8 -ON THE PROTEACEiE OF JUSSIEU. 



half the size it attains immediately before expansion, be 

 carefully examined, it will be found that the polleniferous 

 sacs, as they are termed by Jacquin and his followers, in 

 which they suppose the antherse to be merely immersed, 

 are really the organs by which the fcecundating matter is. 

 secreted : for at this period they are perfectly closed, and 

 consequently all communication cut off between the stigma 

 and their contents now consisting of a turbid fluid or pulpy 

 mass. If the stigma be at the same time observed, the 

 gland-like bodies which originate in its grooved angles are 

 already visible ; but, instead of having the cartilaginous or 

 horny texture which they at length acquire, are as yet semi- 

 fluid, and of hardly a determinate form. Near the base of 

 each side of these grooves a more superficial depression is 

 observable, which, though in some cases extremely short, 

 is in others of considerable length, and generally forms a 

 right angle with the corresponding groove. In these de- 

 pressions, the processes by which, at a more advanced stage, 

 the contents of the antheree are connected with the stigma, 

 are immersed, and at this period they are found to be semi- 

 fluid. By degrees the glands, as well as their lateral pro- 

 cesses, acquire a firmer consistence, and the inferior or outer 

 extremity of each of the processes, being extended beyond 

 19] its depression or furrow, on the bursting of the opposite 

 cell of the corresponding anthera, firmly attaches itself to 

 its contents, now become a regular mass of a waxy con- 

 sistence. 



If the accuracy of this statement be admitted, it will 

 probably be allowed that the Asclepiadece cannot be re- 

 garded as gynandrous, especially in the sense in which 

 they are so considered by botanists ; but lest it should not 

 be thought completely satisfactory, it may be added, that 

 in a still earlier stage of the flower bud I have found the 

 fcecundating matter already secreted in the cells of the 

 antherse, while the glands of the stigma, as well as their 

 processes, were absolutely invisible. 



As to the question of their being pentandrous or decan- 

 drous, every analogy must lead us to refer them to the 

 former class; nor, indeed, have they, when not considered 



