Evolution of the Angiosperms . 503 
condition of affairs is not constant, for in some cases two of the inner 
synangia may fuse together, or other variations may be found. 
The third stage is seen in E. altissima, Desf. (Text-fig. 3, III), where 
three of the synangia of each unit are suppressed (those marked a, b , d in 
Text-fig. 3, I) and a single synangium {c) remains. This is also the 
condition of affairs met with in Gnetutn , where, however, the two synangia 
have each been further reduced to a single loculus (Text-fig. 3, IV). 
On the above view the axial position of the male organs, in Ephedra 
and G ne turn , on which great stress has been laid in some quarters, presents 
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a & ci a 
O 
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Fig. 3. Diagrammatic representation of the microsporangia of the Gnetales. I. Ephedra 
disiachya, L. ; the two ‘units’, each composed of four bilocular synangia, lettered a-d. II. 
E. fragilis, Desf., the two ‘units’ of three bilocular synangia, the synangium d being suppressed. 
III. E. altissima , Desf., the two ‘units’ each consisting of a bilocular synangium. The synangia 
a , by and d are suppressed. IV. Gnetum ; two units, each consisting of a unilocular synangium. 
V. Welwitschia ; two ‘ units’ similar to II, but the synangia are trilocular. 
no difficulty. Through the suppression of the female, they have come 
to occupy a central position, and, being more or less united, they naturally 
form a median column. 
The male organs of the Gnetaceae do not appear to us to present any 
transition to the Angiospermous stamen. They seem to have equally 
departed from the original type, though along different lines. The presence 
of synangia, in the case of Ephedra and Welwitschia , is a point in common, 
