OF THE EMBRYOS IN THE SEEDS OF CONIFER/E. 575 



not altogctlicr improbable on considerinp; tlic Jinalofrous 

 occonomy in several tribes of insects, in some of which the 

 male fluid remains inactive in the femide for a still lonjrcr 

 period ;^ and in plants, though for a nmch shorter period, I 

 may refer to Goodcnovicc, in which the j)ollen is ap|)lied to 

 the stigma a considerable time before that organ is sulii- 

 ciently developed to act upon or transmit its influence.- 

 But the supposed protracted state of inactivity in the |)ollen 

 oi Pinus does not necessarily lead to the adoption of Dr. rsri 

 Schleiden's theory. With respect to Cycadece, whatever 

 opinion may be adopted as to the precise mode of action of 

 the pollen in that family, it is certain that the mere enlarge- 

 ment of the fruit, the consolidation of albumen, and the 

 complete formation of the corpuscula in its apex are wholly 

 independent of male influence, as I have proved in cases 

 where pollen could not have been applied, namely, in plants 

 both of Cycas and Zamia [Encephalarlos) ])roducing female 

 flowers in England at a time when male ilowers were not 

 known to exist in the country. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE 33 (YII). 



Fig. L A scale of the cone of Pinus sylvestris, with its winged seeds, one of 

 which is abortive : natural size. 



N.B. The remaining figures arc more or less magnified. 



Fig. 2. An unripe seed, of wliich the testa, in this state cartihiginous, is cut 

 open, partly removed and tlirown back to show the included body, wiiicli is the 

 half-ripe original nucleus with its sphacelated aj)ex and the free portion of the 

 inner coat, extending from the apex to about one third of the length of the 

 nucleus, below which it is intimately connected with and inseparable from the 

 outer coat. 



Fig. 3. The amnios or albumen, with the coats opened and laitl back. 



a. The body of the albumen, with its slightly concave upper extremity : in 

 this stage separated from h, the aj)cx, which is conical above, bcluw cylin- 

 drical, and which was suspended from the top of the original nucleus. 



' llerold. Entwickel. der Schmetterl. &c. IS 15, ct Siebold in Miillcr's 

 Archiv, 1837, p. 392. 



- Append, to Fliiulcrs's Austral, p. 50 1. [Jfifc, p. 33.] 



