FUNCTION.] HYBRID PLANTS. 241 



are dried ; that the anthers of these male flowers do not 

 open ; and, lastly, that the autumn figs oflly contain female 

 flowers. In very many places an isolated Fig tree is found, 

 which, nevertheless, produces perfect, i. e. embryonated seeds. 

 But this observation is not free from uncertainty ; for we can 

 suppose an insect of the wild Fig tree to bring pollen, even 

 from a great distance, to the females of the cultivated tree, 

 or that among these there may be accidentally a few male 

 flowers. The first doubt I removed by closing up the eye of 

 the cultivated fig with some gum and clay, when the fruit 

 was very small and before the insect begins to leave the fruits 

 of the wild tree. In spite of this precaution, when the closed 

 figs were ripe, a great many fecundated seeds were found in 

 them. As to the other doubt which can be raised against 

 my view, I repeat that I have never been able to find any 

 more male flowers in the figs which I closed than in the other 

 autumn figs. I moreover searched with extreme care for any- 

 thing like pollen which might replace it in its fecundating 

 functions, and which might, perhaps, have been hidden in 

 the fruit between the scales of the eye, the peduncles of the 

 flowers, or in any other sheltered place ; but my searches were 

 in vain. It is for these reasons that I am led to suppose 

 that in the cultivated fig the embryo of the seed grows and 

 is developed without previous fecundation." (Annales des 

 Sciences, ser. 3. torn. 5. p. 306.) 



One of the most curious consequences of the presence of 

 sexes in plants is the property the latter consequently possess 

 of producing mules. It is well known, that, in the animal 

 kingdom, if the male and female of two distinct species of the 

 same genus breed together, the result is an offspring inter- 

 mediate in character between its parents, but uniformly 

 incapable of procreation, unless with one of its parents; 

 while the progeny of varieties of the same species, however 

 dissimilar in habit, feature, or general characters, is in all 

 cases as fertile as the parents themselves. A similar law 

 exists in the vegetable kingdom. 



Two distinct species of the same genus will often together 

 produce an offspring intermediate in character between 



VOL. II. R 



