Taxonomic Anomalies 681 



vein. The development begins with the protru- 

 sion of a little scale, and the flower itself is 

 situated beneath this scale, and is to be pro- 

 tected by it and by the primary scale, but is 

 turned upside down at the same time. Op- 

 posite to this organ, which represents the outer 

 palet of the adventitious flower, two little swol- 

 len bodies are evolved. In the normal flowers 

 of barley and other grains and grasses their 

 function is to open the flowers by swelling, and 

 afterwards collapse and allow them to close. 



In the adventitious flowers of the " Nepaul- 

 barley," however, this function is quite super- 

 fluous. The stamens occur in varying numbers ; 

 typically ■ there are three, but not rarely 

 less, or more, are seen. In some instances the 

 complete double whorl of six, corresponding to 

 the ancestral monocotyledonous type, has been 

 found. This is a very curious case of sys- 

 tematic atavism, quite analogous to the Iris 

 pallida abavia, previously alluded to, which 

 likewise has six stamens, and to the cases given 

 in a previous lecture. But for our present dis- 

 cussion it is of no further interest. The ovary 

 is situated in the middle of the flower, and in 

 some instances two have been observed. This 

 is also to be considered as a case of atavism. 



All these parts of the adventitious flower are 

 more or less subject to arrest of development 



