PROLIFERATION. 33 



predominates in the majority of the Gramineae, and 

 thus may almost certainly be regarded as a reversion 

 to the condition of the immediate ancestry. 



The disappearance of the cupular formation and the 

 "inferior ovary," as in the abnormal roses and pears, 

 can only be considered as a reversion to the condition 

 of those Rosacea in which cupular structures do not 

 exist, and these are, on morphological grounds, doubt- 

 less the more primitive. 



The result of this study is the conclusion that pro- 

 liferation represents in two senses a reversion, and is 

 derived from a consideration of the following facts : 

 (1 ) that the most ancient type of reproductive axis from 

 which our " flower " has been derived was a complex 

 leafy shoot; and (2) that in the more immediate ancestry 

 of the various recent forms, the complex paniculate 

 inflorescence and the flower with elongate receptacle 

 were predominant and gave rise to all the later more 

 congested types. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



Anon. — Proc. Hort. Soc, vol. i (1838), p. 39 [potato]. 



— ^ "Abnormal Pears." Gard. Ghron., n. s., vol. xv 



(1881), p. 41. 

 Baillon. — " Reoherohes organogeniques sur la Fleur femelle 



ties Coniferes." Adansonia, vol. i (1860-61), pp. 1-16, 



pis. i and ii. 

 " Nouvelles Recherches sar la Fleur femelle des 



Coniferes." Loc. cit., vol. v (1864-65), pp. 1-16,' 



pl.l. 

 BuYHB. — " TJeber das Auftreten secundarer Kopfchen bei 



Bdlis perennis." Verhandl. bot. Ver. Prov. Brandenb., 



Jahrg. xxxix (1897), pp. xliv-xlvi. 

 Bonnet. — Recherches sur TUsage des Peuilles dans les 



Plantes. Gottingue & Leide, 1754. 

 Beaun. — " Ueber eine Missbildung von Podocarpus chinensis." 



Monatsb. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, October, 1869, pp. 738- 



744. 

 " Kriippelzapfen." Verhandl. bot. Ver. Prov. Bran- 

 denb., Jahrg. xvi (1874), p. 99. 

 VOL. II. 3 



