4 THE COMPARATIVE EMBRYOLOGY OF THE RUBIACEAE 
view by workers on related matters has been productive of some 
important publications which we may now with profit glance at 
briefly. 
The first paper, important in this connection, was published by 
M. Westermaier in 1892, entitled “ Zur Embryologie der Phanero- 
gamen insbesondere über die sogenannten Antipoden.”* He em- 
braced in his observations something like thirty four species of 
dicotyledons and monocotyledons, and found in the position and 
character of the antipodal cells and in the distribution of food- 
stuffs in the ovule, evidence that the view advocated by Vesquet 
that the antipodal cells are to be regarded as rudimentary, useless, 
and of only morphological worth is entirely insufficient to explain 
the facts, and that, on the contrary, we have here to do with a 
structure which, while in many cases small and apparently insig- 
nificant, are really of very considerable importance in the ultimate 
nutrition of the embryo. Latterly A. Osterwaldert (98) by the 
study of Aconitum Napellus has established and extended Wes- 
termaier’s view which he himself in a short note§ again expressed 
as the result of observations on Alstroemeria and other plants. 
Mottier’s (93) observations on Senecio aureus || and Chamber- 
lain’s (’95) on Aster Novae- Angliae Y extended our knowledge of the 
antipodals by showing that in these two plants as in some other 
Compositae previously studied by others, a greater number of these 
cells occur than is usual. This multiplication of antipodal cells 
is of physiological significance, a view which is strengthened by 
the observations of D. H. Campbell ** (g9) on Sparganium and 
Lysichiton, in which these cells are numerous, reaching in the 
former the number of 150 at least. The author himself suggests 
that this great development probably indicates an important physi- 
ological role. 
* Verhandl. der K. L.-C. D. Akad, d. Nat. 56 : 1-39. 1892. (The literature 
en published regarding the antipodals is found in this paper. ) 
** Nouvelles — sur le développement du sac embryonnaire des phanéro- 
games angiospermes Ann. sc, nat, Bot. 79. 
I rtis zür Emte von Aconitum Napellus L. Flora 85: 254. 
2W موی‎ ai Max. ** Historische Bemerkungen zur Lehre von der Bedeutung der 
Antipoden-Zelle: Ber. d. D. B. G. 16: 214-216. N. 1898. 
|| Bot. Gaz. in 245. Jl. 1893. 
Bot. Gaz. 20: 205. My. 1895. 
** Bot. Gaz. 27: 153. Mr. 1899. 
