scale taking place in this manner 
that im some Conifers, as the firs and pines, we have tne seeds 
growing upright in an orthotropal manner from the base of the 
scale, while in others, as /Vellingtonia and Sciadopitys, they 
hang down from the upper part of the scale. The point of in- 
sertion of the seeds is obviously close upon the boundary line 
where the growth of the scale commences to act with vigour. 
If it be below it, the seeds grow upwards, being determined in 
that direction by their base or foundation being as it were 
pushed downwards, and the body of the scale, by its lengthen- 
ing upwards, giving an inclination to the seed resting on it to 
follow in its growth the same direction. If the insertion, on the 
other hand, is above the point of growth, their base, being at- 
tached to the body of the scale,-is carried upwards with it, and 
their apex is turned downwards by the upward growth of their 
point of insertion, as, indeed, they could not well grow in any 
other direction. If I am right in this interpretation of the cause 
of the seeds in some species growing up, and in others growing 
down, it deprives that fact of much of the significance which 
systematists have sought to attach to it. 
The growth of the scale is strengthened in the interior by a 
woody core; but here, too, its appearance is very apt to mislead 
us. Figs. 12 and 13 represent respectively the core of a scale 
of Wellingtonia and of a fir. It has a strong resemblance to 
the flat branches which we often see in distorted shoots of the 
spruce fir, where two or three twigs have become united; and 
hence many observers have adopted the view that the scale was 
only a converted branch: but every part of a plant is only a 
phase of another, all being referable to some modification of a 
leaf; therefore the analogy to be drawn from its branch-like 
core is no ground for holding the scale to be analogous to a 
branch. The same objection would apply to all pericarps having 
a woody core. 
It is to be observed, too, that although in the pines and 
spruce firs this core remains, like a branch, and does not fall off 
like most other pericarps, in the silver firs it does become con- 
stricted at the base and drops off as they do. 
The core is double, as is well shown in Richard’s figures ; 
but while apparently a double central stem, each of which we 
should expect to supply respectively the inner and outer halves 
