AND ENDOPLEURA OF ALL THE PHANEROGAM. 569 
an ** albumen ;” and that all seeds provided with an albumen, have 
only one solitary seed-coat, aside from the albumen itself. 
In, many other seeds, as in those of the Osage orange (Maclura) 
and several Cactacez, etc., the albumen is thinned out, in some 
places, into a so-called “ endopleura” or interior seed-coat, while 
in other parts of the seed the sheet of this self-same “ internal 
seed-coat” thickens up into a bulky albumen, conformably to the 
configuration of the germ it encloses and of the testa which con- 
tains both. 
An inspection of the immature seed of all the so-called ea-albumin- 
ous forms, i.e. those which, like the pea-nut, peach, and almond, are 
destitute of an albumen, discloses the fact, that in this juvenile 
condition, all these seeds, have, like all the rest (viz. the ‘* albumi- 
` nous seeds”) a large succulent albumen-zone, wherein the germ 
(‘embryo sac” etc.) is developed, at the expense of the former. 
During the process of ripening, in all the nutty, or ‘ ex-albumi- 
nous ” seeds, the primitive. albumen becomes gradually exhausted, 
leaving its entire cell-tissue compressed and empty behind, as the 
delicate endopleura or internal seed-coat. In all the other seeds, 
on the contrary, this succulent albumen-zone remains the store- 
house for the germinating seed to draw its substance from. In 
the honey-locust and the allied coffee-nut tree (Gymnocladus) in 
germination, the flinty albumen dissolves into a sort of gum, like 
gum arabic. 
In point of fact, the “ endopleura” and the ¢ ‘* albumen” are one 
identical organ. 
This evident identity of the original albumen and subsequent 
second seed-coat, settles at once the old and perplexed question 
about the erroneously supposed “ gymnospermism,” whether of La- 
biatee, Conifere and their allies, the Taxinew, Gnetacer, Casu- 
arinæ and Cycadez. 
Since we now know, what parts all seeds consist of, these tribes 
are by no means to be considered as “ abnormally” or even 
“ monstrously ” organized (as a prevalent theory still holds) but 
that e. g. alb the edible pine-nuts contain, each, a complete seed ; 
which loosely adheres to the capsule (like the mature cocoa-nut 
Rad et f awt 
* The take, or exterior seed-coat, frequently e 
nal and an urfaces. In the seed of the pce that of the grape, etc, the ex- 
teri otherwise bony seed-coat, which encloses the albumen, is ae 
he 
as is the pict testa of the Aa cobosh (Caulophyllum.) 
