218 
ORGANOGRAPHY. 
BOOK I. 
it is a sort of delicate intestine, which holds by one end to 
the summit of the nucleus, and by the other end to the chalaza. 
The quintine swells from top to bottom ; it forces back on all 
sides the tissue that surrounds it, and it often even invades 
the place occupied by the quartine or the nucleus. A very 
delicate thread, the suspensor (hypostasis of Dutrochet), descends 
from the summit of the ovule into the quintine, and bears 
at its extremity a globule which is the nascent embryo.’’ 
It is apparently this suspensor that Brown describes, in 
the ovule of Orchidaceae, as a thread consisting of a simple 
series of short cells, the lowermost joint or cell of which is 
probably the original state of what afterwards, from enlarge- 
ment and deposit of granular matter, becomes the opaque 
speck, or rudiment of the future embryo. (Ohserv. on the 
Organs^ ^c., of Orch. and Asclepiad. pp. 18, 19.) For further 
information concerning the suspensor, see Mr. Griffith’s ob- 
servations in the chapter on Fertilisation in Book II. 
The existence,” continues Mirbel, “ of a cavity in the 
quartine, or, indeed, the destruction of the internal tissue of 
the nucleus, at the period when the quintine developes, be- 
comes the cause of some modifications in the manner of exist- 
ence of this latter integument. The quintine is never seen, 
in certain Cucurbitaceae, adhering to the chalaza : it is never- 
theless evident that the adhesion has existed. The quintine, 
distended at its upper part, and suspended like a lustre from 
the top of the cavity, still presents at its lower end a portion 
of a rudimentary intestine become distinct ; the separation 
having occurred very early, in consequence of the tearing 
of the tissue of the nucleus. 
“ The quintine of Statice is reduced to a sort of cellular 
placenta, to the lower surface of which the embryo is attached. 
This abortion of the quintine arises from the quartine having 
a large internal cavity, which prevents the young quintine 
from placing itself in communication with the chalaza, and 
taking that developement which it acquires in a multitude of 
other species.” 
I have continued in this edition to quote the preceding 
statements of Mirbel ; but I have great doubt of their accuracy 
in some respects, and Schleiden asserts that Mirbel has not 
