782 Thiselton-Dyer . — Morphological Notes . 
measures an inch across, which is the normal size, the 
smallness of the cone is due to its having fewer scales and 
not to its being immature. 
The morphological interpretation of the female cone in the 
Abietineae is a subject upon which the most divergent views 
have been held. As is well known a cone is composed of 
seminiferous scales (which become greatly enlarged in Pinus) 
and these are apparently axillary structures subtended by the 
primary reduced leaves of the axis of the cone, the so-called 
bract-scales. 
In Larix proliferation of the female cones is not uncommon. 
But the passage from cone to shoot is not, as in the present 
case, abrupt, but gradual. Masters has shown conclusively 
(Gardeners’ Chronicle, N.S., xvii. pp. 112, 113) that in such 
cases the bract-scales pass into ordinary foliage leaves with 
which they are serially continuous. The fact admits of no 
dispute and the interpretation is generally accepted. 
So far we seem to be on solid ground : whatever be the 
explanation of the seminiferous scale it is at any rate ‘ sub- 
tended 5 by the bract-scale, which is undoubtedly a modified 
foliar organ and is not seminiferous. 
This state of things is in sharp contrast to that which 
obtains in the Cycadeae. In a former note (Annals, xv. 
pp. 548-550) I have shown from the study of a proliferous 
Encephalartos , that the carpophylls or seminiferous scales 
are homologous with the ordinary foliage leaves and there- 
fore with the bract-scales in the Coniferae , as both belong to 
the primary axis. 
No one would I suppose now deny that the Gymnosperms 
stand in an intermediate position between the Phanerogams 
and the Cryptogams. Few things in vegetable morphology 
are more remarkable than the reluctance with which this has 
been admitted. 
Nothing can of course be simpler than the fundamental 
generalization which is applied to both. An Anther is a 
modified leaf which produces microsporangia: a Carpel is 
a modified leaf which produces macrosporangia. Of the latter 
