44 Worsdell .— The Structure of the 
in cupules inserted immediately on bracts which become 
woody (Cypress, Thuja, Schubertia) or succulent (Juniper), 
and whose apices expand into a structure like a nail-head. 
These scales compose what some modern people call gal- 
bules/ But at a much later date (1843) he somewhat 
modifies this view, for he writes (of Pinus ): ‘ These are 
assuredly the simplest flowers known; they consist of 
a conical nucellus contained in an open ovary/ And of 
Thuja : ‘ It consists simply of an ovary and a nucellus ; but 
this flower is erect, whilst in the Abietineae it is inverted.’ 
L. C. Richard (24), in 1826, held very much the same 
view as Mirbel, for he says: ‘ In all Conifers the female 
flowers consist essentially of a pistil and a simple perianth or 
calyx.’ In all Conifers, except Taxus and Agathis , he always 
recognizes the presence of a double scale. As regards the 
fruit, he writes: ‘ The ovary is semi-inferior, owing to its 
lower part being united with the calyx, which latter then 
necessarily takes part in the formation of the fruit to form 
the epicarp. The wall of the pericarp is always very thin, 
and so adherent to the integument of the seed that they 
seem to form a single membrane applied to the “ amande.” 
The fruit of Coniferae is a true caryopsis or a sort of nut, 
i. e. a unilocular, one-seeded, indehiscent fruit, whose pericarp 
is intimately fused with the integument of the seed/ In 
Podocarpus the calyx consists of an inner, bony, and an 
outer, fleshy portion. The aril of Taxus and Phyllocladus 
he describes as a special organ, an extraordinary development 
of the receptacle. Finally, he divides the order into two 
groups—the Podocarpeae, Taxeae, and Ephedra , possessing 
simple fruits; and the Cupressineae, Abietineae, and Arau- 
carieae, possessing compound fruits. He compares the 
flowers of Coniferae with those of the Amentaceae. 
The eminent English botanist, Robert Brown (25), emerges 
conspicuous from among the investigators of the first half of 
this century, as the first exponent 1 of the theory which now, 
seventy years after, is most favoured by botanists, viz. that 
1 But Ray, in 1682, held that the ovules weire naked. 
