TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS, 117 
rete ; but no resemblance could be made out. This theory has yet to be confirmed 
or superseded by furtherresearch. The floral envelopes stand in mid-relation to two 
other sets of organs. Without, we find their analogues in the bracts and leaves ; 
within, they are represented by the stamens. We have thus, in an advancing order 
of perfection and delicacy of organization, first the leaves; then the petals; finally the 
stamens,—organs long known to be mutually analogous, and, within certain limits, 
mutually convertible :—the leaves, the organs most concerned with the nutrition of 
the individual ; the stamens, most concerned in reproducing the species; and the 
petals, organs intermediate, both in place and in physiological relation, between the 
two. In the leaves, the brightest colours, both in life and decay, obey like con- 
ditions, and are alike contained in those subcuticular cells named the rete; while 
the great mass of the ordinary green colouring of the leaf is contained in the cells of 
the substance. But in petals the substance contributes very little to the colours, 
and the rete assumes a more prominent importance, and stands out as a more distinct 
structure. Here, more nearly approaching to the organs of reproduction, the cells 
of the rete display every conceivable variety and vividness of colour, besides being 
smaller and rounder than the cells of adjacent tissues. Now if it could be shown 
that, in the stamens, the cells which in a petal would form the rete, take on a further 
and more advanced development, with novel functions, and become the pollen, we 
should then understand more clearly the meaning of the brilliant colours displayed 
in the petals, and should recognize the rete-cells both in petals and leaves, as con- 
stituting a more important structure than at first appeared. We should be reminded 
of the connexion, in the animal kingdom, between brilliant colours (so connected 
with the dynamic effects of light) and the function of reproduction; as wellas of 
those instances in which the decay of the individual bore a relation to the perpetu- 
ation of the species, or in which the latter function was held in abeyance by the over- 
nutrition of the individual. So, it is at the commencement of decay that the leaves 
most simulate the bright colours of petals. So, by cultivation we over-nourish a 
plant, and bring about significant changes: first, the pollen disappears, and each 
stamen becomes developed into a coloured petal, which increases as we continue to 
nourish; then, as we proceed further, the plant refuses to flower at all, and instead 
of petals, are produced leaves; and instead of flower-like whorls, tissue is developed 
between them, and they stand apart as leaves. 
Should this view be confirmed, it might be worth while to extend the examination 
to Ferns, to see whether the coloured particles of the rete do not become spores, the 
cuticle forming the covers. The highly coloured and organized cells of a rete, in 
plants of that lower stamp, may pass directly from the condition of leaf-colour to 
that of the seed-particles of the species, without requiring the complicated inter- 
mediate states and processes necessary in higher organizations. On casual inspection 
of fronds, in various stages of fructification, the opening covers certainly look like 
the splitting cuticle, gaping at those parts to give exit to the swollen and changed 
granules of the rete. 
Finally, there remains to be investigated the nature of the changes in colour both 
in leaves and petals which are wrought in contact with the veins, and the differences 
between them and those which are produced apart from the veins ; the further con- 
ditions affecting variegation, both in leaves and petals; and the nature of those 
petal-colours which are produced in the unfolded bud, independently of the influence 
of light, and the respects in which they differ from ordinary petal-colours. 
Mr. 8. Smrru exhibited to the Section some balls about 3 inches in diameter, com- 
posed of the hairs of a plant which he had picked up on the shores of the Mediter- 
ranean. 
On Suburban Gardens. By N. B. Warp, F.R.S. 
_ The author commenced his paper by describing the impressions made upon him 
in early youth, in a voyage to Jamaica, by the glorious aspects of the sea and sky, 
—the dolphins playing about the bows of the vessel,—the flying fish alighting on 
its deck, and the occasional sight of an albatros,—the tropical forms of vegetation 
on the beach and the hills,—and the mighty world of wonders on the coral reefs. 
