322 AN ABNORMAL LEAF IN PRUNUS LAUROCERASUS, 
to speculation on the relation of anthers to ovules, or rather between 
the mother-cells of the former and the embryo sac of the latter, be- 
tween <c germ-cells " and " sperm-cells," — thus involving the very es- 
sence of sexual distinctions. 
Wolf and Linnaeus, and at a later period Goethe, inferred the in- 
trinsic identity of the various parts of the flower from the feet that all 
alike were capable of assuming a leaf-like aspect. Organs morpholo- 
gically dissimilar, on the other hand, cannot assume the same appear- 
ance, or, as Linnaeus puts it, ('Prolepsis Plantarum/ sect. 10,) "the 
liver cannot become the heart, nor the heart the stomach." But, as it 
would obviously be unsafe to indulge in such speculations as these 
upon such slender premises, I would merely express a hope, now that 
attention has been drawn to the matter, that other more complete ob- 
servations may be made. For similar reasons I forbear doing more 
than call attention to Mr. Salter's hint as to the significance of these 
polliniferous ovules in reference to the alleged cases of Parthenogenesis 
in plants, — a matter as it appears to me too hastily dismissed by the 
writer of the criticism in the ' Natural History Review ' on Mr. Salter s 
paper. 
Explanation of Plate LXXII. 
Fig. B 1-2. Two filaments, from the throat of the calyx of Rosa arvensis, 
bearing uncovered, pendulous, inverted, polliniferous ovules, above which are 
the true anther-lobes, and terminating in a style and stigma. B 3. Similar fila- 
ment, hearing perfect ovules. B 4. Normal ovule. B 5-6. Portions of the ovules 
from 1 and 2, showing the fibrous cells — (5) top view; (6) side view. B 7. Pollen 
grains from the ovule. B 8. Imperfect ovule; the nucleus protruded through 
the foramen, and contained at its upper exposed portion a few pollen-grams. 
B 9. Diagrammat ic view of an ovule seen under the compressorium, and showing 
both fibrous cells and pollen grains :— all magnified, Figs. 5, 6, 7, 200 diameters. 
NOTICE OF AN ABNORMAL LEAF IN PRUNUS 
LAUROCERASUS. 
By Alexander Dickson, M.D., 
Professor of Botany in tJie University of Dublin. 
* 
(Plate LXXIL C.) 
The following brief notice refers to a specimen that I had the honour 
of exhibiting at the meeting of the British Association in Dundee last 
September. The specimen consisted of a portion of a shoot of Primus 
