YOLIC. 



was defigned to have been infcrted.) Gsrtner confiders 

 the part of which we are about to treat, as " of all the in- 

 ternal parts of a feed the moft fiiigular, and by far the moll 

 unfrequent." Its importance therefore cannot be very 

 confiderable. The principal diagnoftics of the Vitellus, 

 according to this eminent carpologilt, are the following : 

 I ft, " It is moft clofely connefted with the Embryo, fo as 

 not to be feparable therefrom, without injury to its own 

 fubftance. 2dly, Notwithftanding this intimate conneftion, 

 it never rifes out of the integuments of the feed, as the 

 Cotyledons ufually do, in germination, fo as to become a 

 feminal leaf ; but, rather hke the Albumen, its whole fub- 

 ftance is deftroyed by the feedling plant, and converted into 

 its own nourifhment. And 3dly, If the Albumen be likewile 

 prefent, the Vitellus is always fituated betwixt that and the 

 Embryo, in fuch a manner, however, that it may be feparated 

 from the Albumen with great eafe, and without injury." 

 For thefe reafons, Gartner confiders the organ in queftion 

 as " allied on the one hand to the Albumen, on the other to 

 the Cotyledons," but truly diftin<£l in nature from both. 



We prefume to diflent from this decifion of the great 

 writer, whofe words have juft been quoted, for the follow- 

 ing reafons : ill, The Vitellus is certainly noc more clofely 

 connected with the Embryo than the greater number of 

 Cotyledons are, as any perfon may find by examining feeds 

 in the firft (lage of their germination, and as the faithful 

 delineations of Gaertner himfelf every where fhaw. 2dly, 

 That the Vitellus never rifes out of the ground, is a circ-um- 

 ftance likewife common to many Cotyledons, allowed by 

 Gsertner to be fuch, as in various leguminous plants, as 

 well as in JEfculus, Cyamus, Tropaolum, and many others. 

 The difference between Cotyledons which grow up into 

 £eminal leaves, and thofe which remain and decay under 

 ground, is of fo little importance as to the clafCfication of 

 plants, that the moft natural order of PaptUonaceie, or Legu- 

 minofa, contains decided inftances of both ; Lupinus and 

 Vicia affording examples of the former mode of growth. La- 

 ■thyrus of the latter. And3dly, The fituation of the Vitellus, 

 between the Albumen, if the latter be prefent as a feparate 

 organ, and the Embryo, is only a neceflary confequence of 

 the more intimate conneftion between the Vitellus and the 

 Embryo, than either of them has with any other part, ex- 

 cept that of the Cotyledons and Embryo, which is as ftrift as 

 can poffibly be. Hence we cannot confider the Vitellus of 

 Gaertner to differ from the fubterraneous Cotyledons above- 

 mentioned. We prefume their offices mult be exaAly 

 fimilar, to perform the neceffary funftions relative to air or 

 oxygen, till the leaves come forth, and alfume thofe func- 

 tions in greater perfeftion, with the co-operation of light. 

 This appears to us more fatisfaftory than the hypothefis of 

 Gsertner, that the organ of which we are treating affords 

 nourifhment to the Embryo; becaufe this is abundantly 

 fupplied by the copious Albumen of a multitude of feeds, 

 whofe Vitellus is very inconfiderable, fach as graffes ; and 

 it is recurring to two caufes to explain what is evidently ac- 

 counted for by one alone. If the vegetation of corn be 

 obferved, the Vitellus will be found to dwindle away, with 

 • fcarcely any change in its very inconfiderable bulk, when 

 the firfl leaves are unfolded, exaftly as happens to the fub- 

 terraneous Cotyledons of Lathyrus odoratus, &c. The fame 

 thing very often takes place as fpecdily in Cotyledons which 

 rife out of the ground. Some which are more permanent, 

 as in cruciform and umbelliferous plants, being only more 

 of the nature of leaves. In graffes, the fcale taken by 

 Gsertner for a Vitellus is moftly fo thin and unfubftantial, 

 38 not poffibly to contain any material portion of nourifti- 

 ment ; ample fupphes of which are furnifhed by the plen- 

 Voi. XXXIX. 



tiful Albumen of thofe plants. But its expanded figure 

 is very well calculated, like that of the leaves, for funfttons 

 analogous to vegetable refpiration ; and it has the evident 

 afpeft of a fubterraneous leaf, quickly rendered fupcrfluous 

 by the produftion of real leaves, and withering away, as 

 the firft of thofe leaves themfelves do, When more vigorous 

 ones come forth. It is remarkable, that the pretended Vi- 

 telliis appears not to be neceffary to all plants f -.rnifhed 

 with this diftina kind of Albumen, as Palmj; and Orchidee 

 have it not ; while, on the other hand, no inftance prefents 

 itfelf of ,-. ("uppofed Vitellus, and a real Cotyledon, or Cotyle- 

 dons, in tne fame plant. Gaertner takes the Plumula "for 

 Cotyledons in Rhi-.ophora (fee his t. 45.), as well as in 

 lome of the Scitaminea; for we cannot conceive the tubular 

 part, embracing the Embryo, in ^momum, {feeGxrt. t. 12, 

 which he erroneoully calls Zingiber,) to be any thing but 

 a Cotyledon, notwithftanding the opinion of our learned 

 friend Mr. Brown, who, like Gxrtner, terms it a Vitellus. 

 The name would be of little importance, if the fuppofed 

 ufe of it did not convey, as we prefume to think, an erro- 

 neous idea ; in attributing to thefe feeds two diftinft and 

 feparate fources of nourifhment. That two fuch diftinft 

 parts exifl in this natural order, and perhaps, as Mr. Brown 

 obferves, in Nymph<ra and Nuphar likewife, we are ready t» 

 admit ; and we are therefore more fatisfied to attribute to 

 each a feparate and appropriate office. We have had no 

 opportunity of obferving the germination of Amomum, or 

 any true fcitamineous plant ; but as far as we have been 

 able to judge, it appears that the Albumen of every feed, 

 when feparate from the other parts, is always totally ab- 

 forbed, or removed, leaving its fkin empty ; whereas a 

 Cotyledon withers and fhrinks in its whole fubftance, like a 

 decaying leaf. If the albuminous matter, neceffary for the 

 temporary nourifhment of perhaps every feed, in one form 

 or other, be lodged in the fubftance of the Cotyledons, as 

 in Zamia, the leguminous and cucurbitaceous tribes, and 

 many others, fuch parts fhrink the more, but do not lofe 

 any one particular portion of their fubftance, fo as to have 

 only a flcin left behind. Perhaps a confufion of ideas has 

 arifen, from the firft confideration of this fubjeft, in confe- 

 quence of the term monocotyledonous as contrafted with 

 dicotyledonous. The firft had an evident reference to the 

 Albumen, in corn, palms, &c. ; and when Gaertner had 

 emancipated himfelf from this error, he feems to have tranf- 

 ferred the idea to the Embryo, which he calls monocotyledo- 

 nous, as if he meant by that word to exprefs its own fimpk 

 form. Prepoffeffed with this idea, when a feparate organ 

 manifelted itfelf, as in the Scitaminea, he thought a new 

 appellation requifite. Mr. Brown objefts to the term Coty- 

 ledon in this cafe, becaufe he fays there is no point of unioli 

 between the part in queftion and the Embryo. If fuch be 

 the cafe, which we cannot underftand, it would be not at all 

 lefs difficult to conceive how this part could, as a Vitellus, 

 fupply the Embryo with nourifhment, than it would be to 

 imagine how it could perform any fervices towards that 

 organ with refpeft to air, in its capacity of a Cotyledon. 



It feems to us, that by confidering the Vitellus of Gjcrtner 

 as a Cotyledon, all ambiguity refpefting the anatomy or 

 component parts of any feed is removed. When the Coty- 

 ledons are two or more, the albuminous matter is either 

 lodged in their fubftance, or forms a feparate part. In the 

 latter cafe, it has no more conneftion with the Embryo than 

 is abfolutely neceft"ary, being in faft not an organic part, but 

 a mere refervoir of food or nourifhment, immediately under- 

 going a chemical change, after which its whole fubftance is 

 fpeedily abforbed. Such is the economy of corn and 

 palms ; even the large Albumen of the cocoa-nut foon dif- 

 L appeanng, 



