ox THE 



ORGANS ANT) :\10T)E OF FECUNDATION 

 OUCHIDEiE AND AS C L E I'l ADEaE. 



Read Novemeee, 1st and Ioth. 1^31 * 



In the Essay now submitted to the Society, iiiv pi'iii- 

 cipal object is to give an acconnt of some observations, 

 made chiefly in the course of the present year, on the 

 structure and economy of the sexual organs in Orchidccc 

 and Asclepiadese, — the two famihes of phaenogamous 

 plants which have liitherto presented the most important 

 objections to the prevaiHng theories of vegetable fecun- 

 dation. 



But before entering on this acconnt, it is necessary to 

 notice the various opinions that have been hekl respecting 

 the mode of im])regnation in both famihes : and in con- 

 chiding the sid)ject of Orchidese, I shall advert to a few 

 other points of structure in that natnral order. 



^ [This portion of 1 lie Memoir uas originally printed for private dibtributicu 

 in October, 1S3]. The additions made to it when rejirintcd in the 'L'nncan 

 Transactions/ consist ehiefly of the references to the anthois quoted, of three 

 notes at pp. 495, 190 and 197, and of tlie i)lates and tlicir explanations. The 

 alterations are merely verbal, with the exception of a passai^e at pp. 5;22-4, 

 beneath which 1 have appended the correspondiiig passage of the first iuipres* 

 sion ill a note. — Edit.] 



