540 



SEXUAL GENERATION. 



CHAPTER II. 



Fig. 174. 



ON SEXUAL GENERATION, AND THE MODE OF ITS 

 ACCOMPLISHMENT. 



THE function of generation is performed by means of two sets of 

 organs, each of which gives origin to a peculiar product, capable 

 of uniting with the other so as to produce a new individual. These 



two sets of organs, belonging to the 

 two different sexes, are called the male 

 and female organs of generation. The 

 female organs produce a globular body 

 called the germ, or egg, which is capable 

 of being developed into the body of 

 the young animal or plant ; the male 

 organs produce a substance which is 

 necessary to fecundate the germ, and 

 enable it to go through with its natural 

 growth and development. 



Such are the only essential and uni- 

 versal characters of the organs of gene- 

 ration. These organs, however, exhibit 

 various additions and modifications in 

 different classes of organized beings, 

 while they show throughout the same 

 fundamental and essential characters. 

 In the flowering plants, for example, 

 the blossom, which is the generative 

 apparatus (Fig. 17-i), consists first of a 

 female organ containing the germ (a), situated usually upon the 

 highest part of the leaf-bearing stalk. This is surmounted by a 

 nearly straight column, termed the pistil (5), dilated at its summit 

 into a globular expansion, and occupying the centre of the flower. 

 Around it are arranged several slender filaments, or stamens, bear- 

 ing upon their extremities the male organs, or anthers (c, c). The 



BLOSSOM OF CUN 

 PCRPITKEUS. (Morning glory.) a. 

 Germ. b. Pistil, c. c. Stamens, with 

 anthers, d. Corolla, e. Calyx. 



