METAMORPHOSIS. 



191 



(PI. XLVI, fig. 9). Other catkins bore normal male 

 flowers in some of which the anthers showed the first 

 stage of transformation into a carpel. In the above 

 cases the anther of the stamen corresponds to the ovuli- 

 ferous portion of the carpel, and the filament to its stalk. 



From the same source branches of S. alba var. vitel- 

 lina were received bearing catkins all of which bore 

 male and female flowers (for the most part of normal 

 appearance) mingled together throughout. Here and 

 there, however, transitional structures were found 

 between stamens and carpels. PI. XLVI, fig. 11, 

 shows a flower in which one stamen is normal save for 

 bearing a stigma at the apex of the connective, while 

 the other has become completely changed into a carpel. 

 In the case of the female flowers of normal appearance, 

 the transformation had been quite complete ; and no 

 flowers could be found in which the carpels were 

 incompletely united. 



In the maize the male inflorescences sometimes 

 produce scattered female flowers here and there, evi- 

 dently replacing the male flowers. Usually the female 

 spikelets occur in the basal region of the male inflore- 

 scence. Other cases are known in which the male 

 inflorescence, while completely preserving its usual 

 paniculate form, had entirely changed its sex, producing 

 female flowers only (PI. XLVII, figs. 6-9). Such a 

 plant would be purely female. 



The terminal spike of the sedge (Garex) has often 

 normally male flowers at the top and female flowers 

 below, but abnormally the converse is the case, the 

 female occurring at the top. The hop (Humulus 

 Lupulus), which is normally dioecious, occasionally bears 

 female catkins at the apex of the male inflorescences. 



In the Chinese quarter of the Buitenzorg Botanic 

 Garden in Java a coco-nut palm was observed which 

 bore, instead of the few ordinary fruits at the base of 

 the spadix, great numbers of small, crowded, narrow 

 (quite banana-like) fruits, which created wonderment 

 until it was found that the phenomenon was due to the 



