66 LETTER IV. 



figure and extended in a singular manner at the 

 base ; of these some are much larger than the others. 



The corolla is formed of five petals, which are also 

 of unequal size ; two of them, which are differently 

 coloured, stand erect and rather above the others ; a 

 third, standing in front of the rest, has a short horn 

 or spur at its base. 



Then we have the stamens, also five in number, of 

 a singularly irregular form (Ji(/. 1.) ; two of them, 

 which are in front of the others, have long tails, 

 which are hidden wdthin the horn of the front petal ; 

 the other three have no tail, nor any particular irre- 

 gularity of figure, but they are all terminated by a 

 broad membrane of a rounded form (Jigs. 2. 3. a. «.), 

 and bordered by a fringe of hairs ; filaments there 

 are none. 



The pistil is a superior roundish pale-green body 

 (Jig. 5.), terminated by a short fleshy style, which is 

 shaped like a narrow funnel, or a taper inverted 

 cone ; at the top (Jigs. 7- 8.) it is of a bright green, 

 nearly spherical, slightly hairy, and hollow, with a 

 hole on one side, to which there is a minute lip ; 

 through this hole there is access to the stigma ; no 

 one has yet discovered for what purpose such a sin- 

 gular conformation has been provided. The ovary 

 contains but one cell ; but, as in the Poppies, it has 

 three projecting lines running up its shell at equal 

 distances in the inside, and covered with young seeds 

 ifig.6.). 



When the fruit is ripe it is still surrounded by the 

 calyx (Jig. 9.), although both petals and stamens have 



