BOTANICAL SUBJECTS. 



330 



peel of these fused lemons does exactly the !<aiiie thing. 



Therefore, it is reasonable to consider it homologous 



with the corolla, that is, of a phylloiis nature. 



N^ijw the facts I ha<l befoi-e me in India suggested a different 



hypotliesis regarding the nature of the Citrus peel. This is it, 



viz. : — 



(b.) That the peel is a whorl of ahorflve carpels, or phyllous 

 members, independent of tlie pulp, which forms an inner 

 wliorl oi fertile carpels, the peel segments, cohering first at 

 their base, like a gamosepalous calyx, aiid thdi curving 

 inwards, like the fingers of a closed fist, as shown in 

 Fig. 145. These then cohere throughout, so as to form a 

 continuous envelope ; finally, through hujnan selection, the 

 smooth orange peel we see in the fruits (tf the slio}>s was 

 obtained. 



FijT. 145. Section of Fingered Citron closing at («)> l^^^t not cohering 

 ("Or. and Lem. of India," pi. 140, Fig. e). 



This hypothesis would be supported by the fingered citron 

 already alluded to (Fig. 143) ; by the great space })etween the peel 

 and the pulp ball of the mature fruit of the Laroo and Siintara 

 oranges ; by the want of oppositeness between the segments of 

 the pulp and peel of many citrons, and of the two whorls of the 

 fingered citron ; by the complete absence of pulp, in Fig. 143, and 

 in Risso's fingered lemon.* This absence of pulp would point 



* PI. 178 (a) " Oranges and Lemons of India." 



Y 2 



