ON HEPATIC.E 293 



trates, is variable ; but it never appears to be very great. The 

 only indication of the female organ at this period, consists in 

 a partial density of the parenchymatous tissue. This I think 

 subsequently becomes, what may not inappropriately be called, 

 the bulb of the capsule. 



This bulb in its early stages has the appearance of a cup. 



At a rather later period the convexity visible on the Frond 

 has become a gibbosity; the membrane is now more evident 

 as it has assumed a brownish tint, which is particularly evi- 

 dent in the inflected portion. I have observed likewise about 

 this period, a sort of obscure sphacelation of the surrounding 

 tissue. The dense portion of parenchyma has now nearly 

 assumed the form of a bulb, having protruding from its centre, 

 a very short cone, the rudiment of the subsequent capsule. 



No change takes place in the membrane ; at some period 

 of the existence of which, minute adhering granules are ge- 

 nerally visible, and 1 am unable to state at what period it dis- 

 appears. The next stage consist in the complete evolution 

 of the bulb, and the enlargement of the young capsule. A 

 striking change soon occurs in the tissue situated between 

 the membrane and the bulb, consisting in a gradual solution 

 of continuity, until a cavity is formed, the base of which is 

 occupied by the young capsule, and the upper portion by the 

 dislocated tissue and the inflected process, to which very ge- 

 nerally the adjoining broken up cells adhere with some firm- 

 ness. This mass begins to assume a brownish colour, and is 

 gradually encroached upon by the growth of the capsule, and 

 is so compressed, or submitted in such a way to presuree," that 

 except at its base, its consistence is greater than perhaps at 

 any previous time. It is likewise owing to this presure, often 

 twisted into the lax base of this mass, that the apex of the 

 young capsule extends, and carries it up with it. It does not 

 remain long however after the capsule has burst through the 

 apex of the now vaginiform involucrum. 



It will be at once seen that this mass has very little in 

 common with the character of a calyptra, and nothing in 



