STRUCTURE OF FRUIT. 151 



wish to designate the number. These cells are sepa- 

 rated by vertical Partitions (septa), formed by the 

 more or less intimate union of the retreating faces of the 

 two contiguous carpels. These retreating faces appear 

 composed only of the endocarp and a very thin expan- 

 sion of the mesocarp ; as for the epicarp, it is not pro- 

 longed, or at least it is not visible upon the partitions. 

 The seeds are then placed at the central angle of each 

 cell, attached to the extremity of the retreating face of 

 the carpel, and consequently, (except in cases of abor- 

 tion,) to the number of two at least in each cell, or 

 always in equal numbers. All that I have said above of 

 their position in isolated carpels, is applicable to the 

 cells of fruits with cohering ones. 



When the carpels of which the fruit is composed are 

 lomentaceous, or divided by diaphragms, as transverse 

 partitions, then each principal cell is subdivided bv 

 these cellular diaphragms into smaller ones situated one 

 above the other ; we see this in Amaioua among the 

 Rubiacea?, in the lomentaceous Cruciferae, Sec. 



We reserve the name of False Cells, or of Cavities, 

 for certain spaces which are found in some fruits, and 

 which do not contain seeds, not from abortion, but from 

 their peculiar nature. The most remarkable example of 

 these cavities is observed in Nigella Damascccna, so 

 common in gardens ; its fruit, cut transversely, seems to 

 have ten cells, of which the five inner ones which con- 

 tain the seeds at the internal angle, are the true cells, 

 and the five outer ones, devoid of seeds, are the cavities; 

 these result from the epicarp swelling up during matu- 

 ration, so as to break the mesocarp, and form in its 

 place a space or air-cavity. In several fruits we find 

 cavities more or less decided, either in the axis of the 

 fruit, when the carpels, instead of reaching the centre, 

 leave there a small empty space ; or between the cells, 



