90 Dr. H. Karsten on the Sexual Life of 



he had been shown by Deeke the fructifying pollen-tube in the 

 embryo-sac, should not be acquainted with the fact that during 

 the entire summer, from the beginning of May till the end of 

 August, hermaphrodite flowers are not rarely met with on Ccele- 

 bogyne, is altogether incomprehensible. 



Coelebogyne (Smith). 



The hermaphrodite flowers observed on the C. ilicifolia from 

 May to August, in the Berlin Botanic Garden, were all monan- 

 drian. The single anther developed (PI. X.) was situated on 

 the periphery of the flower ; it alternated on the outer aspect 

 with the inferior first and with the adjoining fourth leaf of the 

 calyx, and on the inner aspect with two of the carpels. Some- 

 times a second aborted anther is met with, also alternating with 

 two carpels and situated opposite the third leaflet of the calyx. 

 The stamens are attached to the bottom of the flower. The per- 

 fect one is equal to the sepals in length, and consists of a cylin- 

 drical, thick, fleshy filament, at first erect, but afterwards curved 

 outwards ; it gradually expands upwards to the ' connective,' 

 which is free on the exterior ; to this last is afiixed an oval, reni- 

 forra, orange-coloured anther-cell, having a discharging slit-like 

 outlet prolonged to its apex. Though the anther has two 

 parallel compartments when first formed, the septum breaks 

 down between them at a very early period of development, 

 when the entire stamen is still concealed within the calyx and 

 the pollen is completely undeveloped. 



Braun, who had the opportunity of examining some portions 

 of a male flower which had been presei'ved in the Herbarium at 

 Kew, as belonging to Ccelebogyne, describes the anther-cell to be 

 " elongated, consisting of two halves, in contact above and below, 

 but rather separated at the centre by the ' connective -' strongly 

 curved on the outer aspect, where likewise the elongated slits 

 for dehiscence are placed." This description of the anther of 

 Ccelebogyne from Hooker's collection might raise the doubt 

 whether the male organs described by Braun actually belonged 

 to C. ilicifolia, were it not that, very fortunately, the most im- 

 portant contradictions in the account given by Braun to what I 

 observed in the specimens obtained from the Botanic Garden of 

 Berlin, particularly in respect to the variation in the form of the 

 anthers, are removed by the illustrations that Braun has ap- 

 pended to his own essay. For instance, Braun says the anther- 



in Plants — Polyembryony and Germination of Ccelebogyne" (extracted 

 from the Transactions of the Berlin Academy for 1859, printed in 1860). 

 In this work Braun adduces (p. 197) further evidence in illustration of 

 parthenogenesis, without, however, assigning any great importance to it. 

 But Ccelebogyne still constitutes, as heretofore, the mainstay of the doctrine 

 of the parthenogenesis of plants. 



