344 MODIFICATIONS OF ANTHER. [BOOK i. 



of it, depending upon whether the septa which originally 

 exist all remain complete, or are half-absorbed, or wholly 

 absorbed. Schleiden says he has found the anther before 

 its bursting quadrilocular in more than one hundred families ; 

 amongst which may be named Grasses (Graminacese), Sedges 

 (Cyperacese), Lilyworts (Liliacese), Labiates, Borageworts, 

 Figworts (Scrophulariaceae), Composites, Umbellifers, Crow- 

 foots (Ranunculacese) with their allies, Roseworts, and Legu- 

 minous plants, which orders alone constitute almost one-half 

 of the entire vegetation of the globe. It has been often 

 asserted, he says, that the anther could not originally be 

 , quadrilocular, because it opens by two fissures only ; which 

 is as much as to consider two rooms in a house as one, 

 because they have not folding doors, but single doors placed 

 close together. Properly speaking, every anther really opens 

 with four fissures ; they appear, however, only as two, because 

 each pair lies at the side of the common septum. 



Other deviations from the normal form of anther occur, 

 which are less easy to reconcile with the idea of a two- 

 celled type. In some Laurels the anther is divided into 

 four cells, one placed above the other in pairs ; in ^Egiceras it 

 consists of numerous little cavities ; and in the singular genus 

 Rafflesia the interior is separated into many cellules of irre- 

 gular figure and position, described by Brown as " somewhat 

 concentrical, longitudinal, the exterior ones becoming conni- 

 vent towards the apex, sometimes confluent, and occasionally 

 interrupted by transverse partitions." In these instances 

 the septa may be understood to arise from portions of the 

 cellular tissue of the anther remaining unconverted into 

 pollen. 



According to Mr. Gardner, the anthers of Durio Zeylanicus 

 are destitute of cells, the pollen grains being naked, and 

 entirely surrounding a globose fleshy receptacle. Upon 

 inquiring how far this might be owing to the age of the 

 organ, he found that the same structure exists in the bud as 

 in the expanded flower. Although this globular anther is 

 densely covered with pollen, yet it only forms a single series, 

 and each grain is echinate and distinctly pedicellate, the 

 whole forming a beautiful microscopic object. (Contributions 



