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ing out’} but to hinder that or any thing el fe from without, to enter 
the Concha. 
I coinc now to the learned ‘Pontedera, who has explained both 
what I call the Bafis or Umbilicus of Flowers, and the Liquor found 
upon the Surface of that, at greater length than has been done by 
any. 
What he has told us concerning thefirft of thefe, Ifhall only take 
notice of as far as may be ufcful, in order to underhand the fccond. 
J^oco Receptaculum, fays he. Corpus quoddam figura dtjjimile atque 
njariiim-, cut Stamina & pet ala femper adherent ^ <dr tn qiiam turn 
apicum turn petalorum fuccus cornvari folet, ut a receptaculo fenfim 
embryoni fubminijiretur . Cum entm jlos citijjime perjiciatur, atque 
mox contabefcat, embryo autem non ea celeritate ccolvatur ut ernnem 
apicum petatorum^ue Succum continere 'valeat^ necejfarium vifum ejl, 
tit in parte aliqua humor Hie feponeretur, ex qua paulatim ad Em- 
bry onem tranfiret. Hac de Caufa Receptaculum conjlitutum CredimuSy 
ex cujus munere nomen impofuimusy quoniam ad hoc tempus panm a 
Botanicis excultum acceperamuSy licet eximii ufus, ut nos e multis 
difficult at ibus expedire poffimus. . . A Malpighio modo Zonam feu 
Circulum Stylum inveftientem modo dilatatam petioli fubjlantiamy 
qua folia Stylum profert nominatum inuenio. The Author goes 
on to explain, by various Examples, two forts of thefe Receptaculay 
the one cui Embryo innafeitufy and the other quod Empryoni impo- 
nitUTy but the Words I have quoted are fufficient for my Defign, and 
from them it appears, that what in the Guernfey Lilly I have called 
the UmbilicuSy this Author would have termed the Receptaculum ,• 
they agree exadly in Situation, and the Petala and Stamina arife 
from them both. At prefent, I am no further concerned with the 
ufe he afligns to it, than only that he fuppofes it a repofitory for 
Juice, conveyed thither from the other Parts of the Flower. 
I agree with him, that the Receptaculum has been but very little 
taken notice of by Botanical Writers, by that or any other Name ; 
but I am apt to think he has miftaken Malpighi’s Meaning in the 
Expreffions he quotes from him. That by the Zona and Circiilus 
Stylum ambienSy is not to be underftood the Receptaculumy is plain, 
becaufe that is taken notice of by Malpighiy as being common but 
to very few Flowers, fueh as the AlbuSy &c. whereas this Au- 
thor’s Receptaculum is by him made an efl'ential Part of every Flower, 
Petalous as well as Apetalous or Stamineus, fincc both Retain 
and Stamina always arife from it } and befdes Malpighis Zona 
makes a quite different appearance in the Figure he has given us of 
it, from what any of this Author's Receptacula do in his. 
Much 
