CORDAITEAE 



543 



are the only recent plants in which this organ is 

 known; the pollen -chamber of Cycas was originally 

 discovered more than sixty years ago by our country- 

 man Griffith, who gave excellent figures of it, which 

 are here reproduced 1 (Figs. 196, 197). Many years 

 later it was rediscovered independently by De Bary 



Fig. 196. — Cycas, sp. Longitudinal section of 

 ovule, showing the thick double-layered in- 

 tegument enclosing the nucellus. The round 

 body in the lower half of the nucellus is the 

 embryo-sac ; the flask-shaped cavity in the 

 upper part is the pollen-chamber containing 

 pollen-grains. From Griffith, 1852. 



;. rg7- — Pollen-chamber enlarged, 

 showing pollen - grains in the 

 canal. Two pollen-grains, further 

 enlarged, on the left. From 

 Griffith, 185?. 



and Brongniart, both of whom were unaware of 

 Griffith's observations. 



The pollen-grains in the canal and pollen-chamber 

 of the ovule of Cordaites are larger than those still 

 contained in the anther, and their internal group of cells 



1 Griffith, Icones Plant. Asiat. Part iv. PI. 377 ami 37S, 1S52. Notnlae 

 ad Plant. Asiat. pp. 6-8, 1854. Both these works were posthumous; 

 Griffith died in 1S46. 



