649 



although their brilliant colour here, as in most plants, affords a 

 ready mode of distinction. These bodies are called petals, and the 

 collective name of corolla is applied to them. All the coloured leafy 

 bodies within the calyx of the flower are considered to belong to the 

 corolla. The two circles just described are present in the greater 

 number of flowers, but they are not actually necessary for the forma- 

 tion of fertile seeds. They enclose and protect, while young, those 

 bodies especially devoted to the formation of the seed. They are 

 therefore called enveloping organs. Within these enveloping organs, 

 which we may now remove with a penknife, we find, in the first place, 

 six bodies or organs, each of which consists of a little thread-like 

 stalk, bearing at its end a yellow oval mass. These organs, which 

 are still to be considered as peculiar forms of leaves, are called sta- 

 mens; the thread-like stalk is the filament, the mass above, the an- 

 ther, which, in advanced stages of the flower, will be found to have 

 burst by two splits, displaying two cavities, which previously con- 

 tained a fine dust, called the pollen, now scattered around. In the 

 centre of the flower appears a green body, which is found to be con- 

 structed of two or four leaves, united at their edges so as to enclose 

 a cavity within. This green body is called the pistil, when regarded 

 as one piece ; and the summit, which is somewhat swollen, is the 

 stigma." — p. 9. 



Now, if our readers will kindly take the trouble to read the entire 

 extract, leaving out the italicised passages, which bear only on the 

 ingenious hypothesis of Morphology, and not on the description of 

 the floral envelopes, he will find it much clearer, more intelligible, 

 and more instructive. 



With regard to the hypothesis itself, it has some facts very much 

 in its favor ; and we have observed in several instances that, the sap 

 being diverted from its course by Aphides, the pistil has assumed a 

 leaf-like appearance ; and such abnormal appearances as this have 

 been urged in support of the hypothesis : but those acquainted with 

 gardens, and hedges, and woods, and orchards, and who learn from 

 such things as well as from books, must have observed other pheno- 

 mena. For instance, a species of Aphis infests the roots of Pyrus 

 japonica just at the surface of the soil, and the effect of its diverting 

 the sap from its usual course is to cause the root to throw out flower- 

 buds, and brilliant scarlet flowers are frequently thus produced on 

 the root : the morphological hypothesis applied in this case must 

 lead to the conclusion that the root was a flower, and merely assumed 

 the functions of a root for especial purposes ; and yet science denies 

 Vol. hi. 4 p 



