By the Hon. and Rev. William Herbert. 3o 



fined by my strongest magnifiers. Perhaps the examination 

 of styles in a drier state, especially the larger styles of 

 Liliums, may furnish a more satisfactory result. It is pos- 

 sible that the very minute vessels in the style will only per- 

 mit the passage of such particles of pollen, as agree in shape 

 with the vessels themselves ; and that by such a wise pre- 

 caution the dust of plants, which are not closely allied, may 

 be excluded from fecundating the seed. It might be easily 

 ascertained, by cutting off two of the lobes of the stigma of 

 Gladiolus, whether the one remaining would be able to fer- 

 tilize the whole seed-vessel, or only one of its cells; and 

 even by cutting off part of that lobe, whether the remaining 

 half would fertilize all the seeds in a cell, or only a portion 

 of them. I do not believe it has been ever ascertained with 

 respect to the plants that vary most from seed, as, for 

 instance, Larkspurs, whether varieties of different colour 

 are produced from seeds that lie in the same cell of the 

 capsule. 



A late observation gives me further reason to suppose that 

 a second impression may be conveyed to the seed, and that 

 dust falling upon different parts of the stigma, may fertilize 

 different seeds, probably in different cells. Having been 

 absent from home the second week of August last, I had 

 directed my gardener to take the anthers out of three flowers 

 on a weak stem of a seedling Crinum Capense, and to im- 

 pregnate the first with the dust of C. brevi folium, the two 

 latter with that of C. defixum. This was done accordingly, 

 but he had neglected to take the anthers out of the latter 

 flowers before their expansion, and a little of the pollen came 

 off upon his fingers, though he trusted that none had touched 



