the Seed in the Alsinoideae . 
29 
grain on a papilla of the stigma, through the wall of which it is supposed 
to penetrate. 
Tulasne ( 5 ), 1855, in a most beautiful series of drawings from dis- 
sections of the embryo-sac, with embryos in different stages, of Cerastium 
triviale and C. collinum , Holosteum umbellatum and Stellaria media , dwells 
on the peculiar form of suspensor (vesicule embryonnaire) in the latter, 
calling the prolongation the c appendice/ He figures the twist of the 
pollen-tube at the apex of the embryo-sac, and the persistence of the same 
long after fertilization as general for species investigated, which differ chiefly 
in relative size and shape of suspensor. 
He describes the suspensor in Sperguta arvensis and Spergularia 
rubra as much simpler and almost uniform in diameter. 
Hofmeister (6), 1858, in Stellaria media saw the two synergideae and 
oosphere (Keimblaschen), but no antipodals, and spoke of the upper ends of 
the £ Keimblaschen * as being pressed against the ‘ spitze Ausstiilpung, 
welche die flache Scheitelwolbung des Embryosackes in ihrer Mitte tragt.’ 
He noticed the persistence of the synergideae (unfertilized ‘ Keimblaschen ’) 
till the first division of the fertilized one, when they are quite £ verdrangt * 
so that only the upper portion of the first cell of the pro-embryo (Keim- 
blaschen) occupies the £ Ausstiilpung * of the embryo-sac. 
He described the suspensor (Embry otrager) as long in all Caryophyl- 
laceae and the endosperm as scanty and as appearing late. 
Vesque ( 9 ), 1878, working on the development of the embryo-sac 
in Angiosperms, found that in Stellaria Holostea , the primary mother-cell 
was hypodermal in origin, developing directly into the embryo-sac without 
further tangential divisions. He also figures the development of a £ nucellar 
cap ’ by increased periclinal divisions. 
Guignard ( 18 ), 1882, in Silene obtusifolia saw two tangential peripheral 
divisions in the mother-cell, but admits not being able to trace real succes- 
sion, owing to the slight differentiation between them and the rapid 
enlargement of inferior cell into the embryo-sac. 
Godfrin ( 15 ), 1880, working on the seed coats of Angiosperms found 
such marked uniformity of structure in the Caryophyllaceae (Sileneae and 
Alsineae) as to be characteristic of the tribe. He figures the seed coat 
of Spergula arvensis in transverse section. 
Hegelmaier ( 11 ), 1885, in his paper on the Morphology of the Endo- 
sperm of Dicotyledons, places the Caryophyllaceae in his third class of 
‘ einseitig peripherischen/ in which the endosperm first lays down one 
layer at the micropylar end, then develops centripetally, filling up the 
apical portion of the embryo-sac. 
Working on Stellaria Holostea for the Alsinoideae, he denies free cell 
formation at the chalazal end, where the endosperm nuclei merely degenerate, 
and describes the apical tissue as lasting only for a short period. 
