70 THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE PHANEROGAMIC FRUIT. 



which have the same functions, however greatly they may differ in form, yet always 

 possess certain similarity, and that this similarity increases in a conspicuous degree 

 when the external conditions of life are the same, no objection can be made to the 

 generalization. But if it is made the basis of far-reaching speculations and of 

 hypotheses concerning the evolution of one group of plants from another, the 

 descent of Phanerogams from Cryptogams, for example, I must enter an emphatic 

 protest against any such proceeding. 



THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE PHANEROGAMIC FRUIT. 



Long experience has shown us that the propagation of plants is accomplished 

 with much greater certainty by means of Brood-bodies than by Fertilization and 

 production of Fruit. For a fruit to be formed, two portions of protoplasm which 

 have arisen separately must be brought together. Such a union denotes that at 

 least one of the two protoplasts in question is endowed with a capacity for 

 translation, that the male cell is not obstructed on its way to the female, and 

 that facilities are present to promote its union with that cell. But there's many 

 a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip! Adverse winds, unfavourable currents, long- 

 continued drought, uninterrupted rain, these and many another unexpected cir- 

 cumstance may bar the way to fertilization. Often enough fertilization is 

 hindered from causes such as these, and in consequence the young fruit-rudiment 

 atrophies, the embryo is not formed, and the plant, in order to propagate, must 

 rely on its brood-bodies. 



That fruits do not miscarry oftener than they actually do is due to the fact 

 that the difficulties of the situation from external cause, are to some extent met 

 by the position of the egg-cell and the form of the young fruit. In other words, 

 the fashioning of the organs concerned in the production of fruit is adapted to 

 the circumstances of the environment. 



Perhaps the obstacles are at a minimum in the case of plants in which fer- 

 tilization is accomplished under water. The cells in question here require no 

 especial protection. The surrounding water maintains them in the proper 

 position, brings food to them, and protects them from drying up. In it they 

 both live and move. Thus it is intelligible why so many plants which live under 

 water, or which use water for the accomplishing of fertilization, are destitute 

 of any but the simplest envelopes for their spermatoplasm and ooplasm. Com- 

 plicated investments are valueless under such circumstances, possibly even dis- 

 advantageous; in any case they are superfluous. Nor is it usual in plants to 

 produce superfluous structures. As we know, aquatic plants do not possess woody 

 stems and branches. And for this reason. Tissues of this kind are not required, 

 since the surrounding water buoys them up in the proper position so that hard 

 wood and bast are not needed. So also with the ooplasm and spermatoplasm. 

 Cryptogamic plants which fruit under water do not possess complex ovaries like 

 Phanerogams, as they are unnecessary. Just before the time of fertilization the 



