EVOLUTION OF PHANEROGAMS 177 



in the gonophore would persist in some form. Thus it is 

 we would account for the presence and discreteness of the 

 flower's stamens, representatives of the ancestral medusoid 

 gonophore's radiating canals. As in the Gymnosperm, we 

 could attribute the presence of pollen grains on the stamens 

 — that is, instead of spermatozoa — to arrest induced by 

 aerial desiccation. 



It will be noticed that in the plan above the canals 

 surround the manubrium with its female elements just as do 

 the stamens the gynsecium in the typical hypogynous 

 flower. 



The flower perianth would seem to belong really to the 

 vegetative part of the plant, as regards derivation ; and 

 the petals and sepals to be modified leaves successively 



Fig. 52. — To show the significance of the perianth. 



given off by compressed, or " un-decompressed," internodes 

 in the flower stem immediately below the sexual parts 

 proper (Fig. 52). 



With the appreciation that the Angiosperm is continu- 

 ously zooidal in derivation ; that the first continuously 

 zooidal organisms were undoubtedly formed in the sea ; 

 and taking into account the homologies which have been 

 put forward, it seems very probable that the Angiosperms 

 were a fresh implantation on land from the great marine 

 storehouse, and did not evolve from any preceding terrestrial 

 plant-types as is commonly believed. Our theory explains 

 the strange gaps existing between one terrestrial plant type 

 and its predecessor and successor, and is in harmony with 

 the principle of the Evolution of Continuity. Separate 



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