314 Mr. A. Murray on the Homologies of 



resting on that point against the uppersidc of the next anther. 

 It will be seen how exactly the male flower when young (fig. 8) 

 corresponds with the flower of Sequoia sempervirens and Welling- 

 tonia. The petal in Sequoia is larger and of a stronger con- 

 sistence, and its anthers are rounder and comparatively smaller; 

 but the chief difference is that, in the firs and pines, the anthers 

 on each side, although still sessile, have extended themselves 

 backwards, and united to the flower-stalk, which has become more 

 elongated. The petal is now called the crest of the anther, and 

 its back is now spoken of as its front, the more prominent and 

 more highly coloured side being exposed outwards; but the same 

 arrangements remain as in the Cypresses. The petal or crest 

 of the anther is more highly petaloid in structure than in the 

 Cypresses, and its colour is usually more bright and rich ; but, 

 as in them, it is concave towards the axis and convex on the 

 outer side. The stamens are sessile as before, and attached to 

 the inferior margin of the petal; but the union is continued 

 down the peduncle, which is comparatively longer ; that is all 

 the difiference. 



With the key thus given, it is impossible to misunderstand 

 the homologies of the male flowers : they are monopetalous and 

 diandrous in the firs and pines, monopetalous and polyandrous 

 in the Cypresses and allied genera. 



The female flower is also monopetalous. In the young state 

 the petal is a small bract, sometimes green, sometimes even 

 more richly coloured than the petal of the male flower, but 

 always petaloid in texture, at least at the margins. Various, 

 authors have, from considerations of development and analogy, 

 surmised the identity of this bract with the stamens in the male 

 flower; but this is rather more than the truth. It is not 

 with the stamens that they correspond, but solely with the crest 

 which surmounts them, or, rather, from the base of which they 

 spring. As it appears to me, it has no analogy, aflElnity, or 

 homology either with the anthers or their peduncle. 



This petal or bract is always present, so far as I have seen, 

 although in the mature cone it is sometimes difficult to distin- 

 guish it. It is developed to the greatest extent in some of the 

 silver firs, as Picea bracteata and P. nobilis. In the mature 

 cedar it may be wholly overlooked, it having in it, by the pres- 

 sure of the seed behind it, been reduced to a mere pale ragged 

 scurf, interrupted in the middle. In the Cypresses it is often 

 reduced to a mere membrane or crust. If we open a young 

 green cone of Wellingtonia or Sequoia sempervirens, we see the 

 space between the scales filled with a bright claret-coloured 

 matter which looks like an exudation, fitting into the sinuosities 

 of the scales. This is the petal; and if examined with a lens. 



