22 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Jan., 



so-called seed, marked "pericarpal" in the figure, is no 

 part of any seed, but of the fruit-shell inclosing the 

 seeds. 



As the stamens, petals and sepals apparently grow 

 from the top of the ovary (this portion of the pistil,) and 

 are hence called " superior " while it by contrast is 

 called " inferior," though their theoretical origin is from 

 the stem below it, the walls of these carpels must include, 

 consolidated with them, the bases of all those organs. 

 It is well to search for, though often difiicult to find in 

 the sections under the microscope, indications of this 

 complex origin. 



Of the longitudinal ribs, five on the back of each meri- 

 carp, which usually show, in this family, as keel-like 

 ridges on the outside of the fruit, and as projecting 

 teeth around a transverse section like this, the median 

 one, the mid-vein of the carpellary leaf, is called the 

 dorsal, those near the edges of the carpel, the lateral and 

 the intervening ones the intermediate ridges. Usually 

 they are prominent, as in the caraway, and in the de- 

 pressed intervals or furrows between them occur the 

 large oil-bearing tubes (vittse) which are so highly de- 

 veloped in this family of aromatic plants. But in the 

 coriander these primary ridges are reduced to the wavy 

 lines to be seen on the fruit, and lying low in the sec- 

 tion as here observed, while the intervals have overgrown 

 into high, though scarcely keel-like secondary ridges 

 without oil-tubes ; these tubes being produced, two in 

 each, in the inner walls near the junction (commissure) 

 of the two carpels, three of the four being preserved in 

 this section. 



Histological details are not shown with this power, 

 but come into view under the l-4th in. objective. 



This great family of plants, justly famous for its aro- 

 matic products gives, among its more fragrant and use- 

 ful contributions to food and refreshment, the anise 



