RE PRODUCTION. 535 



The modes in which the fecundation of the germ 

 is accomplished are exceedingly various in differ- 

 ent classes of. organized beings. In all Plianero- 

 gmnous plants, (so named in contradistinction to 

 those which are Cryptogamous), the whole of the 

 double apparatus required for reproduction is con- 

 tained in the Jlower. One set of organs contains 

 the rudiment of the seed, enclosed in various 

 envelopes, of which the assemblage constitutes an 

 ovary, and to which is appended a tube, {the pistil), 

 terminated by a kind of spongiole, (the stigma). 

 The fecundating organs are the stamens, which are 

 columns (or Jilaments), placed generally near and 

 parallel to the pistil, and terminated by a glandular 

 organ, (the anther). This organ, when mature, 

 contains, enclosed in a double envelope, a fine pow- 

 der, (the pollen), consisting of very minute vesicles, 

 filled with a viscous liquor, {i\\e fovilla), in which 

 are seen extremely small granules. Fecundation 

 takes place by a portion of the pollen being re- 

 ceived by the stigma, and conveyed through the 

 tubular pistil to the seed, which it impregnates by 

 imparting to it the fluid it contains. 



By far the greater number of plants composing 

 the vegetable kingdom have these two sets of 

 organs contained in the same flower ; or at least in 

 flowers belonging to the same individual plant. 

 In the animal kingdom this arrangement is also 

 adopted ; but only in a comparatively small number 

 of tribes. In these the ova, in their passage from 

 the ovary, along a canal termed the oviduct, are 

 fecundated by receiving a secretion from another 

 set of organs in the same system, which is conveyed 

 by a duct, opening into the oviduct in some part of 



