262 Miscellaneous. 



baselloides, and of the Clematites, which is wide open in flowering, 

 becomes still more widely spread after fecundation. 



3. Reflexed {postfl. reflexa), psesented by the Begoniee, espe- 

 cially B. semperflorens, and by Craasulce spathulata and cotyledon. 



4. Shrivelled {postfl. crispd). — The petals retain their posi- 

 tion and form, but become shrivelled in drying. Ex. : Pavia, Del- 

 phinium, Li/thrum, and the corolla of the Campanulee, Linaria, &c. 

 Sometimes the perianths in shrivelling become twisted irregularly : 

 this modification of the shrivelled postfloration is presented by 

 Clerodendron. 



5. Pulpy {postjl. pulposa). — In Tradescantia virginica the petals 

 lose their membranous aspect and become pulpy. 



6. CuRLKD or CiRCiNATE (post/l. circinato). — The petals of the 

 Capparidese (Capparis, Cleome, Gynandropsis), which are twisted in 

 aestivation, become rolled into a crook after an thesis. This is also 

 the case with the corolla of the Peruvian Heliotrope and of Verbena 

 Melindres, chamcedrifolia, and tenera. 



7. Recircinate (^postfl. recircinatd). — In Mesembryanthemum 

 and Cryptostemma calendulaceum the petals and ligulse become 

 rolled into a crook, but from within outwards, or in an opposite 

 direction to the circinate form. 



8. CoNDUPLiCATE (post/l. condupUcato), one of the lateral 

 halves of the inner surface of the petal applying itself to the other. 

 Ex. Ornithogalum Eckloni. 



Postfloration may render some service to classification, especially 

 in the limitation of genera. Authors are not agreed as to the generic 

 denomination of the Agrostemma Coeli-rosa of Linne. Desrousseaux 

 has placed it in Lychnis ; it is a Silene with MM. Grenier and 

 Godron, and a Viscaria with others. It is distinguished from 

 Silene by the postfloration of its petals, the two borders of which 

 roll inwards, whilst that of Silene is shrivelled and contorted. 



A Plumbagineous plant has been alternately described under the 

 names of Plumbago Larpentce and Valoradia plumbaginoides. It 

 presents the same postfloration as Plumbago, namely the rumpled 

 arrangement of the limb of the corolla, which is in favour of its being 

 united with that genus. 



The postfloration of the stamens deserves a special study. It is 

 remarkable in the genus Aloe, in which the filaments become undu- 

 lato-crispate in consequence of an unequal shrinking of the tracheal 

 system and of the long cells which surround it. The three first- 

 formed stamens become shrivelled before the others. — Comptes 

 Rendus, 26th Dec. 1865, pp. 1177-1179. 



Observations on the part played by the Nucleus in Animal Cells. 

 By M. Balbiani. 



In 1864 the author detected in the ovules of several animals cer- 

 tain transparent cavities or vacuoles seated in the germinal spots, 



