Mr. Griffith on the Ovulum o/'Santalum album. 63 



depression. As the development proceeds, the cellular body, which has un- 

 dergone scarcely any change in shape, enlarges and becomes firmer ; at its 

 apex a cavity will be seen, which is partially occupied by an oblong, minute, 

 cellular, grumous body, the rudiment of the future embryo. This is attached 

 by its superior margin to the corresponding part of the apex of the cavity, 

 which is formed by excavation : as it continues to enlarge it extends down- 

 wards, and its attachment becomes considerably narrower and very slight, 

 and at a rather later period it appears completely detached. As the cellular 

 body continues to enlarge, it becomes whiter and of a firmer texture, and the 

 embryo becomes oblong and cellular, the tissue towards its apex is more 

 grumous and dense, and immediately above this part there is a degree of con- 

 striction visible. As the fruit advances towards maturity, the endocarp, which 

 has already assumed the appearance of albumen, diminishes, and the meso- 

 carp begins to be indurated. The cellular body is now nearly globular, white, 

 and of a dense texture ; its component cells being loaded with granules of 

 fecula. The apex of the embryo now becomes lobed, indicating the com- 

 mencement of a cotyledonary division ; its attachment is exceedingly fine, and 

 it is itself evascular. The subsequent changes in the fruit consist in a still 

 further diminution of the endocarp, which is subsequently reduced to a spongy 

 lax coating, adhering both to the now osseous mesocarp and to the albumen. 

 The sarcocarp terminates by becoming baccate. In the seed they consist of 

 an enlargement of the albumen (originally the cellular body) ; its apiculus 

 finally almost totally disappearing. The division of the cotyledons increases, 

 and has reached to a considerable extent before the tissue of the radicle 

 becomes, as it were, condensed. The cotyledons are, during the first part of 

 their development, somewhat conduplicate ; they terminate by becoming elon- 

 gated and plane on their internal appressed faces. The perfect radicle is 

 ovate, tapering to a fine point. 



From this statement it will at once appear that the mode of development 

 of the ovula of Santalum is different from that which usually obtains. The 

 cellular oblong bodies which are attached to the placenta are evidently the 

 ovula, and have the appearance and cellular structure of the nuclei of ordi- 

 nary ovula. The membranous tube from its anatomy answers, I think, to the 

 sac ot the an nios, which in ordinary structures lines the cavity formed in the 



