120 REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. CHAP. III. 



' is thus considered as part of the calyx. Instead 



therefore of the terms inferior, superior, and semi- 

 superior, M. Ventenat proposes to substitute the 

 terms adherent, semi-adherent, and detached. The 

 ovary is adherent if it is closely invested by the 

 lower part of the calyx, and surmounted only by 

 the border, as in Enchanter's Night-shade. It is 

 semi-adherent, if it is invested only in part by the 

 calyx, as in some species of Saxifrage. And it is 

 detached, if it is included in the calyx, but not ad- 

 hering to it, as in the Primrose. 



If this view of the subject is correct, the terms 

 superior, and semi-superior, are consequently absurd, 

 and ought to be given up : but there seems to be 

 at least some room for doubt with regard to the 

 universality of the fact alleged by M. Ventenat 

 as the ground of the introduction of the new terms 

 which he substitutes in the place of the old ; for 

 nowever well his remark may apply in the case of 

 the Apple and Medlar, in which the part usually 

 called the calyx is persistent, yet I do not see how 

 it can be made to apply in cases in which the part 

 usually called the calyx is deciduous, as in the 

 Willow-herbs ; because the very circumstance of 

 the falling of that part points out to us, at least 

 by analogy, the line of circumscription bounding 

 a distinct organ, and the connecting link that forms 

 the bond of union between the calyx and ovary. 

 And if not, then we may just as well say that 



