334 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Nov., 



several seeds were bouad up together their chances of 

 survival on germination would be decreased. The pods 

 dehisce the whole length of the placenta ; hence when 

 this is only at the top of the pod they open at this point. 

 The other form of fruit occurring in the order is the ber- 

 ry foand in Actsea and Hydrastis. 



The seeds of the Ranunculacese are completely anatro- 

 pus in almost every species. There is no more constant 

 feature in the whole order than this. In general outline 

 they are ovoid with the smaller end toward the hilum, 

 varying somewhat from this only in Caltha, Coptis, and 

 Actaea. The raphe often forms a ring on the side of the 

 seed. This form of the seed probably aids it materially 

 in becoming planted in the ground. Since the small end 

 would be buried first, and this is the end which contains 

 the embryo, with the hypocotyl down, the seed would be 

 in the best possible position for germination. In Caltha 

 palustris the air space at the upper end serves the same 

 purpose as the enlargement in other species. 



The embryo represents the extreme minute form of the 

 albuminous type. In many cases it is but little removed 

 from fertilization, and with little or no differentiation 

 into cotyledons and hypocotyl. In general, the smallest 

 and least diiferentiated are found among the pod forms. 

 The largest and highest developed embryo was found in 

 Delphinium and this also was the only one that showed an 

 indication of the plumule. In most of the larger em- 

 bryos a well differentiated central cylinder occurs, and 

 branches of this can be seen in the cotyledons of several 

 species. In some genera a root cap can be distinguished. 

 The tissue of the whole embryo is of small cells with 

 large nuclei arranged in vertical rows. 



Two seed coats can be distinguished in every genus 

 throughout the order. This result contradicts Engler 

 and Prantl and other authors who say some genera have 

 only one coat. It would seem scarcely probable that a 



