214 VEGETABLE ORGANOGRAPHY. 



CHAPTER V. 



OF THE ORGANS OF REPRODUCTION" WITHOUT FE( 

 DATION IN PHANEROGAMOUS PLANTS. 



I said, on commencing- to treat of the organs of 

 reproduction, that all organized beings appeared to be 

 reproduced by the development of pre-existing germs. 

 Are these germs, as Bonnet maintains, bodies existing 

 in infinite numbers from the commencement of the 

 species, inserted into one another and destined to be 

 successively developed under favourable ciicumstances ? 

 Or, are they productions successively formed by vital 

 action, or, as has been said, by the plastic forces of 

 individuals, so as to pre-exist only a short and definite 

 time before the period when their development is visible? 

 It is hardly necessary to discuss this question as regards 

 the subject upon which we are at present engaged. It 

 will be sufficient to admit that there exist in different 

 parts of plants, germs which are developed after two 

 manners : one kind requires the particular act of fe- 

 cundation, and forms the seeds of which we have been 

 examining the structure, &c. ; the other kind, in order 

 to be developed, only requires the concurrence of certain 

 circumstances purely relating to nutrition. 



Among these last, there are some, which, without 

 any preparatory apparatus, are developed when the 

 nourishment becomes more abundant in a given place : 



