30O IMPREGNATION OF THE SEED. CHAP. VII. 



less compact ; and the powder of the anthers was 

 thrown out by the slightest agitation ; but the 

 lobes and plantlet were not yet perceptible in the 

 seeds. 



On the eleventh day after the flowers had fallen, 

 that is, after impregnation had taken place, the 

 seeds which were formerly globular began to as- 

 sume the figure of an heart, attached to the pod by 

 the basis, and exhibiting the appearance of a white 

 point towards the apex. And when the heart was 

 cut open longitudinally, the white point proved to 

 be a small cavity enclosing a drop of liquid. 



On the twenty-fifth day after the flowers had 

 fallen, the cavity was much enlarged towards the 

 base ; but was still full of the liquid, in the midst 

 of which there appeared a small and semi-transpa- 

 rent body, of a yellowish colour and gelatinous 

 consistence, fixed by its two extremities to the op- 

 posite sides of the cavity. 



Jn a month after the flower had fallen, the heart- 

 shaped seeds became kidney-shaped. 



In forty days after the flower had fallen, the 

 cavity was quite filled up with the body that had 

 been generated within it; and which was now 

 found to consist of a thin and tender membrane en- 

 velopjng the two seed-lobes, between which the 

 plantlet attached to the lower extremity was also 

 perceptible. And hence the seed was now visibly 

 complete in all its parts. 



From these and a variety of other observations 



