180 ALTERATION OF POSITION. 



summits, in the same way as the Opuntla just died. 

 P. Bleo is said, by M. Delavaud,^ to present this 

 anomaly as a constant occurrence. On the summit of 

 the primary fruit, arising apparently from the axils of 

 the sepals, or of small leafy bracts in that situation, 

 are a series of fruit-hke branches, which, in their turn, 

 are surmounted by others, even to the fourth generation. 



The fruits of Tetragonia expansa frequently have 

 attached to their side a secondary flower or fruit in 

 such a position as to lead to the inference that it springs 

 from the upper portion of the peduncle which is dilated 

 to invest the true carpels. In other instances it is due 

 to an adhesion of the pedicel to the side of the fruit. In 

 either case the production of an adventitious bud might 

 be considered as an . illustration of prolification of the 

 inflorescence, though not as was supposed by Moquin 

 and others of axillary proHfication.^ 



Buds have also been produced artificially on the 

 surface of some of the fruits in the construction of 

 which the axis is supposed to share ; thus, the unripe 

 fruits of some species of Lecijthis were stated by Von 

 Martins, at a meeting of the German Naturalists at 

 Carlsruhe, to produce buds when placed in the earth. 

 The fruit of these plants is probably of the same nature as 

 that of the Pomacece, and Baillon^ succeeded in producing 

 buds on the surface of the inferior ovary of Jussuea. 



Some of the cases just mentioned have been con- 

 sidered to be instances of prolification of the fruit, 

 but the fruit has little to do with the appearances in 

 question. 



Formation of adventitious flowers and fruits within the ovary. 

 This generally arises either from substitution of a 



' Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr./ 1858, p. 685. 



' The structure of this flower is discussed at some length in a paper 

 by the author on axillary prolification. ' Ti'ans. Linn. Soc.,' vol. xxiii, 

 p. 486, t. liv, fig. 3. See also ' Clos. Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr./ vol. v, 1855, 

 p^ 672. Seringe et Heyland, ' Bull. Bot.,' i, p. 8. ' Pallas Enuni, Plant. 

 Hort. Domidoff,' append, c, ic. 



' ' Adansonia,' i, 181. 



