System of the Female ‘ Flowers' of Conifer ae. 531 
its base until just below its free tip, without bending into the 
sporangium anywhere ; indeed, I never saw any bundles 
within the sporangium nor showing any tendency to enter it. 
The fact that the nucellus forms a continuous tissue with the 
seminiferous scale may obviate the necessity for bundles 
being set apart to pass into the sporangium, for the tissues 
of the latter could be as well supplied by the bundles of the 
scale as are any of the ordinary tissues of the latter. The 
fact also that the function of supplying the sporangium is 
distributed throughout a number of small bundles instead 
of two or three, will account for the fact that these small 
bundles of the seminiferous scale are not specially differen- 
tiated from those of the bract ; they have no unusual develop- 
ment of centrifugal xylem and phloem, and also frequently 
possess centripetal xylem. The large size of the bundles 
at the four points above-mentioned may be due to some 
mechanical function which they possess. 
Thus, the course of the bundles in the seminiferous scale of 
this plant is somewhat different from that in A. brasiliana , 
A. Rich., as described by Van Tieghem 1 and Strasburger 2 , 
and agrees more with what occurs, according to the latter 
author, in A. excelsa , R. Br. Van Tieghem is evidently in 
error in supposing that the sporangium has become reflexed 
on to the ventral side of the seminiferous scale, for the bundles 
of the latter, at least in A. Cookii , R. Br., run through the 
whole length of the organ between the sporangium and 
the bract , this fact proving beyond doubt that the sporangium 
is still situated on the dorsal side of the seminiferous scale, 
although slightly imbedded in the tissue of the latter. In 
this species there is also no sign, as above stated, of any 
bundles entering the sporangium, as described by Van 
Tieghem for A. brasiliana , A. Rich. 
Above the insertion of the sporangium the two large 
bundles at either side of the latter again divide up into 
a number of smaller ones, which pass further across towards 
1 Ann. d. Sc. Nat., Bot., v e ser., tome x, 1869. 
2 Angiospermen und Gymnospermen, p. 92, 1879. 
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